There are several different methods of preparing (just Google and you will find several) but the one that worked for me last time was to roast them in the oven. I poked holes in each shell for ventilation, and put them on a baking sheet. Set the oven for 425 degrees, and roast for about 25 minutes. Remove the HOT chestnuts from the baking sheet, and put them in a cotton dishtowel to cool for a few minutes. After they cool to the touch, wrap the towel into a ball with the chestnuts inside, and begin to crack the shells. When you open the towel, you can crack the shells more to extract the nut, but it should be easier to contain all the mess.

When you buy the chestnuts, it is inevitable that there will be some nuts that just don’t pass the test. You want them to be pliable; about the consistency of a dried apricot or a prune. Any harder and you could damage your teeth. There will be slight discolorations, but if the consistency is right, they nut should be perfectly edible. They make a great snack! However, if you have a recipe planned, you might want to save some for that…

I made a casserole-style baked dish from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz – it paired the chestnuts with caramelized onion, butternut squash, and white beans. Kris said it was amazingly delicious, and I really liked it too.  Only things that I did differently from the recipe (posted here) was add 1 tsp of Herbs de Provence and 1 tsp of nutritional yeast to the crumb topping.  I also used gluten-free breadcrumbs which I prefer to the “real” thing.  This is not a recipe for the faint hearted. With the chestnut roasting time, it is definitely a “slow food” – it took me over 2 hours from start to finish – but worth the time. Added bonus that your kitchen will smell of roasted chestnuts afterward!

+

+ a few other ingredients, leaves you with

Asparagus Tarragon “Quiche” (because it is eggless – navy beans and walnuts make the creamy filling along with the veggies!)

Care for a slice?

This recipe – like so many others that I have shared here – come from my ol’ trusty, Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook.

We eat a lot of greens around here!

Tonight’s dinner was red dal and curried jackfruit and squash.  Quite Project Spectrum-y, yes?  Both dishes used tomatoes, so that was an instant red, and both called for cayenne, tumeric, and cumin – the aromatic spices that make up many Indian dishes.  Both dishes are from one of my favorite cookbooks, which I have talked about here before, Vegan Fire & Spice: 200 Sultry and Savory Global Recipes.

I adapted the curry recipe to include one of “secret weapons” to a yummy Indian meal: jackfruit!  Of course, jackfruit is not a secret in India and Southeast Asia, but you rarely see this huge fruit in the west – and people don’t know what they are missing!  With a chewy consistency, the fruit’s flesh can be a great substitute for many dishes that call for meat.  Like mushrooms, it takes on the flavor of the sauce you cook it in, and really adds a nice texture and heartiness to a meal. I buy the jackfruit canned at my local Indian markets – the ones labeled “Young green jackfruit”.

The curry recipe below usually calls for white mushrooms, but I subbed the jackfruit and it was great!

1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 small chiles (dried or fresh), seeded and chopped
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 lb white mushrooms, quartered (OR 1 can -16-20 oz.- jackfruit in water quartered)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
Salt to taste

In a blender, combine the coconut milk, ginger, garlic, chiles, coriander, cumin, and turmeric and blend until smooth.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until golden brown – about 10 minutes. Add the mushroom (or substitute) and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the can of tomatoes, the coconut milk mixture, and salt to taste. Cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes.

I serve my curried veggies over basmati or wild rice, or with a piece of flatbread (Indian flatbreads like naan, roti, or chapati are really great for this!)

…and curious about the kidney bean dish? The recipe in the book is the basic recipe that you see for most vegan dals and rajmas – similar to the one I made here… check it out!

Apple Pepper Relish

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon agave nectar
1 tart apple, peeled, cored, and diced
2 tablespoons red pepper, finely chopped
2 tablespoons shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons minced parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Sprinkle of paprika for extra red!

(red cabbage leaves or red endive leaves for “bowl”)

Stir together all ingredients except for salt and pepper. Season to taste. Spoon mixture into the leaf bowls and serve. Best served chilled.

Adapted from Yoga Journal October 2010 recipe

Perfect little appetizer for lots of summer meals – a simple mixture of easy to find ingredients!  The original recipe calls for honey, but I used agave nectar to keep it 100% vegan.  I think it would also be a good complement to a grilled entree – I want to try it with some portabello mushrooms next time.

Why are so many vegetables called “red” when they really are more purple??  red onions … red cabbage…

Let me know if you try one of the recipes this week!

SCARLET Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

1 cup Red Quinoa, washed and drained
1 1/2 cups water
or soup stock
1/3 cup diced beets
2 Tablespoons  Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Ume Plum Vinegar, or to taste
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (rind)
6 whole red radishes, sliced into half-moons
2 Tablespoons minced red onion
1/4 cup chopped scallions or chives
4 ounces Dried Cranberries, 1 pkg.

Directions

Cook quinoa together with the beets in water according to package directions. When done, cool, toss with all remaining ingredients and serve.

Recipe from Eden Organics website (all links above lead to their products, some I used – quinoa and plum vinegar).  Only substitute for me was dried currants for the cranberries – I had the currants on hand, so that just worked better.  Pomegranate seeds would also be very tasty, if you are so inclined!

This lovely RED salad was one of the three salads that made our dinner – the other was the (not particularly red) fennel salad, and then fresh-picked salad greens with tomatoes:

More foods this week… all vegan, all yummy   Stay tuned!

~

Are you doing some Project Spectrum-inspired cooking or baking?

The sugar detox has provided a fun way to experiment with my tried and true smoothie recipes.  I have shared several ingredients over on Twitter and I got some good feedback, so I thought I would share a few recipes over here for good measure!

First thing to remember:  the key to green smoothies is the fresh ingredients!  With the warmer weather just around the corner, a lot of fresh greens will be available soon.  In the meantime, you can easily stock up at the market.  I use all sorts of greens for my smoothies – my three favorite bases are kale, wheat grass, and spinach.

And the beauty of kale?  there are so many varieties!  I love them all.  In my fridge now – and ready for their closeups are the green curly kale and the lacinato kale:

I try to keep my smoothies heavy on the “green”, so I usually do at least a 2:1 ratio of green vegetable to fruit.  Of course, fruit is great for you too, but the point of a green smoothie is to pack a huge vitamin punch – and green leafy vegetables are the sure-fire way to do that.

Aside from the leafy vegetables, I also load up on other green veggies – like celery, cucumbers, assorted sprouts (lentil sprouts and sunflower seed sprouts have nice flavors) and some herbs – like spearmint or peppermint leaves.

For fruits, I like to add something creamy and a little thicker – my smoothies are usually my breakfast and mid-morning snack (two servings) so I want it to stick with me for awhile.  Bananas or avocados both provide the base for the whole smoothie.  For a touch of sweetness, I like to add one (maybe two) Medjool dates.  The choice of fruit is based on your own tastes – I like tropical flavors, so I often add mango, lychee, or pineapple.  I also like to add blueberries or strawberries.  Fruits like apples and pears can add some nice “bulk” to smoothies with their fibers, but their flavor is easily masked with all the greens.  When using apples and/or pears, I like to add a carrot, or a slice of ginger for some more taste.

When I want a protein boost, I add some nuts or nut butter – my favorites being walnuts or almond butter.  A little goes a long way, and the nuts also help the smoothie stay with you longer and keep away the hungry growling stomach!

And finally – you need a liquid to bring it all together.  There is always water (I often use ice cubes because many smoothies just taste better to me “chilled”), and my other options are almond milk and coconut water.  You don’t need a lot of liquid, because the fruits and veggies do liquefy, but they have to have something to start with!

My “recipes” are really just based on trials that I have done and enjoyed.  I encourage you to do the same!   Please note: You do need a good blender to make green smoothies!  If your blender doesn’t cut the greens up and turn the smoothie a light to medium green (sometimes even dark green) color – you may have a hard time with the texture.  Greens can be a bit stringy, and if you don’t have a taste for that, your “gag reflex” may kick in.  I use my Vita-Mix for all my smoothies, and it is one of my most prized possessions (seriously. I want to take it on vacation with me!)

I haven’t noted any yields because a lot depends on the size and juiciness of the fruits/veggies you are using.  Green smoothies are easy to “eyeball”.  I make a double batch and split into two servings: breakfast and morning snack.  I usually use a 20 oz. cup and put leftover in a pint-sized Mason jar and take it with me to work (stored in refrigerator for later)

Tropical Green

1 banana (frozen or fresh)

3 or 4 leaves of kale

1 small cucumber

1 stalk celery

1 Medjool date

1/2 c diced mango (frozen works too!)

1/2 c coconut water

1 small “nub” of ginger (no more than 1/4″ – little goes a long way!)

1/2 c ice cubes

- add all ingredients to blender and turn on high until all ingredients are well blended.  May need to stop and stir in the middle and start again, depending on blender.

Minty Berry

1 avocado (pitted and skin removed)

2 handfuls of loose-leaf spinach (including stems)

1 c wheat grass

1 cucumber

1 Medjool date

2 springs mint (you can de-stem if the stem is “woody”)

1/2 – 3/4 c almond milk

1 c frozen strawberries

Sweet Sprouts

1 banana

1 pear, halved and seeds removed

3/4 cup assorted sprouts (lentil, broccoli, sunflower, sesame)

3 leaves of kale

1/2 c almonds (soaked in water for about 30 minutes prior)

3/4 c almond milk

1 squirt of agave nectar

1/2 c frozen peaches

Do you have a favorite green smoothie recipe to share?  I am always up for trying something new!  If you start to experiment with some, let me know what you are trying!

]]> http://lollygirl.com/blog/2011/02/21/green-days/feed 22 http://lollygirl.com/blog/2010/09/07/domestic_snapshots http://lollygirl.com/blog/2010/09/07/domestic_snapshots#comments Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:11:08 +0000 lolly http://lollygirl.com/blog/?p=3016 Big changes going on around the domestic environs – we’re prepping the house for a series of home renovation projects.  The first one is replacing the floors on our main and second floors.  We have an old and damaged carpet upstairs (4 furry animals + 2 humans + nearly 9 years of occupation doesn’t bode well for low “builder”-grade carpet) and we will be replacing that with a bamboo flooring.  The same bamboo flooring will extend down the stairs onto the main floor, where we now have oak floors that have also seen better days…  It’s going to be a lot of work, especially because we are planning to do it ourselves, but I just know that it will be a good thing in the end.

In preparation for all of this, Kris and I have begun to clean out all sorts of things.  There are very few things that are making my cut, and we have been making frequent trips to the second-hand shop to drop off lots of things.  It’s very cathartic!  We did buy ONE new thing, however… more of a test run for the upcoming project:

These are the FLOR carpet tiles, the customizable 16″ square tiles that can cover a whole room or (like we used them) an area rug.  We’ve only had them for a few days, but so far, I LOVE them.  They are easy to clean, and in the events of an animal accident, you simply pick up the tile and clean that (or replace it if need be).  They are held together by super duty stickers.  So far, that is working out just fine.

Like I said, this FLOR rug is a test run for the wood floor/stairs project… we are planning now to put the carpet tiles on the each stair edge and the landing.  That should make it less slippery for both dogs and clumsy humans.

More on this project as it develops… it’s gonna take a lot of time and patience (and furniture rearrangement as we move from room to room!) but I think it will look great!

~~~

In the middle of August, Kris and I got on serious canning bent.  It was our way of trying to keep up with the LOADS of veggies coming in from our garden.

…and that’s only one night!  We also had 12 more jars of salsa (to say we had tomatoes coming out of our ears would be an understatement…) from the previous week.

All of this canning made me think that it would be fun to do a canning swap.  I knew several friends from Twitter were also into canning, so I organized a small group (12) to swap with each other.  Fun way to share the bounty!  I traded some salsa and got these goodies from Melissa at The Boastful Baker!

Oh. My. Goodness.

~~~

Earlier this year, Chandler (and a few of her friends) created a series of “Dead Feminists” broadsides - quotes and accompanying artwork and Chandler made them available on her Anagram Press Etsy shop.  I have long admired her work, and when I saw the Rachel Carson piece she released earlier this summer, I wasted no time in acquiring my own copy.  Once I received it, I started planning where to display it in the house… and I took it to the frame shop to make an extra special “home” for it…

I chose this teal and gray double matting, a simple dark nickel frame, and (my favorite part) the float mount to show off the paper edge of the piece. 

The piece is hanging in my kitchen/dining room area and it is one of my favorite things in the whole house.  Makes me smile every time I look at it. Chandler’s site features many of her beautiful pieces, as well as her stories and photographs about travel, her artistic process and collaborations, and general good things.  Highly recommended

We feasted on a huge dinner at a restaurant in Iquitos – it was a goodbye dinner for the small eco-tour group that we traveled with, and I have wonderful memories of my time there…

With the thoughts of Peru in our heads (and musings about a return trip to the Amazon…), and the help of the new cookbook, Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers (full review to come – promise!), Kris and I put together a big meal inspired by our time in Peru.

Lime Chile Breaded Seitan with Okra and Swiss Chard over Brown Rice + Tomato Chile Pineapple Salsa and Fried Plantains

It was a good way to use garden veggies (okra, chard, peppers, tomatoes) and to play around with new things like plantains (which are hard to get right… but this second batch turned out well, thank goodness) and to try out the new recipe book.Food and the associated senses can definitely “take you back” to a place – a time that you remember fondly.

Drinks / food with fellow travelers in Cusco, Peru

>> <<

I’d love to hear about your experiences with travel and food.  Have you had a unique culinary experience while you traveled?

]]> http://lollygirl.com/blog/2010/08/11/cooking-down-memory-lane/feed 11 http://lollygirl.com/blog/2010/06/27/adventures-in-vegan-ice-cream http://lollygirl.com/blog/2010/06/27/adventures-in-vegan-ice-cream#comments Sun, 27 Jun 2010 14:33:53 +0000 lolly http://lollygirl.com/blog/?p=2865 As a child, I once told a “fib” to my mom about ice cream… made up this whole story about how it wasn’t me who polished off the container – and of course, my mother knew it was me, because I love ice cream.  So, if that gives you any indication about ice cream history in my life…

For years, I stayed a vegetarian for 2 reasons:  ice cream and cheese… I didn’t want to cut those items out of my diet because I loved them too much.  However, when I finally “made the switch” to a full-fledged vegan diet in 2008, my ethics trumped my desire (for once!) and I cut dairy and eggs out.  There wasn’t even time for the ice cream-shaped hole to form in my heart; manufacturers were already producing dairy and egg-free desserts.  In recent years, this market has taken off – so clearly I am not the only one looking for quality vegan options.

With the help of two books - Veganomicon and The Vegan Scoop - I realized that I could take ice cream making into my OWN hands…

~Strawberry with Dark Chocolate shavings~

Armed with my two guides, I borrowed my mom’s ice cream maker – the Cuisinart Automatic Ice-Cream Maker.  This counter-top model is much easier to use than the wooden barrels and hand cranks and rock salt ones that I remember from summertime family reunions (although they were fun to hand crank for a while).  Simply mix up the ingredients (more on that in a bit…) and pour it into the pre-frozen cylinder.  It sits on this rotating base and slowly mixes up the ice cream.  It takes about 25 minutes start to finish.  So great that I am planning to buy my own after “test-driving” mom’s for the last few weeks.

As long as the chemistry of ingredients is right, you can make almost any ice cream flavor you dream up.  I tried a recipe from The Vegan Scoop and was disappointed when it did not turn out right – the base never “took” and while it was still good, it was more of an cold smoothie than an ice cream. This could be the result of a number of factors: this book instructs you to book the ingredients, let them cool, and then put them in the ice cream maker – so there are more variables. Perhaps I didn’t let the items cool long enough? or maybe the ingredients were not a good match for my appliance? The biggest plus of this book is the variety of ice cream flavors – it has over 100 flavors from fruit sorbets to decadent chocolate mixes, also includes novelty flavors like green tea and red bean … for that reason, I use it more for flavor inspiration than I do for following the recipes. I have had much more luck with the base written up in Veganomicon. It has 5 ingredients and doesn’t require cook/cool time. I pour the ingredients into my blender (VitaMix) and then pour them into the maker. Easy as … ice cream. This recipe cuts the time down and you don’t have to think about temperature control.

The recipe does use some soy products, but I am experimenting on how to eliminate them – with so many non-soy vegan ice creams on the market, I know there must be some way to get that consistency without it.  I am not sensitive to soy, but I know that it is an allergen to many people, and I like to find alternatives to it whenever I can.  The common substitution of almond milk in place of the soy milk works well, and one could also use more coconut milk than the recipe calls for a creamier texture.  The recipe also includes sugar and I haven’t made any substitutions there;  I am using cane sugar over refined sugar, but I have not tried using syrups or agave – perhaps another experiment is in order!

Here’s the Veganomicon base recipe ~ could be plain vanilla ice cream, or the base to  “dress it up” in different ways:

1/2 c coconut cream (the cream that forms at the top of coconut milk cans)

1 c soy milk (or almond, hazelnut, possibly rice, although I haven’t tried that)

3/4 c sugar

6 oz silken tofu

1 T vanilla extract

Puree all ingredients in blender or food processor and add to ice cream maker.  Yield is 1.5 pints of ice cream.

Following this recipe, I have made several variations – the strawberry chocolate above, strawberry blueberry sorbet, hazelnut, mint chocolate, and most recently, peanut butter.  I am interested in trying some others before I have to give it back… rum raisin is sounding good to me…

(*ahem* and don’t delude yourself… just because it’s vegan doesn’t necessarily mean that this is a 0 calorie/low fat health food.  I believe it is healthier than store-bought dairy ice cream any day – only 5 ingredients over the 20 or 30 unnatural additions you see in stores! – and the fact that it does not have milk or eggs makes it healthier – in my eyes – than the alternative.)

About 90 pounds of strawberries!  We had three rows (about 20 feet long) that were assigned to us – a group of 6.  They say it is the best picking that they have had in recent memory – I guess Snowmageddon was good for something!  Each plant had about 15 strawberries each, and they were like rubies under the dark green leaves.  So beautiful.

Since we had a clear plan for our berries, Kris and I took the most of them.  We split it 60/30.  It was an afternoon of washing, hulling, and freezer preparation.   The ripest and most delicate berries were taken out, cleaned and then sent through the juicer.  The juice is then frozen in popsicle holders and consolidated into plastic baggies in the freezer.  These little juice pops are used throughout the year for punches and sangria.  The majority of the berries were frozen whole – laid out on wax paper in the freezer shelf (so that they wouldn’t freeze together in one giant block after washing) and then consolidated into baggies.

…and with the others… we made some jam

My sister Sarah was in town for the long weekend, and she expressed an interest in learning how to can.  I picked up some jelly jars and pectin beforehand, so once she made it over, we were ready to go.

We made two batches of jam – the first was strawberry lime jam.  For this one, I used the Ball No-Sugar-Needed Pectin.  It called for apple or white grape juice for sweetener, but also gave instructions for adding some sugar.  Since I did not have the juice on hand, I did in fact add a bit of sugar to the recipe ~4 cups according to the recipe.  I found the recipe and adaptation on Ravelry’s Canny Crafters group page.  The original recipe was adapted from this one - just subbing lime juice and zest for the lemon.

The second batch used the same recipe as a guide, but a different flavor.  This was strawberry vanilla jam using Pomona’s Universal Pectin.  I saw several recipes for vanilla varieties and nearly all of them used a vanilla bean – but since I didn’t have one, I subbed 2 Tablespoons of vanilla extract.  I used the guidelines for sugars from Pomona’s box.  We had approximately 10 cups of strawberries, and I used a mixture of cane sugar and agave nectar for the batch.  And, it came out perfectly!  Such a nice gel and quite yummy too!

13 jars in all – 8 of vanilla and 5 of lime.  It was a great day.  Sarah, Kris and I had a lot of fun doing it all!  Now we get to enjoy the fruits of our labor over the whole year.  Planning to make more preserves, jellies, and canned goods this year – it’s fun to do!