Playing with Rhubarb

One of my co-workers brought in a lot of rhubarb from his garden for people to take home. I don't know if I've had rhubarb as an adult, so I was excited to grab myself a good amount of it to make a pie. I was going to a potluck that weekend as a part of Try Vegan PDX, so I decided to share. I had no idea if the pie worked out until I tried it and I loved it! I will definitely be playing with rhubarb some more. Often times there are people at the potluck who are gluten free, and I have another friend who is soy and cane sugar free as well, so I ended up making two pies.

Rhuberry Pie

Crust:

2 cups Unbleached White Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Margarine

8-10 Tb Ice Water

Filling:

3 cups Rhubarb, cut

1 cups Strawberries, sliced

1/3 cup Unbleached White Flour

1 Tb Lemon Juice

1 cup Unrefined Cane Sugar

Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in the margarine with a pastry cutter to pea sized pieces. Slowly add the water a tablespoon at a time to the desired consistency. The dough should not be sticky, but it should also hold together in a ball. Divide the dough so one ball is 2/3 of the dough and the other is 1/3 of the dough.

Roll out the 2/3 part dough to be a bit larger than a 9-inch pie pan. When the dough is placed in the pie pan, it should slightly hand off the sides.

For the filling, combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Place the filling inside the pastry crust and set aside. Roll out the reserved dough to a circle just a little larger than the circumference of the pie pan. Place carefully over the pie filling and side. Combine the top and bottom crusts with your fingers and design as desired, or just leave plain. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.

Gluten Free, Soy Free and Sugar Free Rhuberry Pie

The insides of this pie were good, except it needed a little more thickener which I have already added to the recipe for you. the crust held the pie fine, but it was a bit tough and wanted to stick to the pie pan. I would recommend greasing the pie pan well.

For the dough, I used 1 1/4 cups Sweet White Rice Flour, 1/4 cup Organic Coconut Flour and 1/2 cup Tapioca Flour instead of the flour. I also used Spectrum Shortening instead of margarine so it would be soy free. The directions are mostly the same for the dough except that I used wax paper to roll out the dough.

For the filling, instead of sugar I used 2/3 cup Agave Nectar and Tapioca Flour instead of white flour. The dough pieces was harder to form together but it worked out fine.

A Refreshing Salad

I was first introduced to jicama when I was in college.  I was on a camping trip and a friend had brought some along.  I hesitatingly tried a piece of the jicama and fell in love.  Since then, I have been introducing it to many more people and have not found a single person who did not like it.

I went to a potluck recently and didn't really have time to make something so I just brought a bunch of fresh jicama slices.  A friend had never tried jicama raw and by itself, so I had to show her its true magic.  Someone else made something with jicama that tasted so wonderful I had to go home and try and make something similar.   I don't think it's exactly the same, but it tastes nice and refreshing.  

Mango Mint Salad

2 cups Jicama, diced

1 cup Mango, diced

2 Tb Mint, minced

1 Tb Lime Juice

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate before serving.  I used spearmint for the mint and the diced jicama and mango were cut into bite size squares.  If you want something sweeter, use more mango.

Vegan Potluck Meet ‘N Greet!

Baby rats gathered for a vegan meal at the Rhododendron Gardens in Portland.

This Saturday is a Vegan Potluck Meet ‘N Greet! It is all about connecting with other vegans and eating good food so it should be fun and yummy! There will be different activities which I know nothing about, but I am excited to see what it will be. I want tons of people to come since I’d love more interaction with other vegans. And the more people, the more food options!

Details: Saturday, May 30th from 6pm-8pm at Sunnyside United Methodist Church (3520 SE Yamhill St in Portland, OR).

This event is put on by Try Vegan PDX. This is a local organization which puts on Try Vegan Week which will be in August this year. The organization offers vegan mentorship and resources for the new and old to the vegan lifestyle (or even those just thinking about it). Get involved! Become a mentor, help with planning, or become vegan!

A Tasty Brunch

The girl I have mentored for over 5 years just moved into her own place and is about to turn 18 and graduate high school. I can't believe how fast the time and gone and what an amazing young adult she has become. I asked her to come over for brunch so I can show her some alternative foods to prepare.

I often make myself a tofu scramble over the weekend. It is a great break from my usual green smoothies which I have every weekday morning. Tofu scrambles can be so versatile. You can add different vegetables and different add ins to make every scramble unique. When I am not adding salsa to my scrambles, I usually use Braggs liquid aminos instead of salt to give the scramble more moisture. With the tomatoes from the salsa in the scramble, salt does better.

I am somewhat particular with my scrambles. I would be very annoyed if I went to a restaurant and ordered a scramble and the tofu came cubed. This is simply not a scramble. So make sure to crumble up your tofu for cooking scrambles. This does not need to be disintegrated though, which I have also seen. Having large parts of tofu crumble works really well.

Here is what we had for breakfast and both enjoyed.

Seasoned Potatoes

3 cups Red Potatoes, cut bite-size

1 Tb Olive Oil

2 tsp Fresh Thyme

1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

1/4 tsp Garlic granules

Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Spread out onto a baking sheet at bake at 400 degrees. Bake 10 minutes, toss potatoes and bake another 10 minutes.

Tofu Scramble

1 lb Tofu

2 tsp Olive Oil

5 slices Tempeh Bacon

8 Mushrooms, sliced

1 small Zucchini, halfed and sliced

1 cup Onion, chopped

1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Onion Granules

1/4 tsp Garlic Granules

1/3 cup Pineapple Salsa

2 - 4 Tb Nutritional Yeast

Saute the onion in the olive oil in a large pan. Once the onions are golden, add the mushrooms, zucchini and tempeh. Cook for a few minutes to get the vegetables soft. Crumble up the tofu into the frying pan and cook for a few minutes. Use tofu that is meant for frying, but on the softer side. Add the spices, salsa and nutritional yeast. Heat until everything is warm. Serve with potatoes and toast if desired.

Asparagus is in season!

A friend was coming over for dinner and I was having cravings for spaghetti, which I don't eat too often.  I had a coupon for free sauce, so I decided to take advantage of it.  I had to include a vegetable, so I looked to see what was available at my local market.  I remember hearing asparagus was in season and I found some that was grown locally from a transitional farm.  This ended up being a perfect choice!

For the spaghetti sauce, I sauteed some mushrooms, garlic and sliced a tofurky beer brat I needed to use up.  After the mushrooms were browning and soft, I added the spaghetti sauce and lowered to heat to warm.  This was served on top of a thin spaghetti noodles.  

While the sauce was heating up, I prepared the asparagus.  Usually I just steam asparagus, but I wanted to try something different. The results were tangy and salty (but not too salty) and just right.  I could have eaten all of the asparagus myself, but I had to share.  Here is what I did.

Tangy Roasted Asparagus

25 Asparagus Stems

1 Tb Olive Oil

1 Tb Lemon Juice

2 cloves Garlic, minced

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

1/4 tsp Salt

Rinse off and chop off the ends of the asparagus.  Spread the stems on a baking sheet.  Combined the oil, lemon juice and minced garlic.  Spread this on top of the asparagus and toss to cover all over the stems.  I used my hands to do this.  Sprinkle the salt and pepper on top and toss again to cover the stems well.  Place this in the oven at 400 degrees and cook for 15-20 minutes, tossing the asparagus to cook evenly on the sheet.

*Asparagus is also great raw!  Try some in your next salad.

Stroganoff

New year’s day I went to a great brunch at a friend’s house. I made some great pancakes and there was also grilled cheese, fruit and lots of other stuff I can’t remember since it was so long ago. My favorite was not very brunch like, but oh, so good. My friend Liz brought Stroganoff which was so rich and creamy and savory and I could not get enough of it. I demanded to know how she made the dish and wrote it down to try to recreate it at a later date.

When I visited my parents house, my mom asked me if I was going to make dinner. I decided it would be a good opportunity to make the stroganoff. When my nephew was informed that I would be making dinner, he was happy. He is a really picky eater and I know if he likes it, anyone will. He also seems to be a big fan of my vegan cooking which pleasantly surprises me. My niece helped me with dinner by making the salad to go with the main meal.

My nephew ate up all the food on his plate and even went for seconds. Everyone really enjoyed the dish and even I was really happy with the recreation. I am so glad I wrote down everything I did so now we can all recreate it. Thanks so much to Liz for this recipe and sharing the savory secret- fresh thyme!

Stroganoff

12 oz Pasta of choice

1 Tb Olive Oil

1 medium Red Onion, chopped

4 cloves Garlic, minced

12 oz Veggie Protein Crumbles (such as Light Life Smart Ground)

10 Mushrooms, sliced

2 Tb Fresh Thyme

3 Tb Lemon Juice

1 Tb Tamari

1 container Tofutti Sour Cream

½ tsp Black Pepper

½ cup Water

Cook the pasta according to directions, drain and set aside.

Sauté the chopped onion and garlic in the oil. Cook until the onion is tender. Add the veggie protein crumbles, mushrooms and fresh thyme and continue to cook an additional 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice, tamari, tofutti sour cream, black pepper and water. Cook for a few minutes to incorporate the flavors.

Add the cooked pasta and stir to combine. Serve warm with a nice refreshing salad. My salad had romaine lettuce, chopped jicama (a favorite!) and sliced red pepper with goddess dressing.

Burritos and MORE Burritos

I have been craving burritos A LOT lately.  I try to mix it up once in awhile with different fillings and last night I had the greatest burrito, so I had to share.

The night before I suggested to a friend to make burritos instead of going out to eat.  The sun was shining and we could sit in my front yard while eating.  Then my cat Roy could beg for food since sometimes he thinks he's a dog.  He'll actually grab for food out of your hand, especially if it has anything to do with corn.

My friend mentioned she's never actually made burritos, unless you include heating up a frozen one.  I do not.  That evening, I had a crazing for tempeh so we enjoyed burritos with tempeh, great northern beans, pinto beans, green chilies, red onion, bell peppers (green and orange), spices and nutritional yeast.  This was spread on top of a warmed tortilla with the options of toffuti sour cream, pineapple salsa (which we discovered is both of our favorite) and guacamole made from the perfect avocado.  It was delightful.

Last night I had a couple tortillas left and was making rice.  I was thinking of making something Thai, but also was thinking of burritos, once again.  What won me over is the discovery of Mexican Chipolte Field Roast sausages.  I had to have them!  Normally I am not a black bean fan, but I decided they would pair best with this flavoring.  I also got a bell pepper, green onion, a tomato and I always have fresh garlic at home.  

The black beans I bought are Truitt Brother brand, which is Food Alliance certified.  Although this is not as good as organic, it is a certification honoring a farm's work towards sustainable agriculture and fair working conditions.  This is also a local company so it is nice to know the beans weren't grown far away.

These burritos were so good!  The sausages had the BEST flavor!  I was thoroughly impressed. Here are more details of what I did in case you want to try and duplicate.  This made the perfect amount for two medium-sized tortillas.

Mexican Chipolte Burritos

1 Tb Oil

1 Field Roast Mexican Field Roast Sausage, sliced

1/2 Green Bell Pepper, chopped

2 cloves Garlic, minced

1 small Tomato, diced

2 Green Onions, chopped

3/4 cup Black Beans

1/2 cup Brown Rice, cooked

1/2 tsp Garlic Granules

1/4 tsp Onion Granules

1/4 tsp Chili Powder

2 Tb Nutritional Yeast

Tofutti Sour Cream

2 Flour Tortillas

In a medium pan saute the sausage, bell pepper and garlic in the oil.  When the sausage starts to brown, add the tomato, green onions, black beans, rice and spices and heat until warm; about 5 minutes.  

Warm a tortilla either in a large pan that the tortilla fits in or fold into quarters and carefully warm it in your toaster.  This method you will want to make sure not to let it be in the toaster too long since if it starts to brown, it is harder to fold the tortilla.  

Place the desired amount of sour cream on the tortilla and place half the cooked insides on top.  Fold the burrito and enjoy!