Sweet Rosemary Turnip Chips

And for my weekly plebeian confession to you, I've never really cooked with turnips. But my dear friends at the Bowling Green Community Farmer's Market supplied me with these and here we are. Like any good root vegetable, they are quite versatile - they're good roasted, mashed, fried, baked, boiled, thrown at moving vehicles. So today I made chips out of these suckers, on account of that's what we do with new vegetables.

Honest, these would truly be more "chip-like" fried, but it's 2013 and we need to be good to our bodies, yes? So preheat your oven to 400 and start slicing. Here's what you'll need:

A bundle of turnips - how many did I use here? Unsure. Maybe 6. Again, new to this.

a tablespoon or two of olive oil

2 tsp dried rosemary

1 T honey (or agave if you're not down with honey. One of these days I might post a rant about why I vehemently support local honey, why I'm vegan, and why I think it is important to be good to our earth and our bodies. One day!)

So this is simple. Now that your oven is heating, search the house for the best slicing knife you have. It's good to slice these as thinly as you can. Hell, use of them fancy burshz-wah slicing attachments to your food processor, I don't care. Of course, first you need to rinse and peel your turnips, then get to slicing. (Balmorhea is good slicing music, if you were wondering.)

Toss these slices with remaining ingredients - olive oil, honey and rosemary. Then spread them on a baking sheet with as few slices piled on top of each other as possible. Stick those shits in the oven for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove from the oven and flip each slice with a fork. Because these are hot. Duh.Stick back in the oven for another 20 minutes. 

Voila! I served mine with sauteed broccoli and grape tomatoes. Yum dawg.

Holler if you're down with turnips - really, I could use some root vegetable inspiration. Rootspiration?

Breakfast Pizza

I have been dreaming of making a breakfast pizza for FOREVER, and today I finally had the day off work to do it.

There are four basic elements (read: four different stages of prep work [read: four different rounds of dishes]) of this pizza: homemade pizza dough (obvi), sweet avocado sauce for the base, tofu scramble with peppers mushrooms carrots spinach, topped with maple tempeh bacon. Geeeeeee.

As always, I recommend Isa Chandra's pizza dough recipe, which is straightforward and thorough. Also, I've covered the basics of tofu scramble somewhere on here before, so we'll skip that tutorial.

The maple tempeh bacon, however, requires some forethought. Make this one day ahead. Here's what you'll need:

1/2 package of tempeh
1/2 C soy sauce
2 T apple cider vinegar
1/2 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp chile powder
2 tsp liquid smoke
1 T pure maple syrup

Slice the tempeh into thin strips, and place in a shallow dish big enough to lay each strip flat. In a small sauce pot, heat the soy sauce and apple cider over medium-low heat. Once heated, add the sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Add the remaining spices and stir on low heat for another 2 minutes, then remove from heat. Once cooled, stir in the liquid smoke and maple syrup.

Pour the marinade over the tempeh strips, making sure that each one is completely inundated. Cover with plastic wrap and chill (bro) in the fridge overnight.

Now it's PIZZZZZZA TIME. Let's talk about the sauce.

No literally, let's have a conversation about pizza sauce.

Well no one has called or texted or g-chatted me yet so I'll continue with my MONOlogue about this pizza sauce. Now would be a good time to mention that I have a "thing" for avocado, and this sauce is not for the faint of heart. It's a little sweet, but definitely avocado-y and therefore definitely earthy and... avocado-y. Get these stuffs:

1/2 an avocado
1/2 C raw, unsalted cashews
1/4 C water
1 T honey (or your preferred sweetener if you don't "believe in" honey)

In a food processor, pulse the cashews until crumbly, then slowly add the water until it's all creamy and what have you. Add the avocado and honey (or your preferred sweetener if you don't "believe in" honey), and puree until it's all smooth and what have you. Look down into that little food processor hole and see if the sauce is all "loosey goosey" or all "stiff and boring." If it's all "stiff and boring" and might not hack it as a pizza sauce, continue to process and slowly add more water, one tablespoon at a time. I confess I was not diligent in writing down all of these measurements. Just pretend you didn't hear that.

Wait! Before we get any further, go ahead and preheat your oven to FIVE THOUSAND -- I'm sorry -- FIVE HUNDRED degrees.

So! Prepare the crust, spread the sauce, and cover the pie with your tofu scramble. Top with the maple tempeh bacon strips and, when your oven has done its "thang" (read: preheated), throw that pie in for 20 minutes.

Serve with coffee and good poems!

Simple Green Curry Soup

GRACIOUS ME do I love anything curry. Green curry, what will we do with you? I am in love. For life, green curry. I am yours for life.

So this post is less of a recipe and more of a love letter to green curry. I do love making my own curry paste from time to time, but this wasn't a cooking-intensive day so we shall save that recipe for another time.

Here's how I made this soup-for-one. It is literally easy. Literally.

Stuffs:

1 clove minced garlic
2 small yukon gold potatoes, washed and chopped
1/2 carrot, sliced
a couple stalks cauliflower, chopped
1/3 package tofu, drained and pressed
1 T green curry paste
1 tsp yellow curry powder
1/2 C spinach, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 C coconut milk
1/2 C almond milk
1/2 C water

Bring oil to a current over medium-low heat, then saute garlic. Add potatoes and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add carrots, cauliflower and tofu, followed by curry paste and other spices, and stir to coat veggies evenly. Cook veggies another 5 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the spinach and cook another 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then add coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes. Finally, add almond milk and water, and simmer until evenly heated throughout.

Green curry, I'm not sure I could love you more. One of the most delicious meals I have ever had in my life (this is a very serious matter) was the green curry soup at Roots, on Bardstown Rd. in Louisville. I spared no emotion in relating my feelings to my server, Guy, who seemed to appreciate my appreciation. I feel silly just simply saying "it was a spiritual moment" -- I wanted to go buy Guy a Christmas present. I felt like we were friends. I almost got him hot pink socks from Urban Outfitters.

I confess, I was simply trying to replicate this soup tonight. Of course, it couldn't hold a candle, but I offer you this poem, green curry soup, as a token of my love for you.

He Wishes For the Cloths of Heaven

W.B. Yeats

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams, green curry soup.

Roasted Parsnips with Candied Pepitas in Spicy Tahini Sauce

I had no idea what this was going to be, but I was so, so satisfied with what came out.

(thatswhatshesaid?)

Sorry. Anyway. I've had these parsnips hanging around like a newly divorced uncle for too long, so I knew I had to dress them up for a night on the town to meet some new friends. This was a rather silly endeavor, as these look rather fancy but the whole meal took less than a half-hour to prepare. Easy peasy! Uncle Bob's got a date, ladies!

First, roast your parsnips - this will take the longest time. Preheat your oven to 350 and melt about 2T of coconut oil. Slice the parsnips and toss in a small bowl with the coconut oil to completely coat them. Then place these in a roasting pan and throw them in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Next, prepare your rice. I used forbidden rice here, which has an marginally exotic taste and add color to any dish. I love forbidden rice, and it has just as much fiber as brown rice. ALSO IT'S BLACK. Mildly interesting, yes? So go ahead and boil that, covered, with 2 parts water to 1 part rice.

Now's a good time to mention - after the first ten minutes of roasting your parsnips, remove them from the oven, given them a good toss (wink), and stick them back in the oven for another ten minutes. Now let's get to the sauce. Here's what you'll need:

2 T tahini
1/4 C water
1 tsp miso paste
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 T Braggs liquid aminos
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 T apple cider vinegar
1 T garlic chili sauce

This is a pretty easily-constructed sauce - over medium-low heat, add each ingredient one at a time, mixing each one until fully combined. Once fully mixed, keep on a simmer until the rest of your meal is ready.

If your parsnips, rice and sauce are ready, go ahead and prepare your pepitas. In a shallow bowl, mix a handful of pepitas (now is maybe a good time to mention that pepitas are just another name for pumpkin seeds - glad we had this discussion) with a couple of drops of pure maple syrup - just enough to fully coat each seed. Pour them into a roasting tin an broil for about 3 or 4 minutes.

This should absolutely be the last step, as the pepitas will stay in whatever the hell place you shape them too, once cooled. So plate your sauce, rice, and parsnips before removing the pepitas from the oven. Spoon them directly from the pan to the dish, where they will (soon, I promise) cool into a precious little pumpkin seed pile. How sweet.

Someone give me a treat for all the awful puns and innuendos today?

Kale Polenta with Roasted Butternut Squash Sauce

I moved into a new fancy house! It's gorgeous and old and filled with boys. The rooms are enormous -- with the exception of the kitchen. It's literally the size of the bathroom in my old home. Maybe. Maybe it's a little bigger. But hardly!

But it is rather precious and I feel nice and warm inside. So what better way to celebrate my move than split a 6-pack with my new roommate and go to bed at 8?

That was not a rhetorical question, because the answer is this: make a fancy dinner!

Whenever I move, I discover all sorts of delightful things that I like to imagine I'll use soon but never do. And this butternut squash from the Community Farmer's Market has been sitting in my veggie bowl for weeks, just mocking me. I hate cubing butternut squash. But it is so worth it. Most of the time. This time, however, I just roasted it - which is always the route I'd go for a sauce.

I like making a good sauce to be the star of the show. So we'll start there and end with the easier parts of the dish.

Here's what you'll need for the squash sauce:

1 small-medium (how specific am I?!) butternut squash

1 T Earth Balance

1/2 medium onion, diced or chopped or however you like them

1/2 T brown sugar

1/2 C vegetable stock

1/4 C almond milk

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 T sriracha

First thing's first, roast the squash. Halve the thing, lightly coat the flesh in olive oil, and lay both pieces flesh-side down on an oven pan. Roast at 400 for about a half hour. When it's finished, remove the squash (well of course) and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Put it in a bowl or something. Or have your new roommate stand next to you with his hands cupped delicately while you spoon in the steaming squash. He's an Afghanistan veteran so surely he can handle a little squash, after all?

While your roommate is holding the squash, start the polenta. This is a fairly basic process - if you're buying polenta in a bag, follow those instructions for cooking, using vegetable stock instead of water, and add chopped kale after about 10 minutes.

Let's start the sauce. Throw the squash flesh into a blender or food processor and process into a puree. For the sake of saving on dishes, I'm sure your roommate wouldn't mind holding this for you again. What a sweetheart. 

Melt the Earth Balance in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, then stir in the onions and cook until translucent. Next, add the brown sugar and incorporate into the onions, then ask your roommate to dump the squash puree into the pot. Add the vegetable stock, milk, salt and pepper, lemon juice and sriracha, and cook for another 5 minutes. Finish with a dash of cinnamon.

Pour over polenta medallions and other sauteed veggies. I served mine with mushrooms, because, seriously, mushrooms. 

   

Tomato and Kale Scones with Maple Tempeh

Scones are my enemy. I do not put this lightly. Let me be clear: I have NEVER truly successfully baked a good batch of scones.

So, why not post a recipe of my world class savory scones?!

I base this on Isa's basic scone recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance. It makes roughly a baker's dozen.

3 C all-purpose flour
2 T baking powder
1/4 C sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 C vegetable oil
1/2 soy creamer (or rice or soy milk)
3/4 C almond milk plus 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tomato, chopped
1 C kale, chopped
1/2 package tempeh
1 T pure maple syrup
1/2 T brown sugar

First, prepare your tempeh. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar in the maple syrup over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Crumble in the tempeh, and mix until all the tempeh is fully coated. Remove from heat and let cool. Preheat your oven to 400 and lightly grease a cookie sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. If your tempeh is fully cooled, stir in the tempeh, tomatoes and kale. Next, add the oil, soy creamer and almond milk. Mix until just combined. The dough, apparently, according to Isa, should not be sticky.

Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto the cookies sheet and pat down the tops a little to round them out, because aren't they so cute? Bake 14-16 minutes, "until slightly browned on the bottom and firm on the top."

If you find a way to magically make them beautiful, let me know! Because... well. Yeah just let me know.