Cinnamony Smashed Sweet Potato and Roasted Apple Flautas

So what do you do when a fine lady brings you a bunch of apples and a nice looking sweet potato? Well, you go all out and make something super tasty like this! Brett and I actually came up with this idea before we got the apples and sweet potatoes - last week, we had baked sweet potatoes with Earth Balance and cinnamon and sugar. We liked those so much that we spent a good portion of the rest of the evening throwing around ideas for sweet - sweet potato and winter squash dishes, this was one of them.

These flautas would make an excellent addition to a Thanksgiving or Christmas buffet - I think they will make an appearance at ours. We made our "normal" number of flautas when we had these for dinner (I eat three, Brett eats four - though we both have a hard time making it through this amount), but we way overestimated our appetites - these are quite filling (I also think I am going to have to start making less food!). They are also incredibly yummy and even healthy! What more could you ask for?

This recipe is, of course, dedicated to the one and only Vern!

Note: This recipe does take awhile to make. I would in no way classify this as a "weeknight" meal - unless of course you don't have a job.

For today, the local food legend includes only food from Vern, which is denoted with an *.















You may notice that I left the skins on the apples, but the recipe calls for peeled apples - this is because we think these would have been even better with peeled apples! Wahoo!















The cinnamon-sugar coated tortillas take these over the top. Super yummy!

Cinnamony Smashed Sweet Potato and Roasted Apple Flautas

Note: This is a process. I first roasted the sweet potato (I didn't use any oil, just poked holes in the 'tater) and got the apple "glaze" simmering, prepped the rest of the apples, and then I got the apples going in the oven. While the apples were roasting, I smashed the sweet potato and got everything all together for rolling the flautas.

Cinnamony Smashed Sweet Potatoes:
1 large sweet potato, roasted and mashed *
2-3 tbsp organic sugar
2-3 tsp ground cinnamon
a few splashes of rice milk

Combine ingredients well with a fork.

Roasted Apples:
4 Vernalicious apples (or other red apple), peeled, cored, and sliced into half inch pieces *
1 Vernalicious, peeled, cored and grated with a microplane grater *
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425.

In a small sauce pan, combine the microplaned apples and remaining ingredients. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes.

Toss mixture with sliced apples and place in a single layer in a baking dish.

Roast, uncovered for 20 minutes or until soft.

After apples have been removed, turn oven down to 400.

Cinnamon-Sugar Crusted Tortillas:
1 tbsp Earth Balance
1 tbsp organic sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
7 small ("fajita sized") tortillas

Melt Earth Balance in a small bowl.

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Brush one side of the tortilla with the Earth Balance. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture over tortilla.

Layer smashed sweet potatoes and roasted apples in the tortillas.

Roll up and secure with a toothpick.

Bake, uncovered for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

We haven't quite figured out our "rating system" just yet - as frequency eating the meal is just as important as our initial feelings about it - but for now, I'd have to give this one 3 out of 5 chiles.

I cannot describe to you how yummy these were. I imagine this will get a lot of thumbs up from our omni families over the holidays!

'Til next time.

Mashed Potato and Veggie Stuffed Mushrooms and the October Eat Local Challenge

So I was browsing 28 Cooks awhile back when I came across one of her recipes for stuffed mushrooms. At first I thought she had stuffed the mushrooms with mashed potatoes - come to find out they were stuffed with cream cheese. Well I thought the idea of stuffing a mushroom with mashed potatoes sounded mighty good, so that's what I did!

We topped these with a variation of Veganomicon's Mushroom Gravy - basically, I used what I had on had. That gravy made the cookbook worth buying.

Note: This meal was made before the October Eat Local Challenge started - I am just behind as usual. ;-)

The local booty legend:
no asterisk = grocery store
* = farmer's market or The Root Cellar
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms




























Mashed Potato and Veggie Stuffed Mushrooms

6 large mushrooms, stems removed and rinsed

The mashed potatoes:
4 red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into large cubes *
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 tbsp Earth Balance
1/4 cup rice milk
garlic powder
dried basil
black pepper
salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the potatoes and garlic. Cook for 25-30 minutes, or until soft. Drain the potatoes.

Transfer potatoes to a large bowl. Blend potatoes and remaining ingredients together with a mixter or potato masher, adding more rice milk if necessary to reach desired consistency.

The other stuff:
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 small yellow onion, chopped **
2 cups of chard, chopped *
1 tbsp safflower oil

Heat safflower oil over medium heat in a medium sized skillet. Add the carrots and onions and stir-fry for about 10 minutes or until carmelized.

Add the chard in batches, covering with an oven proof plate or lid to steam if necessary.

Stir veggies into the mashed potatoes.

Spoon a few tablespoons of the potato mixture into each mushroom.

Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes.

Let cool for a few minutes and top with mushroom gravy if desired.

These were seriously good, seriously. I wish folks around the Mid-Missouri area would grow more "common" mushrooms - button and portobello, things like that. I would eat stuffed mushrooms more often if I could find them locally.

Anywho, onto the October Eat Local Challenge. This challenge is put on by the cool folks who run EatLocalChallenge.com. They have hosted multiple local eating challenges and given great information and resources for folks who want to participate.

As you all know from the garden and local booty updates, we try to either grow our own or eat locally as much as possible already anyway. But there is always more that we can do, and ways we can creatively change our eating habits and also discover new foods. I like that this challenge allows for reasonable exceptions and it goes very well with the go local portion of the Unplug Yourself initiative.

You can see our exemptions on the side bar of the blog. Most of them are self explanatory. We have since found local beans, some other local staples (still no brown rice), and will consider them as options when we run out of our existing stashes of these things.

On top of the exemptions on the side bar are things that are non-local, not exempt, but that I already had on hand, such as olives and other canned goods that I had before signing up for the challenge. Also, if we go out to eat, we will go to a local restaurant at the very least, and one that tries to source locally at best.

Each week when I post the local booty updates I will do a dual Eat Local/Unplug Yourself update as to our progress and how well we have been able to stay within the parameters we set for ourselves.

If you are interested in participating in the Eat Local Challenge for the month of October as well, I'm sure it is not too late to sign up. You can sign up for the challenge here.

Well, it is late, and we still haven't had supper, so it is getting to be that time around here.

'Til next time.

This Meal Inspired By: Lori - The Pleasantly Plump Vegan

When I saw Lori's beautiful roasted veggie plate post, I knew I was going to have to make something similar, it just looked too good. (By the way Lori, I hope getting back to school starts to be less frustrating for you soon!) I have also been looking for an excuse to make mashed potatoes once more before the weather warms up and I don't feel like such hearty food anymore. So I left work a little early yesterday, stopped by the grocery store and made this delicious meal.

Thanks so much for the inspiration Lori! Yum!

I made roasted asparagus, with lots of garlic and a little bit of salt; roasted broccoli and cauliflower with, again, lots of garlic, and some basil, a little bit of a veggie bouillon cube and salt; I made garlicky mashed potatoes (I used red potatoes this time and left the skins on) and followed the Veganomicon Mushroom Gravy recipe except that I used shiitake mushrooms, so, so good; and finally some herbed brown rice with garlic, carrots, shiitake mushrooms and onions. Super tasty!

I thought I'd end today's post with a grocery store wrap up. I hate how crowded the grocery store gets (are all people this rude or is it just Americans?!), I much prefer the farmer's market but I do love coming home with the spoils. It makes me look forward to the yummy things that lie ahead!

First off, I really am way too excited about this, but look what I found.

A big bag of dried red New Mexican chilies!! Wahoo!! It's even a bad picture, but I don't care, they are beautiful.

Anyways....

Here's the produce:

We've got organic kiwi, limes, 2 organic jewel yams, an organic yellow onion, organic garlic, 4 organic avocados (how I love them), lots of serrano peppers, lots of jalapenos, a red bell pepper, a poblano pepper, organic red potatoes, a lemon, organic cilantro, bagged spinach, shiitake mushrooms, organic pink lady, piñata and gala apples.

And the rest of the stuff:

We have: organic long grain brown rice, Amy's Mushroom and Olive pizza, Amy's Roasted Vegetable pizza, regular Newman O's, dairy-free wheat-free Newman O's, organic blue corn taco shells (!), 2 spice jars, veggie broth, chocolate hemp milk, JASON Apricot Conditioner (not food, I know), organic millet, ground cinnamon, ground cumin, and pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds).

'Til next time!

Baked Beans, Cornbread and Spinach (Plus Cute Kitty Pics)

So last night for dinner, I made Happy Herbivore’s Baked Beans and Cornbread. I made steamed spinach instead of collards, because I’m just not sure I’m ready to try them yet. I’ve been told they have a ‘unique’ flavor that takes a bit to get used to, and I haven’t been feeling too brave lately. I can’t believe I didn’t try to make something like this at home sooner! It was super easy. And I like baked beans, I always have, it just wasn’t something I had very often growing up, which is why, I suppose, it has been under my radar for so long. I do have to say, I like the vegan version better than I remember liking the 'traditional' version.

I don’t use canned beans unless I have to, I personally feel like it’s a waste of money, raw materials, and that beans cooked at home taste much better, but I understand the convenience of them and will not chastise others for using them, just will avoid using them myself. With that in mind, I’m also not sure of the amount of cooked beans (from dried) equals a can of beans. Now I know that the standard can of beans contains roughly 2 cups, but there is also liquid in there. Anyways, I just used 2 cups of cooked navy beans and added a few extra tablespoons of water to account for what would have been in the can. Next time I make this, I won’t add the extra water, since as you can see from the picture, my beans were a bit ‘liquidy’, but they were still fantastic.















I thought I'd end this entry today with some random pictures of my lovable fur balls. I was inspired by Leng and her pictures of the adorable, and so cleverly named kitty, Miss Dottie (my favorite picture of Miss Dottie is here).















A rare picture of Nermal (left) and Gabby (right) laying together.

Nermal being spastic on her cat tree.















Gabby















Nermal looking quite curious.

That's all for now!

'Til next time.

Mom's Visit and Candy for Dinner

As I had mentioned, my mom came to visit yesterday. It was such a nice visit; I hadn’t seen her since I graduated from college last May. Much, much too long since I’d seen her. We had very good conversation, and a nice time downtown. We had originally been planning on going to a tea room for lunch, but after calling a locally owned Mexican restaurant to see if their refried beans were vegan (they are made with corn or vegetable oil – not great for you I know, but hey – it’s not lard), we decided to go there. It was pretty good, I had heard great things about the place, but had just never thought to go there. I had a veggie burrito with guacamole and a Mexican mango soda. After that, we went to the best coffee shop in town, Coffee Zone, and I had a soy latte, Brett had a mocha latte with regular milk. Man I love that place, they have the best espresso I have ever tasted.

We walked around downtown for awhile, my mom got to see some of the nice ‘trinket and knick knack stores’ that sell locally made artwork, and she really seemed to enjoy it. I think I’ll have to try to get her up again when the weather is nicer so we can spend more time down there.

We got a couple of pictures, and she gave her permission to have her picture put up on my blog (Mwaaaahaahaaa can’t back out now Mom!), so here they are. Warning: I don’t always take the greatest pictures.

She also brought up our Christmas presents. What a good job she did, they were very thoughtful gifts, and things that I have been wanting. She got us a new coffee maker, one of those where you can program it to start making coffee at a certain time (the coffee maker we have is pretty old), AND this one has a reusable filter. It doesn’t take those paper filters, which reduces a lot of waste! An environmentalist and coffee lovers dream. She also got us a tea kettle! I have wanted one for a long time, as we drink a lot of tea, but would just heat water up in a pan. Until now, wahoo! So I was very happy with her choices in gifts. Thanks Mom!

Last night for dinner I made Chandelle’s Ginger Roasted Winter Vegetables with Maple Coriander Seitan. I think Brett put it best himself, it was like eating candy for dinner that was good for you. We had it over quinoa, which was super good, quinoa is something I could eat plain, it is just that good. The only thing I didn’t like about this meal was the rutabaga, which is nothing to fault Chandelle for; her recipe doesn’t call for it. It really wasn’t too bad though, the rutabaga was white and the rest of the veggies were orange so it was easy to pick them out. The flavor of rutabaga reminded me a bit of the bad cabbagey flavor of poorly cooked Brussels Sprouts. I don’t mean to offend anyone who likes rutabaga, we all have our own tastes, but it was not at all pleasing to my palate. The squash, sweet potatoes and carrots were so sweet when they were roasted and the savory flavor of the seitan went so well with the sweetness of the veggies. We will definitely make this again, but you know, actually using the right root veggies.

My only complaint, which is a very weak one, is that it made a lot of food. But now I get take this ‘healthy candy’ for lunch tomorrow, so I think it worked out all right. :-)

‘Til next time!

It's Valentine's Day?!

I am probably the only female on the planet who did not know today was Valentine’s Day. I guess it just completely slipped by me. I found out this morning when I got to work and noticed a lot of sweet treats (but all very non-vegan of course) in the break room. I didn’t think too much of this as my co-workers bring in treats from time to time (as do I). Then one of my coworkers, Kathy, came in to tell me she made brownies with applesauce (they were dairy free, but had egg whites), so I asked what was up with all the baked goods. She gave me this odd look and said ‘Um, it’s Valentine’s Day!’ I’m sitting at my desk like, ‘is it really? Huh.’ Shows how much I pay attention to these things. I’m sure any of you reading my blog would probably suspect that I’m not super into corporate holidays. I read on another blog and wholeheartedly agreed that every day is a good day to show your partner (or friends, cats, whoever) that you love and appreciate them, not just one corporatized day of the year. I’m suspecting there were all sorts of ads on TV (probably to the effect of ‘go into debt and buy your wife a car and a giant diamond for Valentine’s Day or you’ll be sleeping on the couch’), but since I don’t watch TV, I (so sadly) missed out on the frenzied advertising campaign.

I was actually planning on blogging today about some food (of course), but also some thoughts I have had reading the book ‘War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning’ by Chris Hedges. It is a very fascinating book and most definitely makes you think about war in general, human nature, our predisposition for violence, etc. But seeing as how it’s Valentine’s Day, I’m sure no one wants to hear about war, so I’ll save that one for tomorrow or perhaps for Brett's blog as I'm not sure how interested the veg*n community is in my social and political rants.

One more thing before I get on to the food. I’m wondering how many of you out there has heard of the author Michael Pollan. I read his book ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’, and even though I wasn’t even an omnivore anymore when I read it, I highly enjoyed the book. He has a new book called ‘In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto’ that I’m interested in reading. Anyway, he was on Democracy Now! yesterday and as always the discussion was enlightening and fascinating. I really enjoyed his discussion on nutritionism (yes, like many other things this has now turned in to an –ism), finding it very interesting how he noted the American obsession with focusing on quick fix diets and specific nutrients. We do this to the point where we see food as merely a collection of nutrients, and even as we ‘learn more’ about nutrition we (Americans) keep getting fatter and more unhealthy. This has a lot to do with all the focus on particular nutrients, not our overall eating patterns, which allows for agribusiness and food science companies to sell their value-added ‘food-like substances’ (as Michael Pollan calls them), and make us think it’s good for us since it has antioxidants or less fat, even though it is more of a scientific concoction than actual food.

You see, the ambiguity of our nutritional advice (namely the USDA’s ‘Food Pyramid’) is not unintentional. Cattlemen’s associations, farmer’s associations, food manufacturing associations have a very large pull in the USDA, hence why they’ll never come out and tell you NOT to eat a certain product (as this could reduce business for the above stated organizations), but have no problem telling you to eat more of something than you really need (you can make money this way). It is easier just be vague and confuse everyone to the point where they think nutrition is too complicated for regular folks to understand, so they give up and go the McDonalds. Mission accomplished.

To be completely honest, there is no money to be made in telling people what they really need to hear: eat whole grains, fruits and veggies, avoid meat and dairy. It is that simple. Michael Pollan has a really nice one liner that pretty much says it all, ‘Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.’ Hard to believe it’s really that simple, eh? Just remember that for thousands of years, people did just fine by simply listening to their bodies and eating FOOD (not food-like substances), and a wide variety of it. And if anyone is interested in reading more about corporate and political influence on nutritional advice, I recommend ‘Food Politics’ by Marion Nestle (and pretty much all her other books as well).

Onto the food. I feel bad for spending this much time talking about other things when my dinner last night was truly amazing. This was seriously the best recipe I have tried for a long time. I made Happy Herbivore’s Maple Glazed Tofu. I was going to serve it over quinoa, but sadly I got home to realize that I only had about a quarter of a cup of quinoa. So sad. So I served it over brown rice and it was still fantastic. It was really easy to make. The tofu got nice in golden in the coconut oil. I am getting more comfortable with stir-frying (I’ve been reluctant to cook over such high heat for fear of burning stuff), but was brave last night and the tofu got all golden and crispy. Since I live with The Proverbial Sweet Tooth, I decided to make her variation for a sweeter glaze. Damn agave takes things to a different level, doesn’t it?















Both Brett and I are fans of steamed carrots, but I literally could have eaten the carrots and the Maple Glaze alone as a dessert. I’m honestly not sure when was the last time that I wolfed down something like I did this. I loved the glaze so much, I think I might try it with plain veggies, or as Brett suggested, make the Maple Glazed Tofu again and add more veggies like bell peppers and snap peas.

I brought the leftovers to work today for lunch to have with an arugula salad, and my mouth and belly were quite happy.

Now I understand why the Happy Herbivore is so happy, it is easy to be happy when your body is fueled with healthful, protein, vitamin, and mineral packed food that tastes delicious to boot! I’m going to try some of her simple Indian recipes here in a couple of weeks. If those are as good as this recipe, she may be my go-to-blogger for good, quick, healthy meals. I’ve been going through some of her archived recipes, and you all should too. (Oh, and just to let you know Lindsay, if all your food is as good as this recipe, you should write a cookbook too!)

'Til next time!

Omega 3 Oatmeal and Healthy Vegan Comfort Food

I forgot to mention in my last post that I made those pancakes with hemp milk. I saw it when I was at the store the other day and decided to pick it up to try it out. I have to say, it might now be my favorite non-dairy milk – it is really good and also high in Omega 3’s, awesome.

So, as I had mentioned in my last post, I was contemplating making some sort of spicy brunch dish, but somehow the morning got away from me, so I opted to make some oatmeal. Man I love oatmeal. I made Brett a bowl of Sweet Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal and made myself something I decided to call Omega 3 Oatmeal. It was a bit of an experiment, I just kind of threw some stuff together, but it was really good. Brett tasted it and said he liked it better than his oatmeal. I will definitely make this again soon.

Omega 3 Oatmeal
1/3 cup regular rolled oats
2/3 cup plain hemp milk
3-4 dried apricots, diced
2 tbsp ground flax seeds
2-4 tbsp agave
1 tbsp brown sugar
dash cinnamon

Stir all ingredients together in a sauce pan and bring to boil, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for a couple of minutes. Enjoy!

For dinner, I made Sautéed Seitan with Mushrooms and Spinach from Veganomicon and served it over quinoa. This recipe was alright, but if any of you out there make it, I would taste it before adding the salt called for, as ours turned out a bit salty. This was remedied by serving it over lots of quninoa. I really like quinoa, it is probably my favorite grain, and I feel like I don’t use it enough, Brett loves it as well, so I’m going to have to find more places to work it in! I also made Mashed Cauliflower for the first time. Lizzy gave me this recipe, but I believe she said she had gotten it from someone else. I apologize that I’m not crediting the original individual, but alas I don’t know who it was. Whoever made this up – wow, it was wonderful. Brett went to town on this. I think I’ve found a great way to get him more veggies.

I was really in the mood for veggies, so I also whipped up some of Lizzy’s Roasted Mustard Brussels Sprouts . She seems to be the Queen of Good Tasting Simple Veggies, and I don’t think I hate Brussels Sprouts anymore! Now these didn’t turn out as good as they probably could have, but this is my own error. I left my pizza stone in the oven, so the sprouts took forever to cook that is until I noticed I had left the stone in. I also think I’ll make more mustard sauce next time too, it was really good. The only thing I did differently in this recipe was use malt vinegar instead of balsamic at Lizzy’s recommendation.

This meal was vegan comfort food, and healthy to boot. I am stoked that I have leftovers for lunch at work tomorrow.

‘Til next time!