Parties, cakes & cukes

More work in the garden today, planting another batch of peas and the sole watermelon seedling that survived.

Yesterday was child's birthday so we ate lots of cake, saw lots of friends and got presents-- which included seeds for a butterfly garden. We planted that today too.

We had one locally grown cucumber left so we are making sun pickles. Child cut the cuke, we nabbed dill from the garden and we shoved them into a pint mason jar. I splashed in less than 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar and filled the rest of the jar with water. We gave it a good shake and child set it in the sun.

More pickling

The first jar of solar pickles lasted less than 2 days. Child and I decided to repeat the experiment, using up our leftover farm fresh cucumbers and carrots.

We used one pint sized ball jar for each.

Ingredients
(in the order we put them in the jar)

In the cuke jar
- a big handful of dill from the garden
- between 1/2 and 3/4 teaspoon fresh ground salt
- 3/4 teaspoon minced garlic
- 3/4 of a large farm fresh cucumber, sliced, and artfully stuffed into jar
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- fill half the jar with apple cider vinegar
- add 2 teaspoons It's a Dilly (I'm hoping the lemon flavor will add some pizzazz to my pickles)
- fill the rest of the jar with water
SHAKE

For the carrots:
- large amounts of dill from the garden
- 1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic
- 3/4 teaspoon fresh ground salt
- 3/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- carrots, in sticks, to fill jar
- fill half of jar with apple cider vinegar
- fill the rest of the jar with water

Venison loin in the crock pot

My mother gave me some venison so I soaked some in brine this morning. I placed a loin in a solution of water, vinegar, pepper and salt. In a fit of indecision, I added apple cider and balsamic vinegar.

After a couple hours, I tossed it in my skillet with a couple tablespoons of canola oil and seared it on medium high for about three minutes on each of three sides.

I tossed it in the crock pot on low with water, a touch of garlic powder, a few shredded leaves of fresh sage and sorrel and a hearty squirt (about 3 ounces?) of Newman's Own Raspberry Walnut dressing.

Broccoli slaw

I bought broccoli slaw at wegmans to use as filling for egg rolls and forgot the egg roll wrappers. I decided to prepare a cold broccoli slaw salad using this dressing from Cooks.com:

1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. Miracle Whip
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. vinegar

But we all know I won't stick to the recipe so let's see what I throw in my pot.

- left the sugar at 1/2 cup because my family doesn't like vinegar, so the sugar will balance that.
- not quite 1/2 cup Miracle whip (the Aldi kind)
- oil: split 50/50 between olive and canola, with a tablespoon of walnut
- vinegar: 50/50 apple cider vinegar and champagne vinegars

Now, the recipe says to heat until combined and add nuts, golden raisins, carrots etc. as desired.

I have 12 ounces of broccoli slaw, which is strips of broccoli [stem], carrots and red cabbage. I'm going to use some really good peanuts I have and chopped some of my dried pineapple. I don't know if I'll add anything else. Probably sunflower seeds.

Chill 1 hour before serving.

Okay, so I ended up adding three grated organic carrots and I probably could have added more. I added about 1.5 cups unsalted kettle cooked peanuts, about 1 cup sunflower seeds (unsalted), about 1/4 cup raisins, 2 dried pineapple rings chopped into tiny squares.

This could easily be vegan if you use a soy mayonnaise instead of Miracle whip style product.

I ate THREE servings. Got my veggies for the day.

Cornbread and refried beans

The old vegan cornbread recipe:

Preheat oven to 350. These muffins, or cornbread, need to go in a hot oven as soon as they're mixed.

* 1.5 cups yellow cornmeal
* 1/2 cup flour
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1.5 cups soy milk
* 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
* 1/4 cup vegetable oil
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix dry ingredients. In separate bowl, mix wet ingredients. Pour liquid into dry, mix until just combined. Bake 30-40 minutes. Note: You may not need quite that much oil.

Now, using this recipe from the Food Network as a base, I am going to attempt refried black beans.

Ingredients

* 1 cup dried pinto beans, soaked overnight in a large bowl with water to cover by 2-inches, and drained
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/2 cup bacon drippings or lard
* 1 cup chopped yellow onions
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1 tablespoon minced, seeded jalapeno
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* Pinch cayenne
* 1/2 teaspoon chopped oregano
* 1/2 cup grated queso blanco
* 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro, garnish

Directions

In a medium, heavy pot, combine the beans, bay leaf, and enough water to cover by 1 to 2 inches. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are very tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours, adding more water as necessary to keep covered. When the beans are soft, mash in the pot with a potato masher or the back of heavy wooden spoon. Remove from the heat.

In a large, heavy skillet, heat the bacon fat over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeno, chili powder, cumin, salt, and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Add the beans and any cooking liquid from the pot, and the oregano, and stir to combine. Cook, stirring with a heavy wooden spoon, until the mixture forms a thick paste, 5 to 10 minutes, adding water 1 tablespoon at a time to keep from getting dry.

Remove from the heat and transfer to a decorative bowl. Sprinkle with the cheese and cilantro, and serve.

My version:
I started with the old Le Creuset skillet. Out of habit, I slapped a couple tablespoons of butter into it, forgetting I wanted them to be vegan. The beans. So I quickly switched to extra virgin olive oil. I didn't measure anything, perhaps 'cause I'm brave, also because I'm reckless.

I got a bag of beans from the freezer. A ziploc sandwich baggie full of black beans. I thawed them in the microwave on defrost, smashing them periodically with my fingers. I added some homegrown oregano, a sprinkle of four-color organic peppercorn, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin and a dash of paprika.

Cornbread and sausages

Tonight I'm planning cornbread and spinach-asiago chicken sausages. I had planned to make Eileen Bresslin's vegan cornbread recipe but I ran out of soy milk.

Eileen's recipe:

Preheat oven to 350. These muffins, or cornbread, need to go in a hot oven as soon as they're mixed.

• 1.5 cups yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1.5 cups soy milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix dry ingredients. In separate bowl, mix wet ingredients. Pour liquid into dry, mix until just combined. Bake 30-40 minutes. Note: You may not need quite that much oil.

I added parsley and flax seed to mine tonight.

Now for the sausage... I decided to try and make a sauce. In the bottom of the pan I started with:

• About 1/4 cup apple juice
• About 1/4 cup chicken broth
• About one teaspoon cornstarch

Whisk as bring to a boil to reduce and thicken. It smelled sweet, so I added:

• About 1/2 teaspoon four color peppercorns
• About 3/4 teaspoon garlic pepper
• About 3/4 teaspoon garlic
• About 1/8 teaspoon curry

After it seriously thickened, I added:

• three spinach asiago chicken sausages, sliced
• about 1 cup French cut green beans, frozen and thawed in the microwave

Then I served with the cornbread, using some of the excess sauce as gravy.

(Note: These are the same sausages I got at the warehouse club a few weeks ago and had in the freezer. We've eaten them in pasta sauce, and as sausage sandwiches, and now this funky recipe.)

Modified Ugly Bean Dip

We needed a quick vegetable-rich dinner, so we made ugly bean dip. We modified the recipe based on what we had on hand:

Sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup sugar
(I did not use it all)
Boil and cool.

Dip ingredients, mix in bowl:
red onion to taste, finely diced (about 3/4 cup for me)
3 small tomatoes from the garden, diced
about 1 cup finely diced cucumber
about 1 cup yellow corn
one can black beans, drained

Pour sauce on ingredients and stir.

We didn't have the fancy scoop Fritos so we ended up dumping the fritos on top of our dip on the plate and spooning it into our mouths instead of dipping.

Cucumber salad

Shannon made cucumber salad for her family reunion. She doesn't measure so I figure I'd make an approximation of what she did, because it looks very yummy.

Shan's Cucumber Salad

• 1/2 one large red onion, diced
• 1 large can black olives, either sliced or mooshed by hand
• About 4 large cucumbers, in large chunks
  
• Ranch dressing (somewhere 2/3 cup?)
• Apple cider vinegar (around one cup?)
• Flax seed (about three teaspoons)
• garlic powder (about four tablespoons, to taste)
• dill or It's a Dilly (about four tablespoons, to taste)

Combine and chill. Serve once flavors blend.

Curried Vegetables with whole wheat pasta

I lost two days?!?!? How did I lose two days?
Okay, let's not talk about that. But I will admit that I was chagrined to note that I spent $200 on dining out in the month of April. Not good. My grocery budget was $220, which normally would be good had I not splurged so much with the take-out/dining. My job is seasonal and I don't work in June and July. Basically, I could have saved that money and used it to buy groceries in June. I'm mad at myself.
Anyway...

We all came home starving today and my in-laws had served my daughter crappy grocery-store bakery-made pizza for lunch for the second time this week. She had an apple for breakfast, some grapes mid-morning and no other real food that I know of so I needed something fast and full of vegetables.
Curry popped into mind.
I've never made curry.
But that's never stopped me before.
I whip out my vegetarian cookbooks, but quickly feel like I'm looking for a proverbial needle in a haystack. With a hungry family, that's not a good feeling. I grab the laptop and google "curry pasta sauce." Get several hits. Like this one:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/pasta-with-low-fat-curry-sauce.html#

INGREDIENTS

(as originally listed)

8 ounces dry pasta
3 tablespoons slivered almonds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1/2 cup diced tomato
1 1/2 teaspoons mild curry powder
Pinch cayenne, or to taste
1 cup frozen peas, rinsed briefly in hot water to thaw
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Okay, I look around my kitchen. I have:
13.25 ounces of whole wheat penne pasta
1/4 cup slivered almonds
olive oil
cumin powder
one can diced tomato with garlic
curry powder
[I forgot to look for cayenne]
frozen peas
frozen cauliflower, carrots and broccoli
1 cup soy milk and 1 cup dehydrated milk which I add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to so it "cooks" more like buttermilk.

1. Prepare pasta.
2. While pasta cooks, toast almonds in skillet and set aside.
3. Thaw vegetables.
4. Put spices and tomatoes into skillet. Add a drizzle of olive oil as needed to keep from burning.
5. Add vegetables. Drizzle with olive oil and heat until hot.
6. Reduce heat and stir in milk, simmer until a consistent temperature.
7. Drain pasta. Combine pasta and sauce.
8. Sprinkle almonds on top.