Until… I cease with the casual observer act and start seriously envisioning how I might make the treats myownself. I’m not much of a baker or candy-maker, so I’m generally at a very low risk for trying these sorts of things. But today, I had some time on my hands & needed to distract myself from worrying about a big presentation on Thursday. Thus, vegan peanut butter s’mores pies were born.

I discovered that I still had a pack of Angel Food vegan marshmallow mix from an ancient Cosmo’s order. I had purchased two kits & when the first attempt yielded an extremely sticky kitchen & gummed-up hand mixer, I hid the second pack. Catching sight of the expiration date persuaded me to go ahead and make them today.

And you know what? It wasn’t bad at all! I didn’t make a tragic mess or ruin any kitchen appliances. The first time I neglected mise en place, which turns out to be pretty important for some of the recipe’s rapid steps. (Mise en place: setting out, measuring & prepping all ingredients in their proper amounts ahead of time.)

A couple hours later, I made the lightly-flavored cookie base. I used Isa’s recipe for Graham Crackers with some very minor modifications. Furthermore, instead of rolling them out, scoring, and stabbing like real graham crackers, I used a glass to cut them into perfect little circles.

After the marshmallows had some time to cure, I turned them out of the pan:

And used a glass to make cut-outs.

I set one large marshmallow circle on each cookie.

Because the marshmallows set slightly irregularly, I smeared the peanut butter (mmmm vegan Smart Balance Rich Roast chunky) on the uneven side and then gently pressed it into the cookie, smooth side up. Like this:

Ah, that’s better.

All done!

I set all of the marshmallow towers on a drying rack so that when I dressed the completed creatures with chocolate it could just drip through onto the plastic wrap underneath it, rather than pooling.

On that note, I melted a bag of vegan chocolate with one tablespoon of vegan shortening in a makeshift double-boiler (metal pan over medium-sized pot of boiling water):

Using a large spoon I ladelled about two tablespoons of melted chocolate over each tower & used the spoon’s concavity to smooth out the edges & ensure even application.

Cross-section of the completely cooled treat…

…and my new best friend. Vegan peanut butter s’mores pies forever!

*Vegan marshmallows?! Why yes! That stuff most folks freak out over at campfires and in Rice Krispie treats is NOT suitable for vegetarians (& many people who follow religious dietary laws). Marshmallows are made with gelatin, a protein produced by partial hydrolysis of collagen extracted from the boiled bones, connective tissues, organs and some intestines of animals such as domesticated cattle, pigs, and horses. The natural molecular bonds between individual collagen strands are broken down into a form that rearranges more easily. Gelatin melts to a liquid when heated and solidifies when cooled again. Together with water, it forms a semi-solid colloid gel. Thanks, Wikipedia–ugh. I’ll stick with my vegan marshmallows, which use agar-agar (a sea plant) to set (available locally at Nature’s Nook.)

Today’s Harvest has been in the family for over fifty years, and while not organic (a high priority for me), their food is minimally treated. Perhaps the best part of visiting is interacting with the enthusiastic, knowledgeable staff. They make you feel like they just want you to be happy & healthy, and they’re positive that eating their produce is the way to get there. Who could resist buying food from folks like that? Moreover, who would want to?!

Friday afternoon I picked up edamame:

Poblano peppers:

Tomatillos:

Okra:

And lots of other things. Like PEACHES. (Which are only going to be around for another week, so if you’re already in the area, get ye thence!)

Another reason Today’s Harvest rocks is because the folks know when to harvest okra. I’ve lectured on this topic before: okra should not be allowed to grow past the length of a lady’s finger! Ignore my wrinkly, dry hands and observe:

Much of the world knows it by the name “lady’s finger” not just because it is slender & sports a pointed tip, but because it tastes best when it is diminutive. Long, thick pieces are often dry and woody and full of tough seeds. To be fair, some folks like to use the longer pieces in gumbos & stews, when the vegetable simmers for a long time. I suppose tough okra might hold its shape better for those kinds of dishes. I’m not convinced.

I’d found some veggie chorizo on manager’s special at Kroger a couple weeks ago (don’t worry, it was still very much within date) but wasn’t inspired to make anything til the poblanos came home. I decided to do stuffed poblanos baked in red sauce and accompanied by basmati rice with tomatillo salsa. For the red sauce/salsa,

• I combined two or three ruby tomatoes with a smallish sweet onion, fresh cilantro, cumin, dried oregano, salt, a bunch of minced garlic and one 6oz can of (unsalted) organic tomato paste in my food processor and pulsed til it was thoroughly combined and salsa-like.

I poured this mess into a 13″-9″ casserole and then got to work stuffing the small poblanos. I (gently!) cut each in half and (delicately!) removed the pith and seeds. I stuffed each half with some of the cooked chorizo and pressed it into the red sauce. Like this!

I baked them at 375 for 35 minutes; the first 15 they were covered with foil so as to steam-cook the peppers. (You could also help tenderize the peppers by boiling them for 5 minutes after prepping & before stuffing.) They looked like this when finished:

Ugh, writing this post is making me hungry again.

One of the sweet ladies at Today’s Harvest encouraged me to broil the tomatillos in my big cast-iron skillet and then whip them up with a bunch of other things to make a salsa. How I did it:

• Remove the papery skins from the tomatillos and toss into the skillet.
• Remove the papery skin from a head of garlic and toss into the skillet.
• Cut two jalepenos lengthwise, seed, and toss into the skillet.
• Cook under the broiler for five minutes.
• Remove from broiler, set garlic aside (the internet tells me it can get bitter if roasted too long), stir, and return to oven.
• Cook under broiler for another five minutes. Keep an eye on it, just in case you have a super-powered oven and it blackens everything much quickly. It should look about like this:

Put the contents of the skillet along with the garlic in a food processor with a cup of cilantro, another small sweet onion, and a teaspoon or so each of cumin and salt. Pulse til the consistency looks right, or, you know, about like this:

The finished plate:

Here’s what I came home with today:

Tonight’s dinner was stir-fried kale, several cups of steamed edamame, and six or so peaches. Oh summertime, I’mma miss you when you’re gone.

Today’s Harvest is located at US 40 and Rt. 320, New Paris, OH, 45347, open 10-6 Monday-Saturday. You can call ahead at (937) 877-6030 to find out what they’re especially proud of that day.

It appears that on this particular night I went a little insane. Thinking back, it must have been the very last vegan co-op dinner of Earlham Animal Advocates United faithfuls: Benji, Jenny, Suzanne, Erinn, Hannah, & Tamar. The menu was comfort food; on the eve of summer, the last big heavy meal of the season. Benji & Jenny were the only two to make it, but they ate EVERYTHING.

The main course: no-chick’n pot pies. An original recipe and one of the best things that comes out my kitchen, it’s also super labor intensive.

• First, chop all the (organic organic organic) onions, carrots & celery quite small and saute them in the skillet with oil. Do the onions & celery first, then add the carrots and spices–a mixture of organic marjoram, thyme, oregano and whatever else sounds good. I’m partial to the first two.
• For protein, re-constitute some large-chunk TVP or used cubed extra firm tofu. If using TVP, chop it into bite-sized pieces: this helps it absorb the flavor & is more appealing to your delicate guests. Saute protein of choice in a skillet with a little oil, tamari, black pepper, & nutritional yeast.
• Prepare a vegan brown gravy. Make something easy like Bryanna’s no-fat, or go all out and do the Grit’s: up to half a container of earth balance, full-fat soymilk, lotsa tamari, nutritional yeast–tons of flavor.
• Finally, mix all this together in a big ol’ bowl:

Ta-da! That’s a lot of the recipe, but not everything.

Pour the filling to pie plates or casseroles. I doubled this recipe (because I THOUGHT I was feeding 8), so I had a lot of filling to go around:

Make the biscuit crust. Find a great recipe & go for it. Roll out the dough and use a small glass (not drinking-size, but one down) to cut out pretty little circles. Start from the middle and go outward so you don’t waste as much dough. I suppose if you wanted to be heart-breakingly lazy you could just lay the rolled-out dough over the casserole like a pie crust & do it up that way. But if I recommended that, I probably wouldn’t take so much time cutting up pretty little circles, now would I?

Apply the crust:

It looks about like this when you’re all done:

As is evident, you can use the little pieces of extra biscuit dough to fill in the corners/edges. Or, you know, just eat them.

Bake it! 350 for… half an hour? Twenty minutes? Check & see when your biscuits start to look a done. Because the filling is already cooked, it’s not necessary for it to be in the oven for ages. You’re really just trying to get the biscuits cooked through–crusty on the outside and soft within. Like this:

Ah, the macaroni and cheese…it’s all coming back to me now. This is possibly the best ever macaroni recipe. Forget it Daiya fans–this stuff’s tops, the monarch of Macs. Brian gave me this recipe in 2008 & it’s still my favorite based solely on the number of people (emphasis on PEOPLE-veg & non) it’s made deliriously happy. It’s worth buying the new Farm cookbook just for this recipe, though increase the amount of nutritional yeast from one cup to two. Jenny, take note.

I mean, look at this.

And here’s some boring boring skillet corn. Seriously, scrape the corn off the cob, add some earth balance, add some soy milk, add some white pepper, add some salt, heat. the end.

Cutting into the pot-pie:

Worthy of a deep-south diner, or, as it were, a last meal.

Apart from taking half a day, this meal is super rich–which is why I only make it a few times a year, usually for special events & non-vegetarians. That’s right, flesh-eaters, you betta watch your waist around this bitch. It tastes soooooooo good because it has 60 grams of fat and three days’ worth of calories. But all you’ll hear is my sweet little southern accent: “Go on sugar, have a second helpin’. I got chocolate cake in there for dessert.”

Well, check out what David’s have become in just three days:

I’ve long thought that any honest pepper would change its spots with time: all colored bell peppers start out green, maturing to red, yellow, purple, even brown! But a quick check reminded me that there are some green bell varieties that will not turn. I wonder if the uniform specimens found in most grocery stores–genetically modified for perfection–have had the ability to become brilliant bred right out. Too bad: we lose not only aesthetic value, but nutrients as well: colored peppers can have double the vitamin C.

Colored peppers are more expensive because they require more care–they spend more time on the vine, after all! So if you want this at home, get a green pepper within hours of its being picked–say, from a farmer’s market. (If you get an old pepper that’s lived in a climate-controlled environment since the harvest, it’ll likely go soft [rot] from sitting out, thus undermining your whole experiment.) And if you happen to be growing your own, just let the “green” bell pepper sit on the vine and see what happens.

The peppers should be ready for use by tomorrow night, when I hope to pair them with tempeh. I’ve got a few blocks I need to use up before the fast-approaching expiration date; tonight I incorporated it into a simple rotini primavera:

Yesterday I made bhindi masala with the brilliant mango powder (amchoor) that arrived from the spice house. (Apparently they didn’t lose my order after all!) Amchoor powder is basically my favorite ingredient. And since four ounces is less than four dollars, you should get some and make your own. Here’s the recipe I’ve refined over many skillets-worth:

• prep, FROZEN: Steam 1lb whole frozen okra til it’s cooked through; rinse with cool water. Cut the stem-ends off; slice lengthwise in two.
• prep, FRESH: Steam 1lb okra til al dente; rinse; cut the stem-ends; slice lengthwise in two.
• Chop two or three small-to-medium tomatoes.
• Chop a white or vidalia onion or two, depending on how much you love onions
• Toss onion into a preheated, oiled, large cast iron skillet. I usually use 2 tbsp of olive or canola oil.
• Cook onions over medium to med-high heat til soft, a little brown, so long as they’re cooked; it’s really up to you.
• Add in a teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of mango powder, 1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne, and 1/2-3/4tsp tumeric. Stir fry a minute or two.
• Add in the tomatoes, mix thoroughly with the spices.
• Add in the okra. If using fresh okra, mix thoroughly, put a lid on it, and let it steam of a while (now on medium heat). If using frozen, it’ll probably already be mostly cooked from the steaming, so you just need to mix thoroughly and let it simmer for a few minutes so that the flavors can mix.
• Serves two hungry folks; four or more if it’s being offered alongside other things.

Here’s what it should look like when you’re just adding the okra:

And here’s about what it looks like when it’s done: (using ripe green tomatoes; red will result in a different hue).

Lovely zebras.

This dish is my favorite thing to make for dinner because it’s naturally high in calcium (20% DV per serving) and low in calories. A pound of okra only has about 130 calories in it TOTAL, and a few fresh tomatoes, onions, and spices in the recipe don’t add many more. Just go easy on the oil and all that refined basmati rice you’re eating with it.

Finally, don’t forget to give to Pakistanis suffering the greatest natural disaster of our time.

You can text “SWAT” to 50555 from your phone to give $10 and help flood victims. Doctors Without Borders physicians are “working around the clock” to meet the needs of the displaced, focussing on providing clean water, treating diarrhea, and providing women’s health services–as amid the tragedy, babies continue to be born. Church World Servicecontinues to provide food and disaster supplies.

Highlights: Assortment of red, gold, & blue potatoes from David Reed, an elderly couple, & Earlham’s Miller Farm; onions from Preston; cabbage from a good-natured Polish woman who lived through the war (& has been farming since!); two peppers from the same, purple by way of green, with a slow-glow to red; heirloom garlic from Arden Hearth; heirloom tomatoes; squashes for a tempeh dish; eggplant for roasting; carrots from David for munching; jalepenos to give curries a kick.

Peppers after a luminous week-long vacation in the windowsill:

Incidentally, I mentioned this magic to David Reed on Saturday when I picked up a couple of big green bells from him. He had no idea! The ones he sold me for sixty cents apiece are slowly turning a lovely orange in the same spot.

Friday night I made baked tofu with sesame flavors, new potatoes in a wasabi creme gravy, peanut noodles, and edamame & fresh corn in radicchio. Tofu pressed for well over an hour + three days worth of marinating = intense saturation of flavor.

Saturday lunch was pineapple & onion burritos from La Mexicana, but that night was special. I had made fresh seitan a few days prior and whipped it out for a caribbean jerk recipe. Served with mashed roasted sweet potatoes (soymilk + earth balance + maple syrup + salt), and sweet-and-sour kale, a rhapsody in flavor:

Quite happily, this meal reminded me of one I shared with an aforementioned beloved at Calabash Vegetarian Kitchen in Atlanta. Success!

Lazy Sunday morning? Brunch! Doesn’t it look like these fluffy orange scones, studded with organic zest & dressed in a home-made citrus glaze, are about to levitate from the plate? Divinity!

The main course was asparagus & sun-dried tomato frittata, one of my favorite recipes from Vegan With a Vengeance (from whence the scone recipe comes, too!), and a sad attempt at hashbrowns. Clearly my line-cook days are too far behind me… I just couldn’t get ‘em crispy enough. Oh well, I’m not crying over one miss among so many successes! Especially when we just smothered ‘em ketchup.

Note: The scones also take a while (setting time for the glaze), but if you own Vegan With a Vengeance you’d be a fool not to try them. However! The recipe is wrong, wrong, wrong when it comes to the amount of flour you’ll need to use. Isa says 3 cups of all-purpose flour, but the dough didn’t reach the right consistency til I’d added around four cups. And when it says soy creme, you really can just use soymilk.

I hope Nate’s fam felt extra-special loved. As with Ayurvedic cooks, I deeply believe that one’s goodwill is transmitted through food during the cooking process. And while my kitchen certainly isn’t ritually clean, the intent is there. I’ve joked that cooking is the only thing I get “right”… not because of special skill or years of practice, but because from mincing to garnishing, I’m thinking about how much I like the person I’m feeding. May you be blessed with the same treatment!

Though I was disheartened at the general lack of awareness of the tragedy, I was overwhelmed with support, love, prayers, and encouragement. We collected $197 towards Church World Service (a cooperative ministry of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations, providing sustainable self-help, development, disaster relief, and refugee assistance around the world). RCoB is definitely a place where, if you have a passion, people will support you. That’s how the charitable knitting group Loops of Love got such a strong following, and how the (computer) hardware co-op got started, too. I feel blessed to be a part of such a caring, service-oriented community.

I have a tendency to belittle myself & my accomplishments. I’m simultaneously great at lifting up others even as I tear myself down: for example, just today I took someone’s attempt at giving a meaningful compliment & turned it, in two sentences, into a paean to their awesomeness. So it was good to acknowledge that, had I not put this thing together, it would have been just my little $35 going towards the food package of rice, wheat flour, beans, sugar, cooking oil, tea and salt (basics for a family for a month). But because I had the courage to invite others in, $162 (and perhaps more) was also given. I hope I have the guts to do this sort of thing again in the future.

If you’re interested in giving to help repair lives caught in perhaps the single greatest natural disaster of our time (yes, more people affected than the South-East Asian tsunami & earthquakes in Kashmir & Haiti combined), I recommend Church World Service (obvies) or Doctors Without Borders. Either of those links go directly to the gift pages.

I made some fried green tomatoes to go with a lunch of left-overs:

Nope, not much to look at.

Some vegan mac-n-cheese, topped with Daiya:

In the afternoon Nate & I played Lord of the Rings Risk on the front lawn and drank my favorite Rogue, hazelnut brown nectar. Several friends passed by; it was nice to experience the ambient people noise, as there are generally very few opportunities for that sort of thing in Richmond.

For dinner I made another bhindi with perfect little green zebras.

A little while ago we went to see Nagini, our friend Patrick’s little lady lizard. Her name is actually Kudu and she’s a blue-tongued skink.

Under Nate’s skateboard at the old apartment:

I’m still too afraid to pick her up, but I ADORE her. I bring her watermelon (a seeming favorite) at every opportunity. Patrick’s aware of my ardor; he dropped off a key with a note saying he’d be out of town for a few days and that she wouldn’t really need to be checked on, but I might appreciate the key anyway.

Risk is kind of a long game so we had to finish up just before bed. I am the Risk master; Nate didn’t stand a chance. I did so well I had to start using the other “good” color pieces. Check out this army invading northward from Osgiliath:

Enough for now!

Too bad it’s also totally inappropriate to sing in most company.

My kitchen, though: my rules.

I found some eggplants in the fridge and decided to make baigan bharta, since I hadn’t in ages. It was great! The only downside was running out of time prior to our 7:20 showing of Scott Pilgrim vs the World, rushing out with only rhubarb soda to sustain us. Thank goodness bharta improves with a good long sit. We ate at nearly 10, greedily shoving forkfuls of mashed mad apple into our mouths as we ruminated over lost relationships. Probably would have been a lot more depressing without the baigan. Definitely.

Yesterday I made my old standby, bhindi masala. I’m almost out of amchoor powder, and since I sadly won’t be making it to the Dekalb Farmer’s Market anytime soon, I ordered from Chicago’s spice house. Only they lost my order, and now I’ll probably be out before it gets to me! I can’t win at anything.

This bhindi was possibly the best ever because of the addition of heirloom Green Zebra tomatoes from earlham’s Farm and Jan & Dan’s Arden Hearth garden. I am now addicted to green zebras and bought almost five pounds at the market today to use in everything.

We’re still getting settled into this gorgeous new house. The best part is watching the cats explore the place. They’re both mighty curious. One late night, while unpacking about 10,000lbs of textiles, Perl decided to climb into the closet. Adorableness ensued:

Oh, herro.

Whaa, you is working? I are in your way?

I are good cat, for once. Goodbye!