Family Portrait

Here is the finished product of our family portrait. We took a picture outside of our house that I then glued onto the painted canvas. The little girl flying through the rainbow is from a youtube super cute clip, and says "I love my whole house": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR3rK0kZFkg. The lucky cat in the sky is a little plastic solar-powered cat in our window sill that is our house mascot, and sunshine! And the pink quote is from a Buddhist meditation/praying session Justin and Gina attended with our neighbor. It became a house quote and was something we felt needed to be represented on the portrait. We even have the accurate house address that I clipped from a picture and pasted onto the canvas as well. For those who haven't seen my new house in Denver, just look at this portrait and you'll see it all!

Barley, chili and squash

I had the fortune of having a bunch of fall recipes to browse through thanks to a great package Oma sent me. I had fun looking through the options and picking out a few that sounded and tasty. I made three nice dishes tonight that I look forward to enjoying this week. Recipes to follow:

Roasted Squash and Tomatoes

• 1 small acorn squash: (NOT peeled), halved, seeded and thinly sliced
• 2 medium tomatoes: cut into wedges
• 1 small red onion, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• EVOO 2 T
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• S & P

1. Toss veggies with seasoning and roast at 425, stirring once until tender, about 40 mins. 

Quinoa and Roasted Pepper Chili (previously posted) with Pumpkin

• 2 red bell peppers
• 2 poblano chiles
• 4 t EVOO
• 3 c chopped zucchini: 2 green, 1 yellow
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion: 1 yellow onion
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 T chili powder
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1/2 t paprika/I used cayenne
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup uncooked quinoa, I used cooked quinoa that I made yesterday and just through in soup
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 (14.5 oz) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes with chipotles--couldn't find with chipotles
• 1 (15 oz) can no-salt-added pinto beans, rinsed and drained (I used 32 oz can)
• 1 cup low sodium vegetable juice--didn't use
• 1 cup pumpkin puree, didn't add too much taste, but is nice to know is there :)

1. Heat pan with oil. Add zucchini, onion, garlic, peppers and saute 4 mins. Stir in chili powder, cumin, paprika, saute 30 secs.
2. Add 1/2 cup water and remaining ingredients; bring to boil. Reduce heat to med-low; cover and simmer for 20 mins or until quinoa is tender. Since I used already cooked quinoa, I just added it in and cooked long enough for flavors to merge.

Butternut Squash Barley Risotto (from Good Housekeeping)

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/butternut-squash-barley-risotto-recipe-ghk1011

• 2 tablespoon(s) margarine or butter
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 sprig(s) fresh thyme
• 2 cup(s) pearl barley
• 4 cup(s) lower-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 cup(s) water
• 1 large (2 1/2-pound) butternut squash, peeled and seeded, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 ounce(s) Parmesan cheese, grated (2/3 cup)
• 2 tablespoon(s) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

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Directions

1. In 12-inch skillet, melt 1 tablespoon margarine on medium-high. Add shallots and cook 2 minutes or until golden, stirring often. Add thyme; cook 30 seconds. Add barley and cook 2 minutes or until toasted and golden, stirring often.
2. Transfer to 6-quart slow cooker bowl, along with broth, water, squash, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook on high 3 1/2 to 4 hours or until liquid is absorbed and squash is tender.
3. Uncover; discard thyme. Add Parmesan, remaining tablespoon margarine, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Gently stir until margarine and Parmesan melt. Transfer one-third of mixture to container; refrigerate up to 3 days. Transfer remaining mixture to serving dishes and garnish with parsley.

Pumpkins, seeds, and cookies

Chasel, the girl I mentor, and I hung out today and wanted to do some fun activities to prepare for Halloween. We started by making vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (see recipe below). I added some pumpkin seeds and oats to 1/2 the batch, a great addition if I do say so myself. Then Oma had sent me a bunch of great seasonal ideas, so we picked our favorite and recreated it. See pictures:

Day of the Dead jack o lantern, picture from magazine

Our re-creation of the jack-o-lantern. We didn't have white paint, so ours is purple. We used jelly beans and Cheerios for the decorations around the eyes. Since Dusty, my past supervisor and the Dreamer teacher that Chasel has known since third grade, loves Day of the Dead and her birthday is November 2nd, we are going to gift her this marvelous pumpkin as part 1 of her birthday gift!

It was really hard to keep the candy from falling off so we used my blow dryer to help dry the Modge Podge (glue) faster.

We also made two other jack o lanterns. Chasel's is the happy pumpkin on the left. Mine is the goofy smiling spider on the right.

Here is a side shot of the spider's legs on my pumpkin.

My pumpkin is crafted after this goofy Halloween hat, which is a crucial part of my costume as a Halloween Decoration!

Pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies

http://veganfling.blogspot.com/2012/08/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

1.5 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C vegetable oil
1.5 C pumpkin puree
1/4 C applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C vegan chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk together the oil and the brown sugar. Add in the pumpkin, applesauce, and vanilla and combine. In another bowl mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well. Stir in your chocolate chips.

Using a spoon or cookie scoop, drop the cookie batter onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Spicy Pumpkin Seeds

http://www.elanaspantry.com/chili-roasted-pumpkin-seeds/

• 1 cup pumpkin seeds
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chili powder, and cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper

1. Place pumpkin seeds in a bowl and mix with ingredients. 
2. Place on baking sheet at 350F and bake for about 15 minutes, stir and bake another 5. 

Sweet, cinnamony Pumpkin Seeds

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?recipeID=55393&origin=detail&servings=12&metric=false

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dried 1/2 cup margarine, melted 2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger 1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	Combine the pumpkin seeds, margarine, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl; stir to coat the seeds. Spread the seeds in a single layer in a 10x15 inch jelly roll pan.
3.	Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes; stir and return to oven for 15 minutes more; remove from oven and sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over the seeds; stir to coat. Return to oven and bake another 15 minutes before removing again to sprinkle with remaining sugar and stirring. Bake another 15 minutes. Allow to cool before serving. Store leftover seeds in an airtight container.

Miso Soup, Vegetable Terriyaki Bowls, Coconut Pancakes

I made Sunday family dinner this week and went with an Asian theme. We started with miso soup as an appetizer and then moved on to vegetable terriyaki bowls. For dessert, we finished with coconut pancakes and bananas in coconut milk. Robyn was right, the bananas in coconut milk totally taste like bananas foster! I was trying to bring Robyn to family dinner by having Asian, some Thai-influenced food!

Miso soup. Not as good as I've had it in restaurants, but somewhat similar. I'd give it a 6/10. This recipe came from my 500 Vegan Recipes. I used a mixture of brown rice miso and soybean miso. 

I made a LOT of miso soup! I even froze some!!

This is Justin's bowl of soup with a little white plate next to it (top right). Him and Gina picked out the somewhat slimy-silken tofu. I felt they might not like it but I was really shooting for as traditional as I could!

Brown rice with steamed green beans, snap peas, corn, carrots, green bell pepper and sauteed purple cabbage. Topped with homemade terriyaki sauce, green onions and avocado. Delicioso!!

Reviews on terriyaki sauce:

Gina: "I want to drink this for breakfast."

Justin: "I am going to shower in this tomorrow morning."

Coconut pancake with bananas in coconut milk and a little bit of mint on top! SO GOOD!!

Bananas in coconut milk! Recipe came from our Thai cookbook that we got from our neighbor who was giving a lot of books away!

http://my-vegetarian-recipes.blogspot.com/2009/04/thai-coconut-pancake.html


Ingredients

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Coconut milk: 200 ml(I used store bought coconut milk)
Rice flour: 100 gms
Sugar: 6 tbsp(I used granulated sugar so that it can easily dissolve in coconut milk)
Salt: 1/8th tsp
Flax seed meal: 1 tbsp
Water: 3 tbsp
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Refined Oil for frying
Food color: optional(I used orange, yello and green and plain with vanilla flavour)
Procedure

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1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Whisk flaxseed meal in water in another bowl.
3. Add coconut milk to the whisked flax seed meal and mix well.
4. Add dry ingredients to this mixture and mix well to combine.
5. Add food color if desired.
6. Heat pan/tava, add 1/2 tsp oil and spread it. Once the tava is hot, add a laddle of pancake batter.(Need not spread it)
7. Add some more oil over the edges of the pan cake.(1/2 tsp)
8. Once it is fried, turn the pancake so that the top portion is fried well.
9. Once the pan cake is fried well, remove from tava.
10. If desired, garnish with shredded, fried coconut.(I did not do this)
Homemade Applesauce
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sarahs-applesauce/
INGREDIENTS:

4 apples - peeled, cored and chopped 3/4 cup water

1/4 cup white sugar 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1.

In a saucepan, combine apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft. Allow to cool, then mash with a fork or potato masher. I got a whole bunch of avocados from a friend from Berkeley who stayed at our place for a night. Justin was begging for some homemade guacamole, so I made a nice big bowl of guac today. I didn't have fresh cilantro, biggest downside. However, no one seemed to mind as we all dug into it pre-dinner! Homemade Guacamole http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_guacamole/ INGREDIENTS 2 ripe avocados 1/2 red onion, minced (about 1/2 cup) 1-2 serrano chiles, stems and seeds removed, minced 2 tablespoons cilantro (leaves and tender stems), finely chopped 1 tablespoon of fresh lime or lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt A dash of freshly grated black pepper 1/2 ripe tomato, seeds and pulp removed, chopped Garnish with red radishes or jicama. Serve with tortilla chips. METHOD 1 Cut avocados in half. Remove seed. Scoop out avacado from the peel, put in a mixing bowl. (See How to Cut and Peel an Avocado.) 2 Using a fork, roughly mash the avocado. (Don't overdo it! The guacamole should be a little chunky.) Add the chopped onion, cilantro, lime or lemon, salt and pepper and mash some more. Chili peppers vary individually in their hotness. So, start with a half of one chili pepper and add to the guacamole to your desired degree of hotness. Be careful handling the peppers; wash your hands thoroughly after handling and do not touch your eyes or the area near your eyes with your hands for several hours. Chilling tomatoes hurts their flavor, so don't chop the tomatoes or add to the guacamole until ready to serve. Remember that much of this is done to taste because of the variability in the fresh ingredients. Start with this recipe and adjust to your taste. 3 Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole to prevent oxidation from the air reaching it. Refrigerate until ready. 4 Just before serving, chop the tomato, add to the guacamole and mix. **I forgot to take a picture of this salsa. It came about because Jill passed on some tomatillos to me, along with a few avocados from her mom in California, and a few tomatoes from her garden. I decided to make some tomatillo salsa. The biggest pitfall was the oregano, I think I added too much and it was dry. It overpowers the salsa. Other than that, there is definitely the traditional salsa flavor going on :) **** Homemade Tomatillo Salsa Verde http://allrecipes.com/recipe/tomatillo-salsa-verde/  INGREDIENTS: 1 pound tomatillos, husked 1/2 cup finely chopped onion 1 teaspoon minced garlic 1 serrano chile peppers, minced 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste 2 cups water DIRECTIONS: 1. Place tomatillos, onion, garlic, and chile pepper into a saucepan. Season with cilantro, oregano, cumin, and salt; pour in water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the tomatillos are soft, 10 to 15 minutes. 2. Using a blender, carefully puree the tomatillos and water in batches until smooth.

I get a whole bunch of apples throughout the week from my gym. We are now collecting fruit flies. So I made a whole bunch of applesauce! I browsed at this recipe below but I really did a free-style: apples, cinnamon, 2 Tbs of brown sugar or so, flax meal, poppy seeds, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup walnuts. I put it all in food processor so it turned out creamier and not as translucent as your typical applesauce. A bit heartier and very wonderful if you ask me :)