pumpkin swirl brownies

Happy Thanksgiving! Perhaps these vegan pumpkin swirl brownies will satisfy your sweet tooth? I followed the recipe on Eating Appalachia.

pickle soup

I am 100% polish american. When I visit family in Milwaukee, I usually end up going out for a meal at a polish restaurant. As a vegetarian this usually leaves me to choose from eating potato pancakes or pierogi. I am quite content with this situation but one polish restaurant I went to had pickle soup and I was totally thrilled. Seriously, who thinks up pickle soup?! Ah my ancestry...

Ingredients:
onions, potatoes, pickles, veggie broth, sour cream, fresh dill

Cook the onion in oil until transluscent. Add the potatoes, pickles, and veggie broth. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. Blend. Temper sour cream and mix it in. Add some fresh dill.

raw gingerbread men

I know, I know, it's a little early to be talking about holiday cookies but ever since the stores started stocking holiday treats a week ago (eggnog, candy canes, holiday chocolates) I've been craving gingerbread men. I felt a little played by the system so I figured I would satisfy my gingerbread craving in a nonstandard way - with raw gingerbread men.

In a food processor, I blended up almonds, dates, honey, oil, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and a pinch of salt. Then I rolled out the mixture and shaped some raw treats!

***side note: I am exploring raw food preparation because it is an entertaining change of pace with different flavors and textures. On a whole, I personally will stick to my rice and beans (and local, seasonal fruits and vegetable) diet because I think it is more affordable, practical, and ethical. From what I can tell, raw foodists rely on a lot of nuts ($$) and non-seasonal produce.

sweet potato hash

I let out a little yelp when I saw sweet potatoes at the farmers market. They are pretty rare here because of our rocky soils and our short growing seasons. It's a shame though. Sweet potatoes are so flavorful! I think the farmer selling them must be a big fan too.

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, diced
2 large baked sweet potatoes, peeled, diced
1 c. lentils
1/2 package of silken tofu, crumbled (optional - adds some moisture)
1 c. frozen corn
2 T. canola oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Cook the onions in 1 T. canola oil over medium heat until translucent. Add 1 T. canola oil along with the sweet potatoes, salt and pepper. Mix and then let it cook for 5 minutes with out stirring. Repeat until the potatoes have nice crusty, golden edges. Add additional canola oil as necessary

In the mean time cook the lentils in 3 c. simmering water for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain the cooked lentils. When the potatoes are ready, add the lentils, silken tofu, and corn. Cook for 5 minutes without disturbing, stir, cook for 5 minutes without disturbing. Eat!

deluxe grilled cheese with pear and marmite

I perused the interwebs for ideas of what to do with all the pears I bought from the market. I saw mention of a grilled cheese sandwich with pear and bacon somewhere. It sounded so deep, dark, sweet, and rich but I don’t eat meat… My solution: replace the bacon with marmite. It’s really good stuff. More Americans should give it a chance, especially vegetarians and vegans. It provided the complex, umami flavor I was looking for in this sandwich. Yum!

pickling and canning

bread and butter and sweet gherkin pickles

pickled grape tomatoes
loosely following Cajun Chef Ryan's recipe

tomato sauce!

bike storage rack from scrap

We already had one store-bought bike storage rack, but needed a second one, so we built one from a scrap 2x6 and 2x4 that I found. This rack can actually hold four bikes. The support arms are ladder hooks from the hardware store. The adjustable height mechanism is shown below--thanks to our friend Rory for the design! The top nuts are turned to fine-tune the height:

multimodal camping

I'd been wanting to do this carfree backpacking trip for two years--we finally did it, so I wanted to document it here. 17 mile bus ride + 5 mile bike ride + 5 mile hike!

community supported agriculture: season summary 2010

We picked up our last CSA share for 2010. For a last hurrah, the Pachamama CSA members gathered at the farm for a potluck and pick-your-own pumpkin fun. Now I'm craving some apple doughnuts...

the hitching post

Apologies for the month long blogging silence at the height of harvest. Don't worry we put the time to good use. After 6 1/2 years together, Eric and I got married! It was a beautiful day...

We held a short ceremony outside. It had been raining all morning. Luckily the rain stopped before we needed to start. For a little whimsy, I entered to The Bridal March played by kazoos scattered throughout the audience. For the remainder of the ceremony music, our friend Justin played ukulele. Reverend Ed Searl officiated. It was great.

We were able to have the reception in the main sanctuary space of the Unitarian Universalist church that Eric grew up attending. The wood vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows provided a perfect ambiance. We didn't have to do much to make the space special. We set up tables, chairs, linens, etc. with the help of our parents the day before the wedding.

At each table, we placed a small bouquet of organic field flowers. We picked up the flowers from the Oak Park farmer's market via Heidi Ong at Illinois Specialty Cut Flowers. The table bouquets included basil that made the room smell delicious all night. My bridal bouquet was totally awesome too! Sunflowers and cabbage flowers!?
For drinks we had a self-serve table of generic brand sodas, liquor, local wines, and a keg from Chicago's Metropolitan Brewing.
Obviously the food was great. We chose to have our wedding in September so that our celebration could make full use of local, seasonal, organic produce. Our caterers Michael and Wendy Howe at Village Gourmet Cafe and Catering did a great job developing a custom menu that featured all of these things. And thanks to them, I learned that pickled asparagus and pickled tomatoes are amazing!
Our friend Susan made a beautiful, delicious, vegan wedding cake. She traveled across the country with a suitcase full of baking supplies!! Two layers of the cake were chocolate chunk and one was autumn spice.
Oh and months ago, our friend Lou designed and screen printed our invitations!

Yippee!