The trip to PA has been quite a roller coaster. Our luggage was lost (all of our camera equipment was inside), and the blog I wrote to distract myself was eaten by Blogger. I dug around and found an odd, fragmented autosave, so I will fill in the bits it decided not to include! Don't worry- the airline found our luggage safe and sound in New Mexico- only about 2,000 miles away from where it was supposed to go!
I have made a revelation- I'm addicted to the kitchen. I thought our 100+ degree heat wave was over, but a week before we left for PA, Mother Nature had another hot flash. Like any sane, logical person, I went into the kitchen and started cooking hot vegan food. You know, to distract from the weather.
This is an adapted version of a recipe where meat takes center stage. The original is called Moroccan Beef Pot Roast with Honey Glaze. I got it from a foodie publication made by a Twin Cities-based grocery chain called Lunds Holdings, Inc., which owns both Lunds and Byerly's stores. Maybe it's because Minnesotans love food, but to my knowledge you don't see a lot of areas of the country with "luxury" grocery stores. The only other place I know of (besides the Whole Foods chain) is AJ's in Scottsdale, Arizona. Inexplicably, AJ's entryway features a light mist which sprays out into nothing about every 30 seconds. I presume this is to refresh their customers' make-up, cool their skin from recent plastic surgery, or simply to justify the cost of a $3 green pepper. To quote Lars, "While the rest of the country is going to efforts to be 'green,' AJ's sprays water into the air in the middle of the desert to say, 'F$%& you, we're rich." Lunds and Byerly's, however, have a distinctly more accessible feel (in Minnesota, friendliness is the most important pillar of any successful business).
The original version of this recipe takes 3-4 hours and the meat alone costs around 25 dollars. The vegan version costs around 12 bucks, takes under an hour (including prep time), and I never missed the meat! Did I mention it also feeds about 6 people? Its a winner all around!
I didn't get a good picture of it with the mushrooms on top, but you can use any meat substitute you'd like to top this dish, if you choose. I think mock duck would be amazing but I didn't have any on hand. I did however, have some mushrooms. The original recipe glazes a pot roast with honey, mint and lemon- to re-create this I broiled the mushrooms after brushing them with a blend of brown sugar, mint leaves and lemon juice. It tasted lovely! The key to veganizing any dish that involves water is to substitute the water with vegetable broth. When meat is being cooked in a stew, it flavors the water and becomes a broth. I used Swanson's Organic Vegetable Broth, but I am sure there are many other good kinds.
*Side note: butternut squash can be a pain to peel and cut when they're raw, so you have two options: either cheat and buy a bag of them pre-cut, or do what I did and heat the squash on a baking sheet for 30 minutes on at 350 degrees. When its cool, it should be soft enough to peel, seed and cut. Even with this time-consuming step, I had this dish done in an hour.
Moroccan Stew over Couscous
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cups chopped onions
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
½ tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 Tbsp sweet paprika
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp dried mint
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp kosher salt
¼ cup cilantro stems, finely chopped (save leaves for garnish)
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup canned tomatoes, chopped
2 Tbsp lemon juice (or more to taste)
2 cups cooked chickpeas (freshly cooked or canned)
4 carrots, cut into 2-inch chunks
3 cups butternut squash, cut into 2-inch chunks (or cheat with a couple of bags of pre-cut ones if you are short on time)
2 cups instant couscous (I used Odem Israeli Couscous- unlike typical couscous, its a big fat pearl pasta instead of a cornmeal consistency, but you can use any couscous you like)
If you're using a whole, uncut butternut squash, preheat your oven to 350 and follow the instructions above. You can get started on the rest of the recipe once your oven is preheated- this should time correctly and you'll be adding the softened squash pieces at just the right time.
In a stock pot, heat olive oil and sautee the onions and garlic. When they're soft, season them with the spices, stir and cook until fragrant. Add the broth, tomatoes and lemon juice and bring it to a gentle boil until the flavors are incorporated.
Start the couscous (just follow the directions on the bag- the units are usually 1 cup couscous to 1 1/4 cup water, covered and simmered for 8-10 minutes).
Add chickpeas, carrots and butternut squash, and simmer until the vegetables are fork-tender, about 10 minutes- while this is cooking if you want to add a protein/meat substitute you can whip up the glaze, set your oven to broil and throw it in until your stew is done.
To serve, heap a spoonful of the cooked couscous into a deep bowl. Then ladle the stew over the couscous. Top with cilantro leaves and serve.
The kitchen got HOT, so I blasted the fan and made us all smoothies out of some fresh peaches I needed to use before we left for our trip. Its so easy to make a great vegan smoothie and the combinations are endless. Fresh fruit and ice are great, as are simple frozen fruit. You can use any variety of non-dairy yogurt or milk. This one was made with three peaches, almond milk, ice and vanilla bean, thrown into a bullet blender for a few seconds and poured into kid-sized cups. As you can see below, it was a hit.
My middle son has always loved to help in the kitchen. We have a very small work area in our house, and once he started to spend quite a bit of time in there, my older son felt compelled to stand in there with us. Then the baby was born and it started to get pretty crowded, so we started a "no kids in the kitchen rule." However, since the big kids were going to be staying with their dad and stepmom while Lars, the baby and I went to PA, I wanted to do a small special family activity. We decided to make gluten-free, vegan, no-bake treats.
Oddly enough, everyone lost interest after the measuring was done, and immediately after putting them in the fridge I heard the call of "Are the treats done yet?" Haha!
The original recipe called for oats, which you could and should definitely use (if you're using oats use only 3 cups of them as opposed to the 6 cups of GF Rice Krispies). Because of the trip coming up, I had to do some improvising with the ingredients I had on hand. If you're gluten-free, Bob's Red Mill does make gluten-free oats (according to my ex-husband who works for Whole Foods, oats ARE gluten-free in and of themselves; they're just typically grown in close proximity to wheat fields and there is a high likelihood of contamination due to wind). It could have been the vegan ingredients or the fact that I used Krispies instead of oats, but the batter looked soupy. I thought for sure this would be my first vegan fail, but after chilling them overnight, the treats got cohesive and tasted great.
No-Bake Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate "Overnight Treats"
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cocoa powder (we used some vegan hot chocolate mix- SUCCESS!)
pinch of salt
1/2 cup Earth Balance vegan butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups quick-cooking oats OR 6 cups Gluten-Free Rice Krispies (they are brown rice as opposed to the traditional white)
Combine all of the ingredients except the peanut butter, oats/GF Krispies into a sauce pan. Bring to a gentle boil, then stir for one minute. Remove the pan from eat and stir in the peanut butter until it's smooth. Then add the oats or Krispies.
Let the mixture sit about 10 minutes to thicken. If you're cooking with the oats it will have a firmer consistency- if you're using Krispies, don't panic if the batter is a bit thin.
On a wax-paper lined baking sheet, form round, cookie-sized treats about an inch apart (remember, you're not baking them, so they won't expand! They can cuddle close to one another as long as they're not touching). Place them in the fridge for at least an hour but preferably overnight.
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