Menu 1/3-1/7

 

Monday: Roasted Red Pepper Soup
We added a can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained with 1 TBS lemon juice and 2 TBS nutritional yeast instead of sour cream. We opened a Costco jar of roasted Red Peppers for the Pepperridge sandwiches and used the remaining peppers for the soup, no oil.

Tuesday: We had leftover Pumpkin Tamales (The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook for Your Instant Pot, p 102)
We used hempe fajita (including the peppers and onions) for the meat. 

Wednesday: Mediterranean Pizza
We used the Bfree pizza crust and roots oil-free hummus. We added olives instead of walnuts, and any leftover roasted red pepper soup. We also added artichokes, marinated in water, not oil and roasted garlic. This is amazing!!!

Thursday: Moroccan lentil soup 

We added 1/2 cup of rice to the soup to thicken it a little.

Friday: Beet and Bean burgers with a sweet potato ring and collard slaw

Fermented Dilly Green Beans

 

I didn't change a thing with Laurie's recipe for Dilly Beans. We love them and are almost out from the summer. Harris Teeter had organic green beans on sale BOGO, 2 bags made 2 quarts and 1 pint.

Dilly Beans

PRINT RECIPE

These easy fermented dilly beans add a probiotic punch to any meal or snack

• Author: Laurie Neverman
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 1 quart 1x

Ingredients

SCALE

• 1 quart green beans, ends removed and beans trimmed to fit one each below rim of a quart jar
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 Tablespoon dill seed or 3 heads of fresh dill
• 2 teaspoons pickling spice – or – 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon mustard seeds and a few peppercorns
• 3 tablespoons fine grain sea salt – or – 4 1/2 tablespoons coarse grain sea salt
• 4 cups water

Instructions

1. Stack green beans upright in a wide mouth quart jar. Add garlic, dill and spices.
2. Mix salt and water in a separate jar or bowl until salt dissolves to form a brine.
3. Pour brine over beans, keeping the brine 1″ below the jar rim. Use a fermentation weight or regular size jar lid to hold the ingredients below the brine. Cover jar with lid or airlock.
4. Let beans sit at room temperature for 1 to 2 weeks. Transfer to cool storage.

Notes

In warmer temperatures, beans may have well developed flavor in as little as five days. Try a sample and see how you like the flavor.

Christmas 2021

This year my boyfriend's son was supposed to come home from Japan for Christmas, and then the next Covid variant was released. At the last minute, we decided to have friends and family over for Christmas Eve Dinner and a Christmas Day Lunch.

For Christmas Eve, we served Pumpkin Tamales, Buck-eyes, Sangria with wine and Sangria without alcohol, Hemp Hot Chocolate, vegan loaded nachos (from Earth to Us), sweet potato fries, cranberry oatmeal, white chocolate cookies, Pumpkin Pie and spent the evening with friends that have blessed my life for decades, Jyl and Betty.

For Christmas we served stuffed pumpkin, turkey, gravy, vegan green bean casserole, baked sweet potatoes, salad, Chocolate pie, cookies, Buck-eyes, Sangria with wine and Sangria without alcohol and spent the day with my boys, dear friends for decades. I am so blessed with the people God has placed in my life.

It is such a blessed time of year to open our home and share the LORD of abundance with those who need His love, joy, peace, gratitude, blessings and miracles. 

Merry Christmas!!! 

Menu 12/27-1/1/2022

Monday: Snobby Joe's with slaw and sweet potato salad 
For the Sweet Potato salad, we used our leftover baked sweet potatoes from Christmas. We also omitted the oil and replaced it with the water from our kalamata olive jar and no salt, the olive water is salty enough.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday

Wednesday: Another birthday dinner, this one is pizza 

we used the Bfree pizza crust, the hempe Italian sausage, peppers, onions, garlic, Aldi's organic spaghetti sauce, and vegan cheese

Thursday: Stroganoff

Friday:  Kale Soup (we are finally getting kale from the garden) with Pepper Ridge sandwiches. 

For the Kale soup, we didn't use oil and did use vegetable broth instead of chicken. We had leftover sweet potato salad, so we added it to the meal.

Pepper Ridge Sandwiches 

By Ann Esselstyn

Makes: 4-6 sandwiches

1 jar roasted red peppers, packed in water

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 teaspoon basil

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

16 oz. barbecue sauce, your favorite

20 slices of portabella mushrooms

1 loaf Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Bread, GF bread

1 cup oil free hummus

1 bunch scallions, chopped, pickled red onions

1 container organic baby spinach, spring mix

1 avocado, sliced, guacamole

 

Preheat oven to 400. Place mushroom slices on parchment-paper-lined sheet pan and brush with barbecue sauce. Cook for 30 minutes - or until cooked through.

Place roasted red peppers and their liquid in a bowl. Tear peppers into strips and add balsamic vinegar, oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, and garlic.

Toast the Ezekiel bread.**  

Construct each sandwich by spreading hummus on one piece of toast.

Sprinkle a thin layer of scallions onto the hummus then add a layer of barbecued portabellas.

Add a layer of roasted red peppers.

Add a layer of spinach.

Add a layer of avocado.

Place a piece of toast atop the stack.

Slice into halves or quarters and serve!

Saturday: New Year's Day Soup

Allergen Free "Buck-eyes"

 

Ingredients:
16 oz sunflower butter
16 oz corn-free powdered sugar
1 cup soy-free vegan butter

Directions: using a kitchen-aid mixer combine the above ingredients. Using a melon scoop, scoop balls, placing on parchment paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes

2 packages of allergen free chocolate chips (Walmart sells them)
2 TBS soy-free vegan butter

Directions: combine the chips and oil and microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted.

Dip the chilled nut butter balls in the chocolate until covered, return to the lined baking sheet. Refrigerate or freeze until the chocolate is hard.

Keto cookies - Spice nut Cookie, vegan, gluten free, sugar free

We hosted a Christmas Open House and a friend, Nan, made keto friendly 3 varieties of keto vegan cookies. If I had been thinking, I would have taken pictures.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup nut or seed butter, Nan used sunflower which turned the cookies a Christmas shade of green
1/4 cup monk fruit syrup
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup almond flour
3 TBS coconut flour
6 TBS almond milk
1/4 cup swerve
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt

Directions: Preheat oven at 350
Combine all the ingredients
Roll into balls and flatten slightly
Bake on parchment paper for 10-12 minutes

Oatmeal, Gluten Free, Vegan, no added sugar

We hosted a Christmas Open House and a friend, Nan, made keto friendly 3 varieties of keto vegan cookies. If I had been thinking, I would have taken pictures. 

Ingredients:
2 very ripe bananas (black is good)
1 cup oats
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1/4 cup dried cranberries

Directions
Preheat oven 350
Mash banana to sticky pulp
Add oatmeal, allow to set 5 minutes
Add vanilla, salt, nuts, cranberries
Bake for 10-12 minutes on parchment paper.

Keto cookies - Sugar Free, gluten free, vegan Cut Art Cookies

We hosted a Christmas Open House and a friend, Nan, made keto friendly 3 varieties of keto vegan cookies. If I had been thinking, I would have taken pictures.

Sugar Free, gluten free, vegan Cut Art Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cup almond flour
1/2 c monk fruit syrup
! tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp salt

Directions: Preheat oven at 325
Mix well until ball forms.
Flatten between parchment sheets with rolling pin.
Freeze 20 minutes.
Pull off top sheet
Cut into desired shapes, Nan's were Christmas Trees
Bake on parchment sheet for 20 minutes
When cool, frost with Truvia confectioner's sugar and water. Mix to desired consistency. 

Menu 12/20-12/24

 

Monday: Butternut Squash Soup with Chickpea wraps
We used vegetable broth, and we didn't use the MBG veggie powder but did use an Asian shiitake mushroom seasoning powder purchased at the Asian Market.

Tuesday: Skillet Burritos 

We made a double batch of hempe fajita (including the peppers and onions) for the meat and adzuki beans instead of pinto. We used vegan cheese and heated it in the instant pot for 2 minutes on manual to melt the violife cheddar. We also made also made quesadas with half of the hempe fajitas to take to my parents Wednesday, leaving a few at home.

Wednesday: We had so many leftovers, we had leftovers instead.

Thursday: Alfredo Pizza
We used Bfree crust. We added black olives to the pizza.

Friday: Pumpkin Tamales (The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook for Your Instant Pot, p 102)
We used hempe fajita (including the peppers and onions) for the meat.

Quesada's

 

Ingredients:
10 Bfree wraps
1 recipe of Fajita strips with onions and peppers
3 cups vegan shredded cheese 

Directions:
Preheat oven at 350. Spread the fajita strips over the tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese. Top with tortilla. Bake for 15 minutes, until the cheese starts to melt.
Serve with salsa and vegan sour cream

Fajita strips

Ingredients:
2 TBS taco seasoning mix
1/2-1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4-1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp cilantro leaves
1/4 vegetable broth

onions
garlic
pepper
1 TBS taco seasoning mix

Directions: Cut the hempe into thin stips and place in a steamer basket. Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the instant pot. Set the manual setting for 10 minutes and seal lid with quick release.
Marinate the hempe in the remaining ingredients for at least an hour. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, with the sliced onions and diced peppers

My best Christmas Present Ever

Over the weekend I was asked my best Christmas Present ever! The above picture is Christmas Day!!!
Here is my answer
I had been told for years due to endometriosis i would never have been able to have children and then I was pregnant.
I had always been tiny, and I got big quickly. I asked the doctor if i was having twins, to shut me up, a quick ultrasound, 1 boy, go on your business trip.
I left for CA for 10 days. The morning I was to leave CA, my hotel bed was slightly wet, at 29 weeks pregnant. I flew home.
The following Monday, 33 years ago today, I started cramping, passed the "plug" and went to the doctor. I was a "work-in". I continually went to the receptionist telling her I thought I was in labor.
Her response, "believe me you would know!"
I was seen by the doctor to find out I was dilatated 4 cm, the ultrasound showed twins...
The doctor borrowed the nurse's Toyota, he didn't want to deliver babies in his Volvo. The ambulance met us on the highway and followed us to the hospital. The higher definition ultrasound showed 2 baby girls.
I was given an experimental drug to develop their lungs and Mag sulfate to hold off the labor. I was asked to "cross my legs" for 48 hours for the lung developing drug to work. 
I hadn't located their father but continued to try. I contacted my sister who lived in the city where he was in school and then my parents. Without my knowledge, my grandmother was at a nearby hospital having a mastectomy. My parents had just gotten home, Jamestown, from sitting with my grandfather in Durham and drove back to Raleigh that night to be with me. 
Twenty-four hours later I was given the second dose of the experimental lung developing med.
After forty-six hours the Mag Sulfate was doing such a number on my body, uncontrollable shaking with a drop in my body temperature. It was stopped and labor started.
At 8:00 PM (48 hours later) Joe was born. Tim was breech, after multiple tries to flip him, the doctor reached inside and grabbed his legs with one contraction and pulled him out with the next one, 15 minutes later.
Tim had been the one to break my water where he was wedged under my ribcage, hiding from the initial ultrasound.
My boys, yes boys, were the healthiest at the crowded N-ICU and were transferred to another hospital. I was also transferred for a couple of nights.
The N-ICU doctor told me if they lived 10 days, the chances of survival were good. Ten days would be Christmas day.
At 5 1/2 weeks they were released from the hospital, 4 1/2 weeks earlier than expected.

Thank you for being the best Christmas present ever!!

I am so proud of the men you are at the age of 33!!!
Happy Birthday!

 

Menu 12/13-12/17

Monday: Chicken Tortilla Soup
We used vegan Chik'n strips. We used red bell peppers instead of corn. We used Bfree tortilla, no oil and baked them at 350 for 8 minutes. This is my new favorite soup. We are looking forward to using the Chik'n  strips in dishes such as fajitas or stroganoff.

Tuesday: Mujaddara Lentil Rice 

We didn't use any oil. The diced onions we broth sauteed. The sliced onions we roasted until caramelized.

Wednesday: another Birthday dinner

Thursday: Blueberry Bowl 
We used millet or sorghum instead of farro.

Friday: Roasted Tomato and Sweet Potato Soup, Cookbook for Reversing Diabetes, by Dr Neal 

Barnard, p 119

Hempe Chik'n Strips

 

Ingredients:
1 package of Hempe
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp dried sage
2 TBS liquid amino
2 TBS of water from the Instant Pot after cooking the hempe

Directions: Cut the hempe into thin stips and place in a steamer basket. Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the instant pot. Set the manual setting for 10 minutes and seal lid with quick release.
Marinate the hempe in the remaining ingredients for at least an hour. Bake at 400 for 5 minutes, flip and bake another 5 minutes.

Vegan Chik'n Nuggets

 

Ingredients:
1 package of Hempe
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp dried sage
1 cup oat flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 cup liquid aminos (we used coconut)

Directions: Cut the hempe into cubes and place in a steamer basket. Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the instant pot. Set the manual setting for 10 minutes and seal lid.
add the hempe and remaining ingredients to a food processor. Soak for at least 1 hour. 
Process until somewhat sticky and well combined.
Use a 1 TBS cookie scoop, shape in your hands and place on a baking sheet.
Bake nuggets on a lined baking sheet at 400 for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven flip and bake another 8-10 minute. 
These are good, next I make them I would reduce the oat flour to 1/2 cup.

Lemons and Limes

 

We have had dwarf lemon and lime trees for over 10 years. We bring them into the house or garage when the temperature goes below freezing and bring them out when it is warm enough. This year's harvests have been the best. Our new home has a sunny yard, and the trees love it!!!

Menu 12/6-12/10

 Monday: Moroccan vegan shepherd's pie

Tuesday: Chili with sweet potatoes 

Wednesday: Falafels (from Trader Joe's) and Cabbage Salad

Thursday: Lentil Stew, FoK fall 21, p 59 

Friday: Feel Better Soup

Cacao Cherry Bites

When we went to the veg fest someone made Cacao Cherry Bites and we loved them. We are trying to come up with a recipe to make them at home. You can replace the sunflower butter with any unsweetened nut butter. You can replace the sunflower seeds with hemp seeds, any nut or seed. You can replace the tart cherries with your favorite dried fruit.

Ingredients:

1 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 TBS cacao nibs
8 oz unsweetened sunflower butter
3 TBS cacao powder
2 TBS chia seeds
1 TBS vanilla
1 TBS maple syrup
1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions: place the first ingredients in a food process and process until the dried fruit and sunflower seeds are chopped well. Add the remaining ingredients and process until fairly smooth. Using a cookie scoop (~a TBS) make balls. Yields ~36 bites