Vegan MoFo, Day 15: Goodbye, Farmers' Market.

One last score...

Sadly, the coolest Farmers' Market in Wichita had its last day today (for the season). We made sure to get there pretty early and walked out with a ton of stuff. Making roasted peppers, tomatoes, and freezing some packets of pre-diced/sliced onions and peppers. And see that butternut squash? Yeah, I've got plans for that sucker. I'm also psyched for the deep-purple peppers.

Tonight, I am making a milkshake to rule over all others. Oh yeah.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend!!

Jes

The Fruits of Our Labor

This is what growing your own garden is all about. Through all of the small (and large) failures, the chance you get to PICK YOUR OWN ORGANIC FOOD is so rewarding.

May I present you with my garden selection for tonight:

{stalking my prey}

{you will have your turn soon, lettuce}

{one big zucchini, sucking up the resources}

{you look tasty!}

{used the beet greens as a baked potato topper}

{The Hubs and I kept throwing out the idea that the zucc

was bulging in the middle from bugs, had to cut it open to see lol}

{some wheatberry and barley salad

made with farmer's market veg and my own basil}

Jes

Who Knew? Celery Leaf and Radish Salad

Last night I made my favorite "go to" veg and tofu noodles recipe and a lovely springtime salad with an ingredient I'd never tried before: celery leaves.

I had some celery killing time in my fridge for a while, and I was just going to throw the leaves into my usual veg stock batch, but then I remembered reading somewhere that you could eat them.

I hadn't eaten celery leaves since I was a kid, when I used to pluck them off of the heads of celery in our fridge (I have a vivid memory of doing that when we lived on 2nd street, remember Mom?)

To that, I added some lovely little radishes, some freshly-squeezed lemon juice, a tiny drizzle of grapeseed oil and a slight dash of salt. So clean and refreshing! It was Spring-tacular.

One of Wichita's farmer's markets opened last weekend. I went solo (hubs was still asleep). There were several more booths this year than the first day last year. I ended up with some lovely little tomatoes (delish!), a jar of sand plum jam, and a jar of homemade mild salsa that came with a big bag of chips. It was nice to get out into the sunshine.

And for the request to see more pictures of our dog, Enu, I give you this gem:

{Enu atop all 4 couch throw pillows}

Jes

Pasta alla FANTASTIC

Did you know that you can cook dried, uncooked pasta IN THE OVEN? I must have missed that message somewhere along my culinary road in life. That's why when I saw Giada De Laurentiis make it last September, I was over the moon!

It's so simple. And totally fun.

AND VEGAN. {if you use Earth Balance}

So I had to try it, natch.

Pasta alla Formiana. Recipe here!

Basically, you line a pan with tomato slices. It took about 5 medium organic tomatoes for me. Then mix dried pasta with a quick sauce that you make from garlic and a can of organic diced tomatoes, along with a shat-ton of oregano (I didn't add quite as much), olive oil (I needed to cut back on this but didn't), and S&P. I also added a separate can of organic tomato sauce. Then you dump the mixture into the tomato-lined dish and spread around.

Cover with more tomatoes and a drizzle of olive oil to seal it up, and pop into the oven to bake for about an hour.

TA-DA! Roasted tomatoes blanketing a bed of moist pasta and tangy tomato sauce. I die.

Seriously, if I was like a tomato about to be cooked in some manner of my own choosing, this would be the dish of my choice. I would happily perish and go to Tomato Heaven, for reals.

You have to try it. NOW.

Jes

The Most Wonderfully-Wonderful Soup...

I am in food-love.

*heart* Chipotle Black Bean Soup

from Ripe From Around Here by jae steele *heart*

I was a little scared to add the chipotle peppers to the soup at first, but the peppers and the minced cilantro really made the soup for me.

For a drink--my cranberry syrup with seltzer. Sa-weet!

What a perfect winter supper.

Jes

Peasant Supper Sunday: Chili and Biscuits!

Now, this is truly a go-to cheap-o meal for me: "Easy Peasy Chili."

Basically, it's the epitome of my Peasant Supper Sundays series because it's super cheap, makes leftovers (since The Hubs doesn't eat it, score!), and is really fast to make. Sometimes I really DON'T want to be cooking all day on a Sunday (sometimes I DO, and those are really rewarding Sundays). Yesterday, I was taking the lame route.

All this chili consists of is a can of tomatoes and green chilies ($0.99) mixed with a can of chili beans ($0.68). It definitely needs the addition of spices. I usually add chili powder or cayenne, cumin, S&P, and sometimes even a teensy bit of lime juice and/or raw sugar. Also, I top it with Daiya and green onions, but I was very unfortunately out of both... I might be copping out a smidge by using canned beans and all, but what the hay. It is filling, cheap, and fast, and I was on no mood for major cooking last night!

Paired with this was my first attempt at biscuits in the new and AWESOME Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. It's totally rad.

I went with the Golden Home-style Biscuits recipe from Beverly Lynn Bennett's Vegan Bites because I didn't want a ton of leftovers. It uses whole wheat flour, "buttermilk," baking powder, and safflower oil (I used veg oil). It was really easy to make, but the mixture was too loose and crumbly, so I had to add a little bit of water.

I think the wheat biscuits turned out yummy but would be better maybe with some herbs added to the mix or some Daiya. They were also good for breakfast this morning :)

Thinking about making a new recipe with the leftover chili tonight...should be fun!

What meals do you have as ready stand-bys for busy nights/lazy days?

Jes