How Family Pizza Night Can Help Save the World

Have you read Barbara Kingsolver's wonderful book about how she and her family made a commitment to eat only locally grown food for an entire year? Whether you are vegetarian, vegan or omnivore you will enjoy this book as well as glean some useful if not scary information about how food is grown in today's corporate world of factory farming  and mono cropping. Animal Vegetable Miracle is a beautifully written and entertaining true story of their challenging adventure into local food-land.

It informs us about just how far we have drifted from thinking, acting or buying locally and the serious hazards this presents to us humans as a species and to our beautiful planet earth. Between the chemicals that are sprayed on fruits and vegetables, the corn and antibiotics that are pumped into livestock and the energy consumption involved in shipping food to every corner of the universe, we, along with our environment are headed for some serious trouble.

When people tell me that shopping at the local farmer's market is too expensive, I am amazed at the short sightedness of this comment.   By shopping at the farmers market, we are putting money back into the local economy and supporting  our neighbors. We are protecting the environment by buying food that did not have to be trucked in from California or Kalamazoo, and we are treating ourselves to eating non chemically sprayed, delightfully fresh food that is in season and more in harmony with what and how we should be eating.

I love our town's farm market and look forward to it every week. Not only can I expect to be pleasantly surprised by which just picked veggies will be available but I also have the opportunity to say hello to my neighbors and friends, eat some superbly delish Aba's falafel, and hear some fine music played by some great local musicians.  This is  an event that builds community in a practical and really truly festive way.

For our health, the environment and the sustainability of our local communities, shopping locally makes the most sense.

Eating strictly local food throughout the year when you live in the northeast would  be very challenging since our growing season only lasts half the year. The Kingsolver family has a very large garden in West Virginia, with a longer growing season than we do in the northeast. But even so, they knew that their larder of canned goods and root vegetables would dwindle toward the end of winter. 

For this reason, they built Pizza night into their weekly food plan. Every Friday night they would make pizza from scratch using their own home grown canned tomato sauce and locally made cheese. The pizza would be supplemented by a salad grown during the winter in a local greenhouse. 

This gave me the idea to do the same (sans the real cheese).  I was easily able to recruit my daughter and husband to participate in Family Pizza Night since they (like most people) both lovvvve pizza. Making homemade pizza dough  takes a few hours (including rising time for the dough) and is a great way to get the entire family involved in the process of doing something fun and nurturing together.

My daughter mixes and kneads the dough, my husband rolls it out and shapes it into pies, and I make the sauce and veggies to go on top of it.  We use Daiya mozzarella cheese substitute instead of  fresh mozzarella and voila! delicious homemade pizza.

There are a few tools you may want to get to make your pizza making easier, although you don't absolutely need any of them:

-A pizza stone is a good investment at under $15.00.  The stone is heated in the oven providing an instantly hot surface for the pizza, yielding greater crispiness.

-A french rolling pin, with its tapered ends, is essential for rolling the dough out properly, from the center of the dough, out to its edges. 

-A pizza wheel or cutter makes cutting the pie into slices much easier.

-A pizza peel or paddle for assembling the pizza and then sliding it into the oven onto the hot pizza stone.

There are a bizillion recipes available  (on line)for fresh pizza dough.  I like to use a mixture of unbleached white and whole wheat flour.  My friend Pam of the Garden Cafe let me know that one of the secrets to making the Garden Cafe pizza crust such crispy perfection was the addition of mashed potatoes. Another benefit to the Garden Cafe's great crust was that it was done on a large outdoor grill.

Here is one recipe I am pretty happy with but I am always experimenting and trying to get the crust thinner and crispier.

This amkes enough dough for 2, 12"-14" pies.

Preheat oven 450°F.

Put pizza stone in the oven to pre heat as well.

4 cups flour (I used 3cups unbleached white and 1 cup whole wheat)

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

1 packet active dry yeast, or 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

2 tablespoons olive oil (any good brand), but extra virgin is best

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar, or 1 teaspoon agave 

1/4 cup water

1/2-3/4 cup mashed potatoes

1-2 cups homemade or canned tomato sauce

3-4 cups veggie toppings

2 cups grated Daiya Mozzarella cheese substitute

Use your favorite veggies as toppings. We like steamed broccoli, roasted garlic, roasted red peppers, sauteed mushrooms, carmelized onions, steamed brocolli rabe, spinach,fresh basil or other herbs, vegan sausage,  or whatever is in season in your favorite combinations. 

Using a large ceramic mixing bowl, or any suitable food safe bowl, add the flour, make a "well" in middle, and put in 1 teaspoon salt, stir to combine well. Set aside.

Prepare the starter: In a liquid measuring cup pour in 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water, 1 teaspoon sugar or honey, and one package of active dry yeast. Stir and set aside for 5 minutes. Allow to foam up (or proof).

Next, mix the starter (yeast water) and the water in the bowl containing the flour with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Mix in mashed potatoes. Stir together using a wooden spoon or clean hands.

Note: You will need additional flour to knead on the surface that you're working on. Knead for about 8 minutes or until you get a smooth elastic rubbery dough ball.

Set aside in bowl, drizzle with a little olive oil to keep the dough from drying out. Let dough sit covered lightly with plastic wrap or use a plate or damp clean towel to cover it.

Allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes to an hour. Cut the ball of dough in half. (This is enough for 2 pizzas so you can roll out other half and make a second pizza. We now have 2 pizza stones so we make 2 at a time. Making one at a time is not a problem though because pizza only takes 12-15 minutes to bake.) Flour a clean flat surface and roll out half the dough into a circle. Sprinkle a pizza paddle with cornmeal (to prevent the dough from sticking)  and assemble the pizza. 

If you don't have a paddle or stone on hand you can use flour or simply grease a  pan with olive oil and assemble the pizza right in the pan.

Top with your favorite tomato sauce, spreading it out using the back of a spoon, then add prepared veggies, tofu or vegan sausage, and sprinkle with Daiya mozzarella cheese substitute over the veggies. 

Sprinkle more cornmeal on the pizza stone and very carefully slide the pizza off of the paddle and onto the hot stone.

Bake for about 12-14 mins, but watch it carefully! You don't want this heavenly treat to burn.

When the bottom looks slightly browned and the pizza looks bubbly, remove it from the oven.

The pizza is a beautiful thing, a treat to the "olfactories", a color sensation for the eyes, and amazingly yummy for the taste buds. 

I can always tell when my family is really enjoying their food. At first, an ambiance of quiet concentration prevails.A few beats later someone will say something like, "Wow, this is really good." And we will all agree. The fact that we all had a hand in it, make this homey meal taste even better. 

I hope you enjoy the pizza and the contented smiles on the beautiful faces of your loved ones as you warm up together on a cold winter's night with all of this savory goodness.

Luv, R  

Meat, Potatoes, Mom and Portobellos

I owe a lot to my mother. When I was growing up, she diligently prepared a good 1950's style, meat and potatoes, nutritious dinner for our family every night of the week. She was not a born cook either.

At the time of my my parents' marriage, she had never cooked a thing. My grandmother, her mother, was a really good old fashioned, eastern european Jewish cook. Grandma Miriam made delicious chicken soup, completely from scratch Gefilte Fish, Chopped Liver, Pot Roast and Potato Kugel, among many other tasty dishes.

Ii seems odd that my Mom didn't learn to cook at her mother's side, since that was the usual way that girls of that era were taught.  But of the little I remember of my grandmother, she was withdrawn and silent,  with sad accusing eyes.  Perhaps she was too preoccupied to take the time and energy to teach my mother, the only girl of the six kids she had, to cook. Perhaps my mother, quiet girl that she must have been, was too timid to ask anything of her busy and unhappy mother.

Finding herself married in her early twenties, with a colicky newborn and a wayward husband (that's another story ), my mother taught herself to cook. My father liked to tell funny stories of her early cooking failures but I am amazed by her successes.

Ten or twelve years into their marriage, by the time I came around, she had become a good, meat and potatoes cook. She used fresh ingredients and  in spite of the popularity of canned and frozen vegetables, she often made fresh green vegetables in the waterless cookware my father had bought when they first got married.

My mother liked to say I was always a good eater and that is true to this day. I think I love food the way I do because of the good hearty food I grew up on. I remember very clearly that I always loved coming in from a hard day of play to  eat dinner. I was rarely, if ever disappointed in the food set before me and I ate my dinner with gusto as did my brothers.

I admire my mother for learning to cook on her own and I so appreciate the fact that she made the effort to do so. She developed a wonderful repertoire of homey and tasty meals that many family members and friends got to enjoy over the 30 some odd years of my parents' marriage.

I learned to cook by watching my mother. It was not a warm and fuzzy scene with the little me at her side where we wore matching aprons and laughed knowingly together, punctuating our experience with periodic hugs and knowing smiles. And yet it seems like it happened naturally, like osmosis.

I made the same things she did, like her delicious home made French Fries. She made them in a little pink enameled pot, 2/3 filled with sizzling vegetable oil.  She would peel and slice each spud individually and when the oil was just the right temperature, she'd throw them in and wait for them to turn golden brown.
Those fries would emerge as perfect specimens, so crispy and delicious that they didn't even need ketchup.

In the middle of winter, it is as natural to crave rich and hearty fare as it is to crave a cool crispy salad in the height of summer.  Winter is the time when I am most likely to wax nostalgic about the foods I was raised on.  I don't crave the meat. What I long for is the warm homeyness of a substantial tasty meal, prepared with love.

When I spied some very fine looking portobellos at the local produce market and recalled that I had some left over mashed potatoes in the fridge, I was inspired. I thought I would make a savory stuffing for the mushrooms by combining the potatoes with some veggies and herbs.

With their rich deep taste and their meaty texture, portobellos easily satisfy that craving for something filling and rich.  This dish lends itself to a lot of improvising, so try using other vegetables and herbs in the mashed potato stuffing like broccoli, zucchini, red peppers, thyme, rosemary, etc. You can also mix in or top with Daiya cheese substitute for added flavor.

Mashed Potato Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

4 large portobello mushroom caps
2 cups mashed potatoes***
2 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 carrot, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 lb cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced.
2 Tbs minced garlic
1/4 Cup Fresh Parsley, minced
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 Tbs tamari

Pre heat oven or toaster oven to 350

Make a marinade for the mushrooms by combining 1 Tbs olive oil, 2 Tbs garlic, lemon juice and tamari.
Pour marinade over the mushroom caps and let them sit a few minutes while
you prepare the stuffing.

Meanwhile, sauté the onion in the remaining Olive Oil for a few minutes.
Add carrot and saute over low heat till onion and carrot are soft, about 5 minutes.
Add sliced mushrooms and garlic and saute 5 minutes more until mushrooms are soft.
Mix in the mashed potatoes and parsley and heat through.

While veggies are cooking as above, place the marinated Portobellos in a
baking dish and bake about 10- 15 minutes untl soft.
Remove from the oven and stuff each cap with 1/4 of the filling.
Turn the oven up to broil and place in oven for  just a few minutes, unti brown.

Even though my Mom has been gone for several years now, I still get the impulse to give her a call. I would show her this blog post if I could and I'd give her a hug and say thanks for all the planning, shopping, cooking and serving you did over the course of so many years. The fruit of your effort lives on.

Luv,
R

Why I'm No Longer Afraid of Seitan and Collard Greens

Why I'm not afraid of Seitan and Collards anymore

Until last summer when I bought Collard Greens for the first time at the Woodstock Farmer's market, I had never cooked them before. I used to notice them, sassily fanning themselves out amidst the other greens in the produce case but they looked tough to me, forbidding and foriegn. I had only ever eaten them at a Soul Food restaurant owned by a guy I dated back in the late seventies. They had been prepared with some pork product and while they tasted great, it was not a recipe I would want to duplicate.

According to the website, The World's Healthiest Foods, 
"Like kale, cauliflower and broccoli, collards are descendents of the wild cabbage, a plant thought to have been consumed as food since prehistoric times and to have originated in Asia Minor. From there it spread into Europe, being introduced by groups of Celtic wanderers around 600 B.C. Collards have been cultivated since the times of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. While collards may have been introduced into the United States before, the first mention of collard greens dates back to the late 17th century. Collards are an integral food in traditional southern American cuisine."

Until I looked into Bryant Terry's lovely "Vegan Soul Kitchen" cookbook, I didn't have a clue about how a vegan would cook them.
He recommends cutting them in a "chiffonade" style by removing the large stems, stacking then rolling the leaves into a tight cylinder, then slicing crosswise with a sharp knofe cutting the leaves into thin strips. While his recipe calls for boiling the greens, I recommend steaming both for the flavor and texture as well as the increased nutritional value. 
Collards, like kale and other crucifors retain much more of their nutritional value if steamed. Some say that steaming is even more beneficial that eating these leafy greens raw. 

 "Based on a very small number of studies looking specifically at collard greens, and a larger number of studies looking at cruciferous vegetables as a group (and including collard greens on the list of vegetables studied), cancer prevention appears to be a standout area for collard greens with respect to their health benefits.By providing us with such a great array of antioxidant nutrients, collard greens help lower our cancer risk by helping us avoid chronic and unwanted oxidative stress." Collard greens provide cardiovascular support due to their cholesterol lowering ability. The fiber content of collard greens—over 5 grams in every cup also makes this cruciferous vegetable a natural choice for digestive system support. They also provide high levels of Vitamin K, A, C, folate, manganese and calcium.

How did this deliciously sweet, incredibly nutritious and easy to make leafy green escape my frying pan all these years? Silly me!
When I made Bryant Terry's "Citrus Collards with Raisins Redux" , I fell in love with collards. I will post his recipe below.

The next time I saw collards at the local produce market at $1.99 for a huge bunch, I scoffed them up. I adapted Terry's recipe, omitting the orange juice and adding, what many a vegan considers "the other white meat",  Seitan.

I had never cooked with Seitan before. I would say that this was my virgin voyage with Seitan, but I would never consort with something so damn ugly. That's right, superficial me has avoided this wheat gluten product in great measure, because it looks , frankly like a horrible mess.

At 48 grams of protein, 2 grams of fat and 160 calories per 4 oz serving, Seitan is high in protein and low in calories and fat. And thanks, in part to my friend Linda's encouragement (she at one time had a very bad Tofurky jones) and Seitan cooking demo, I decided to attempt to wrestle the glutinous mass into something edible.

As I bravely grabbed a pair of tongs hanging off the side of a large vat of  the messy stuff, and attempted to fish one of the freaky shapes out of the murky water,  I was repulsed and shared this with one of the health food store worker guys as he sorted vegetables. "Yeah, he said, "looks like monkey brains". 
Somehow, about a pound of the stuff wound up in the plastic bag that  I wished wasn't see through. 

Once home and sitting on the kitchen counter, it instantly became an object of my teenaged daughter's revulsion. "What the h--l is that ?" , she demanded.  "Monkey brains", I snickered. 

Handling the stuff was no great treat to the tactile senses either. It was cold, slimy and soft. Eeewwww! I diced it up as quickly as possible and threw it in the pan in an effort to dispense with it ASAP. 

The recipe that follows was very quick and easy  came out great. Chopping the Seitan rather small helped to get it crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. It also nicely absorbed the other flavors in the pan.

Pan Seared Seitan and Collard Greens

16 oz Seitan, diced in 1/2" cubes
1 large bunch Collards, cut in chiffonade style
2 shallots, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup raisins
1 Tbs Mirin
1/2-1 Tbs Tamari 
1/2 cup water

Sauté shallots and garlic for 3-5 min getting them soft.
Add Seitan and sauté another 3-5 min getting it a little brown.
Add collards, stir in Mirin and Tamari
Sauté a minute then add water, stir an cover
Let steam a few minutes then uncover and stir 
until greens are tender about 5 minutes more
Do not overcook greens. Remove from heat when
Greens are bright green color.

And here is Bryant Terry's Recipe:

More notes from a (Pot) Lucky Gal

On December 29th I turned 60. Probably in response to my persistent whining about this weird phenomenon, my family and friends  made it a wonderful  celebration.

A few dear women friends made a pot luck dinner in my honor at my friend Carrie's lovely and cozy abode. We gathered in front of the huge stone fireplace glowing with a roaring fire, to talk, drink, eat and laugh. (Now that I think of it, the book "Eat Pray Love" probably would have turned out much less corny if it had been called, "Eat Pray Laugh", instead of its (ahem) best selling title.)

No matter how you slice it, 60 is a big freakin number. It doesn't sound at all like the youthful lighthearted frolic that may describe a twenty something. And "60" certainly doesn't evoke the image of someone in the prime of life. It sounds kind of old, achy, creaky, just like I feel some days. "Sixty"  clashes terribly with my eternally cool and terminally adolescent self image. It's no comfort at all that Mick Jagger, Joni Mitchell, Bob  Dylan, are nearing 70!

And it occurred to me that all of us "children of the sixties" are now a part of one "genarian" group or other. We've all heard of septagenerian, octogenarian. I am now apparantly a "Sexagenerian"!  I love the prefix! Makes it sound like the sixties are gonna be a fun ride, N'est pas? Voulez vous couche avec moi?

So what to do? Shed my jeggings in favor of "mom jeans"? Trade in my hanky pankys for those 3 in a pack, oversized "cottonelle" briefs in pastel shades?  Will I wake up one morning to find that the least practical of my shoes have been replaced by a collection of Merrill clogs, Naturalizers and  White New Balance walkers? Will I find, upon glancing in the mirror, that my hair has been carefully shorn, coifed, and swept up and away from my face in a futile attempt to conteract the downward pull of gravity that supposedly plagues "the older woman" with long hair?

The answer to all of these questions is No, No No and NOOOOO....I will  don my hanky pankys, shop in stores with names like "Dig", wear cool high heeled shoes that may be hard to walk in, wear my hair long and wild, do yoga  every day and stalk up hills as fast as I can.  Most importantly, I will continue  to surround myself with great friends who are strong, creative, passionate, inspired and inspiring. And I will be as creative as possible, transforming my passion, angst, fear and joie de vivre into beautiful stuff, whether that is food or writing, or writing about food, or other creative endeavors, yet to be discovered.

As often happens at pot luck dinners, the elements of this dinner went together perfectly. This array of delicious dishes provides a perfect example of how a totally Vegan dinner can be completely satisfying and nutritious. I don't think anyone eating this luscious food would feel that they were missing something due to a lack of meat or cheese. I will list the menu here and post the recipes soon.

Whole wheat pasta W/Harissa, Kale and Pine Nuts
Root Vegetable Enchilada Wedge with Cashew Cream Sauce
Piquant Red Cabbage Salad
Green Salad

Chocolte Fudge Rose Cupcakes w/Chocolate Icing Lots of Wine :) (or not)

Thank you, all my dear, sweet friends and family. I love and treasure you. R

Simplicity at Home, Loving my Family With Tempeh

Now that the holidays are behind us (and this may literally be so, ie: stuck to our behinds, in the form of excess adipose tissue) it's time to get back to reality, to work, to school, to the serious business of life and to follow through on those resolutions to eat better, exercise more, spend less money and floss every night.

I went to a number of parties and we even hosted our own party over these last weeks of the holiday season and I enjoyed so much good food, drink and company, that I feel downright guilty about all the good times I have had. I can't wait to get back to the rigors of every day life...going to bed at 9PM, waking up at 5 AM, writing, going to work, an yes, making breakfast, lunch and dinner for my family.

Have I shared how much I love cooking for my family? Sometimes I don't even realize how much I love it but each day a chunk of my life is given over to the process of planning, buying and preparing food for my beloved husband and daughter. It's not a religious experience or anything. In fact it is quite ordinary, though far from mundane because they deserve so much more than mundane and I do my best to make each meal healthy, pleasing and tasty. And as often as possible, we sit together to enjoy a meal together. Cooking for my family is my daily expression of gratitude to them for putting up with me and all my quirks,farts and character blemishes. They love me anyway. They are my back bone. My home sweet home. My safe harbor. My light. My heart.

I would do anything for them but what I do for them mostly, is cook. It felt really good to cook dinner for them tonight after all the party food I've been making. I'll share what I made because it's one of our favorite simple meals.
Cornmeal Crusted Tempeh Triangles
Broccoli Rabe, sauteed in Olive Oli and Garlic
White Basmati Rice
Green Salad

I used to think that I didn't like Tempeh because of that gamey taste it can have if it isn't well prepared. Then I came across this recipe for Cornmeal Crusted Tempeh in the Candle Cafe Cookbook which included instructions on how to pre bake it as part of the preparation. While some cooks boil it, I prefer to bake it because the gamey taste disappears into the flavors of the marinade. The marinade can be altered according to the recipe it is being prepped for but I have found the marinade below to be flexible, lending itself to a variety of recipes.

Cornmeal Crusted Tempeh
2 pkgs tempeh
3-4 ginger slices
2 Tbs chopped garlic
1/2 cup tamari
1/4 cup water
3 Tbs Maple Syrup
1/3 c Mirin
1/4 c Rice Vinegar
1/2 c Cornmeal
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Chile Powder
1/2 tsp salt 4 Tbs Veg or Olive Oil
Pre heat oven to 350.
Combine garlic, ginger, maple syrup, water tamari
Cut each block of tempeh into 3 sections and place them into baking dish
Pour marinade over the Tempeh
Cover baking dish with foil and bake 45 minutes
Meanwhile, combine Mirin and rice vinegar in shallow bowl
Combine Cornmeal, red peppe flakes, chile powder and salt in shallow dish
When the tempeh is done and cool enough to handle, cut each section into triangles and slice each triangle in half crosswise making the tiangles thinner.
Heat the oil over medium heat in large (preferable Cast Iron) Skillet
Dredge each triangle in the mirin mix and then coat with cornmeal mix, carefully placing each triangle in the hot oil. (You may have to do this in a few batches)
Fry over medium heat, making sure the Tempeh triangles do not get scorched in the hot oil.
Keep dredging and frying ,and placing each triangle on paper towels to drain off excess oil.
I serve these Tempeh triangles with sliced avocado and it is also great in sandwiches, with tomato, avocado, letuce and veganaise on toast...a "TLT"!

Broccoli Rabe with Garlic and Olive Oil

1 large bunch Broccoli Rabe
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Red Pepper flakes (optional)
2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I always par boil Broccoli Rabe. Par boiling removes that extra bitter taste and produces a sweet quality that contrasts with its strong green flavor. Broccoli Rabe is one of my favorite vegetables yet I am often disappointed when I order it in a restaurant because it usually has that super bitter taste that this delightful green can have when its been sauteed without the parboiling step. So! After rinsing,trimming and cutting the Rabe very coursely into large pieces, place in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Drain and rinse immediately in cold water. Heat the oil over low heat, add the garlic and red pepper flakes, if using, and add the Rabe. Saute for 5 minutes, allowing the garlic to cook and the Rabe to absorb the flavors in pan.