Peachy Keen Green

Figs! We have so many figs. Larry is picking a dozen a day, scrambling onto the roof to get half of them from the top of the tree. During an afternoon get-together, Shuchi tells us that she gets a lot of different fruits off her trees and dries them -- the sugar concentrates, and they taste like candy! She keeps them in jars on her counter and they snack on them for days. So we bought a Cuisinart dehydrator  and tried it out with some figs and pears and other fruits. Figs are pretty juicy and took a lot longer to dry than the others, so we decided they were better when cut into smaller sizes, and perhaps dried by themselves - or if you do other fruits, just check the others earlier. Ingredients Fresh figs, a dozen or more Instructions Figs are pretty juicy, so slice them into quarters at minimum, and into eighths if you can (i.e., they still have integrity). Place them on dehydrator shelves, skin side down so they don't stick to the shelf. We put our dehydrator on our outdoor...

We've had some really good buffalo cauliflower at Vegenation in Las Vegas, and I finally got around to trying to make it. It was tasty! Here's what a did - which is a combination of a recipe in Vegan Comfort Classics and some recipes I found on the web, like  this one that has a nice video . Yum! Ingredient s 1 large (or 2 small) head cauliflower 2 cups bread crumbs 1/2 cup wheat germ (optional) Batter: 3/4 cup flour 2 tsp garlic powder 2 tsp onion powder (optional) 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper 1 1/3 cup nondairy milk Buffalo sauce: 2 T vegan butter 1/4 cup Sriracha (or more; 1/3 ?) 1/4 cup ketchup 1 T maple syrup Ranch dressing: 1/2 cup vegan mayo 2 tsp apple cider 1 T chopped fresh dill or 2 tsp dried 1 T chopped chives 1 tsp onion powder (optional) 1/4 cup nondairy milk (optional; if you like it a little thinner; I do) salt and pepper to taste chopped chives for topping (optional) Instructions Clean and cut up the ...

Last month we went for a walk on the beach near Half Moon Bay, where Larry proposed 22 years ago. Along the way, we came across a small tapas place and had some delicious  gazpacho. Googling for a good recipe, I came across this Best Gazpacho  in the New York Times that looks just like what we had. I tried this with a regular green pepper, sherry vinegar, some scallions and tomatoes from our garden, and cucumber from our neighbor Elsa's garden. We used our Ninja blender, didn't strain it, and only chilled 15 minutes. It was delish! Ingredients 2 pounds ripe red tomatoes 1 long, light green pepper (e.g., cubanelle) if you can get it - or a regular green bell pepper is ok 1 cucumber, about 8 inches long, partly peeled 1 small mild onion (white or red) 2 cloves garlic 1 tsp salt (some may want more) 1/2 tsp cumin (optional!) 2 tsp sherry vinegar (or substitute with a sweet white, apple, or rice wine vinegar) 1/3 C extra-virgin olive oil Instructions Cut tomatoes, ...