Peachy Keen Green

Our friend Judy shared this roti for two recipe with us, which just uses flour and water, and is very good! Munira adds some spice to her roti, and luckily, she shared her secrets with me in Whatsapp. I also searched to see what other spices people use in rot. So I've adapted the recipe (below) to include some optional spicing :) Ingredients 1 1/2 C whole wheat flour 3/4 C water 1/2 tsp salt optional spices (mix and match) 1 tsp cumin seeds or 1/2 tsp cumin powder 1 tsp roasted flax seeds of flax meal 1/2 tsp garam masala (or other curry powder) 1/2 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp fenugreek (if not using leaves, below) 2 T fenugreek leaves or cilantro leaves 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped Instructions In a large bowl, mix the flour and optional spices/leaves of your choices. Add 2/3 cup water and see how wet your dough is; add water until you get pizza dough consistency (don't want it too gummy). Knead a bit. Cover the dough and let it rest for at least 30 minutes....

We have a ton of fresh cilantro growing in our side yard, to I searched for recipes that use a lot of it. This coleslaw recipe looked good, and also uses oranges, which we have tons of. Here's my version, with a few changes. It was yummy - Larry loved it! Ingredients 2 carrots, shredded Half a cabbage (about 6 cups, red or green or mix), shredded 1/2 C red onion, chopped 1 C cilantro leaves Dressing: 1/4 C plain yogurt (I use homemade ) 1/4 vegan mayo 1/4 C fresh squeezed orange juice Zest of 1 orange 3 T white vinegar 2 tsp maple syrup 1 tsp black pepper 1/4 tsp salt (or more, to taste) Instructions Shred/slice the carrots, cabbage, and onion (I used my food processor with slicing attachment) and put in a big bowl with the cilantro. Whisk up the dressing in a separate bowl. Mix dressing into veggies until well combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Serve!

Growing up, Larry's family had a tradition of eating applesauce at most meals. Since we've started doing weekly zoom dinners with his family, they decided everyone should always have applesauce for dessert. Cute! But it's been hard to find jars of applesauce. We're just seeing pouches and single-serve containers as options at Costco and our Instacart orders. Yuck.  But apples are easy to get. And I make a mean ginger pear sauce .... So why not make applesauce, too? Of course! Ingredients 7-8 apples (I use gala or fuji), chopped 1/4 cup sugar (brown or white) juice from one lemon 1 C water 1/2 tsp cinnamon, or a cinnamon stick Instructions Chop the apples and eat around the core :) Oh, I leave the skin on, of course - it's where most of the nutrition is. Put the apples in a soup pot and add sugar, lemon, cinnamon and water. Stir and let sit awhile as you putter around (like an hour or three; whatever fits your schedule - but stir it occasionally). Cook ...

Getting fake meat during the pandemic is unpredictable; some basic things (tofu, tempeh, soyrizo) are often out of stock. I wanted to make my Mexican lasagna , but couldn't get soyrizo. So I wondered... can I make my own? Turns out, yes! I found a couple of recipes that use textured vegetable protein (TVP, which I wasn't aware of before now), and with a few tweaks, came up with this recipe, which makes enough for 2 lasagnas (use half, freeze half). Verdict: Delicious! We definitely like it better than purchased soyrizo. Aside: I now have lots of TVP and soy curls in my pantry (need to check out Judi's  soy curls recipes ).  So I'm feeling self sufficient. I haven't been to a grocery store in 6+ weeks - getting by with mail orders from Costco & Amazon for dried goods like beans & soy protein, local  Albert & Eve produce delivery, and Instacart from Costco, Sigonas, and Sprouts (our TJ substitute, since TJs doesn't allow instacart). Ingredient...

In one of our zoom chats with friends during the pandemic, Robert & Judy shared their desktop to flip through some random photos. I asked them to pause on a beautiful pizza they made for dinner. Judy said it was one of her favorites! So I had to give it a try. I found a crust recipe and adapted it; the dough turned out crunchy and good! We wanted a bit more flavor, so I added kalamata olives, as well as  whipped almond ricotta ,  like True Food Kitchen does . Ingredients Toppings: Sweet potatoes or squash, cubed or sliced Red onion, sliced salt & pepper 2 C kale or spinach 1 T balsamic vinegar 1 apple, chopped (optional) 1 T fresh chopped rosemary (optional) Kalamata olives (optional) Whipped almond ricotta (or mozzarella for non-vegans) Pizza dough (if making; TJ's whole wheat pita also works) 1 1/3 C flour 1 T cornmeal 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp sugar 3/4 C water 1 T oil Whipped almond...

We often enjoy  Andersen's Pea Soup in Buellton when we drive to or from southern California. Andersen's sells bags of peas along with a pea soup recipe, which I've slightly adapted to add more veggies and a hot pepper. It was especially delicious and tasted SO much like the restaurant's when I made it this time using split peas that I ordered from Washington (below), leeks instead of onion (thanks, Elsa!), and added baby carrot top greens from our Albert & Eve organics delivery. Ingredients 2 T canola oil 1 small hot pepper, diced 2 cups green split peas 2 stalks celery, chopped 2 carrots, chopped (+ carrot tops/greens if any) 1 onion or leek, chopped 8 C water or veggie broth Spices: 1 bayleaf 1/2 tsp dried thyme 1/2 tsp pepper 1/4 tsp salt Instructions Saute pepper, onion, celery, and carrot (and carrot tops, if using) in oil in a soup pot for about 5 minutes. Add spices and stir a few minutes. Add water and split peas. Bring to a boil and boi...

We really like these PB2 brownies - super easy to make, not too sweet, and very satisfying. But it's time to try some other desserts. I still have a lot of PB2 and almond butter; surely one can make a good chocolate chip cookie from that? I googled, looked through several recipes, and decided to try a twist on these vegan chocolate chip almond butter cookies by Beaming Baker. I made several changes, including using half PB2 and making them less sweet (most desserts are always too sweet!), and used brown sugar and fewer chocolate chips (half the amount listed was plenty!) Note: If you don't have PB2, just use 1 1/4 cups of any flour (oat, almond, wheat, or a mix).  Makes 2 dozen cookies. Ingredients Dry ingredients: 3/4 C flour 1/2 cup PB2 (or any other flour) 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt Wet ingredients: 1/2 C almond butter (or 1/3 C vegan butter) 3 T canola oil 1/3 C brown sugar, heaping 2 flax eggs (2 T flaxmeal, 6 T warm water) 1/2 ...