Claus's Kraut, Cubes, Kale, Noodles and Oodles

I've been busy trying to get ready for Santa.

First, I made him some CSA Sauerkraut from scratch!  I hope he likes kraut.

 I started the kraut on Tuesday, November 20th.  

It was four big cabbages (two white and two red) from my CSA, hand cored and sliced, with a few carrots thrown in, plus Kosher salt. I sprinkled salt on as I went, no more than maybe a tablespoon per head of cabbage) and caraway seeds (sprinkled in as I packed it into the bucket).

My kraut making techniques are a combination of Sandor's instructions, this and these and some videos on youtube. There are tons of videos on different techniques on YouTube, too, just put in "homemade sauerkraut" and a ton come up. Here is Sandor's video (great! But, who doesn't love Sandor?) and this nice Gramma also uses a big, food safe bucket like the one I got FREE from Wegmans (see below!!).

Once your cabbage is sliced (phew!) put a little at a time into your "crock" and pack it down to push out all the air.  I used a potato masher.  Keep adding and pushing until it's all in there.

 Carrot top :-)

Now you need a lid/plate or other covering that *just* fits inside your crock.

My plate didn't quite fit, so I made a plate out of aluminum foil, I just pushed the foil to the edges of the bucket.  I used a triple thickness.  I hope that's a legit method :-)

Weight it down with something really heavy.  I used water inside two, huge freezer bags made to hold soup (according to their marketing, anyway):

Snap the lid on, if you have one (or make one out of a towel or cheesecloth or something) and wait.

You want the brine to come up over your "plate" so the kraut is always submerged.  It should happen in about 24-48 hours, longer is also fine, it seems, as long as it is airtight and mold isn't forming, leave it alone. 

You can see the liquid is above the plate and the bubbles indicate fermentation is happening!

P.S. I got the big bucket for free at Wegmans! 

A big thanks to the awesome Joni Marie Newman for suggesting I check with my grocery store for a big container! I love Joni.

My Italian friend in the Wegmans cheese department sent me to bakery to check out my request for a big (preferably glass) jar or bucket.  They had a large, food grade plastic bucket and they gladly gave me one.

Their bakery department orders icing in these big guys (it's a 15L bucket, which is about 4 gallons)

I open it outside to scoop and re-pack the kraut! 

Baby Klaus's Kraut (One Week Old).  Delicious, mild and crunchy!

I have to remember to re-check the kraut tomorrow, hoping for a richer, more sour kraut!

I've also been breaking into the frozen stash of CSA stuff:

 This is the sauce from the Squash Mac I made in October.  I sauteed six cloves of garlic in olive oil and added about eight cubes of the sauce, also added a bit of hot pasta water to thin it out.  

It was perfect for Penne & Broccoli!

 With home made chickpeas!

My favorite "Stellar Stuffed Mushrooms" from The 30 Minute Vegan.

These are so amazing.

And this may look plain, but it was great.

 Sauteed Kale and Mushrooms in Oil, Organic Lemon juice and Garlic with Kosher Salt & Pepper.

And I found an organic, vegan vanilla pudding powder at the grocery store!

If you want to make The Veggnog Cake and can't find that Bird's powder or don't want to order it, I bet this stuff works pretty good.

I'll try it the next on the round of Veggnog Cakes!

This was dinner last night (I added rich, garlicky chickpeas, too)

 Dinner last night was the Kale and Friends Salad  Organic Kale and Brown Rice Salad with Dried Organic Cranberries, Sliced Almonds and a Organic Winter Citrus Vinaigrette. 

I also added rich, garlicky chickpeas (pressure cooked in rich broth, olive oil and salt).

In a large bowl, place one bunch of kale leaves, washed and chopped mixed with 1/3 cup dried cranberries, 1/3 cup slivered almonds, and 1/3 cup of sliced grapes (if you want) or slices of mandarin orange.  Dress this first with 2.5 T of the dressing.

Cook 1.5 Cups of brown rice and dress that with another 2.5 T of the dressing, put the hot, cooked and dressed rice over the kale salad mixture and stir very well.  The kale will cook a tiny bit and soften nicely.

Winter Citrus Vinaigrette: 1/3 cup of olive oil, 1 clove of garlic smashed, 1 tsp Kosher Salt, bunch of pepper, juice of one organic lemon, one organic orange and about 1 tsp of combined orange and lemon zest. Whisk like hell.  Pour 2.5 T over your kale salad mixture and 2.5 T over your Brown Rice.

This was breakfast this morning!

Old Fashioned Oats with Flax, Organic Grade B Maple Syrup, Vietnamese Cinnamon, Vanilla, Bananas and Chopped Pecans.  YUM. 

Lunch Today: A version of Hornswaggle Salad.  My favorite!

Besides eating, I am also working on oodles of homemade gifts:

Many mini loaves are in my future. My Vegan Sticky Gingerbread is up first.

Ollie and I are also working on hand made Christmas gifts for the family:

Handmade Gift Post Coming Soon! 

Hang in there everyone, "the holidays" will be over before you can say

HO HO HO

XOXO

Hornswaggle Salad and Cilantro in a Cup O' Joe

Last night, I needed to make my lunch for work today, and I was craving my very favorite 

chickpea salad.  But not just any chickpea salad...

Hornswaggle Salad

(Chickpea "Tuna" Salad)

1 Tin O' Chickpeas

2 T Nutritional Yeast 

1 tsp Tamari

3 T Vegenaise

1 tsp Texas Pete Hotsauce (yeeeehah!)

1 T fresh Cilantro, chopped

A nice squeeze of fresh lime or lemon juice

Freshly grated pepper & Kosher salt to taste

(I put a few grinds of each one in there)

3T Fresh veggies: peppers, carrots or celery, chopped 

Put everything but the fresh veggies in your food processor.  Pulse until combined but still a little chunky.  Scrape down as needed.  Turn out into a bowl.

 Poor fella' needs a little fancy'in up!

 Dressed in his Sunday best, with organic, heirloom peppers 

Don't forget The Sheriff likes it hot!

Almost ready for the husking bee...

Hornswaggle Salad Sandwich. 

Now, I can put on my best bib and tucker and get a wiggle on to work.

Cilantro in a Cup O' Joe:

When I went to make this Hornswaggle Salad for my Wednesday work lunch, I noticed I still had cilantro from weeks ago in there.  I knew it was doing very well the last two or three times I changed the water (no more than once a week, so it’s at least three weeks old). It was actually GROWING in my refrigerator.  

To keep cilantro fresh in your fridge for weeks (?!): Just trim the ends of your bunch of cilantro, put in an inch of cold water in a cup, and cover with a thin plastic bag (like the kind you put produce in at the supermarket, they breathe better).  Change the water every few days and re-trim stems as needed.  Normally, I get a week or two out of cilantro this way, but this, this here’s a record for the county fair!

Now, if that don't take the rag off the bunch!*

Now, on to this week's Green Gold...

Homesteadin' it, October 1st through October 31st, 2012

*To take the rag off = to surpass

CSA 2012: Boxes #3 and #4 and Zucchini Fritters!

Here are some of my creations from Weeks #2, #3 and #4 of my local, Certified Organic CSA, as well as the pictures of my CSA boxes from Weeks #3 & #4. 

Organic Zucchini Fritters over Organic Red Leaf Lettuce w/ Organic Radishes & Scallions and a Mustard Vinagrette.   Combo of Week #3 and Week #4 boxes.

 Gorgeous, home made pie crust (to house a Week #2 Greens & Scapes pie, below)

Organic Swiss Chard & Beet Greens Pie (from Week #2's box).  I used the recipe for my Green Leek Pie using the Chard/Beet Greens and Scapes in for the leeks.  That rosy glow is from the beet greens & red chard, isn't it lovely?

Organic Chickpea Salad w/ Organic Garlic Scapes, Celery & Carrots (also from Week #2).

 The Bounty from Week #3: Organic beets, chard, red leaf lettuce (3 heads), zucchini, broccoli, cabbage and my favorite, scallions!

 I love scallions and these were amazing! 

 Organic Broccoli Soup!

 Organic Zucchini Fritters.

 The Bounty from Week #4 (this week's box): FIVE heads of lettuce (sheesh!), beets, collards, something I'm not sure of (that head of something on the far left, maybe a funky, heritage escarole?), collards, oregano, chard, zucchini and even more GIGANTIC scallions than last week!

 Told you the scallions were gigantic!

I still have a lot of stuff left, namely: scallions (a ton of scallions!), lettuce, three beets & their greens, and some zucchini. Oh heck, and some radishes from Week #2, and that head of cabbage and that head of I don't know what it is...uh oh! I did freeze about four cups of grated zucchini (I grated all of last week's zucchini and froze all of what I didn't use for the fritters).  

What to do, what to do...now that this heat is breaking, I will probably make another pie :-) and some salads or something.

What are you guys making with your CSA bounties?  

Birthday Bonanza!

I know I am behind here, but I do have a lot of great stuff to post.  Let's just get going.

Today is my birthday.  To celebrate, my husband and I let my son go to play with his friends for the day and we went out to lunch and did a little shopping. Food shopping. At Wegmans.  Just for the good stuff since the big weekly shop was already completed, we were just there for an early lunch and fun items.  For lunch, we ate at the cold and hot bars, which have excellent vegan options. I got a beautiful hot tofu dish with hot & sour sauce, fresh brown rice, veggie lo mein, steamed Chinese veggies and an Italian bean salad, all were excellent.  My husband got vegan red lentil stew with a rosemary focaccia roll and roasted Brussels sprouts.  To drink, we both had Vita Coco, 100% coconut water.  A little strange if you ask us, but tolerable.

Then, on to my present.  I wanted to make these home made, vegan protein power bars and needed the Amazing Greens drink powder I actually needed the Amazing Meal, but Wegmans didn't have it so I just got the drink powder.  I also got a container of Wegmans brand, Non-GMO, Organic Soy protein powder.  Yeah, baby!  Birthday present time. I also picked up some organic celery to make chickpea "mock tuna" salad for our late lunch (recipe to follow as well).  I had all the rest of the ingredients and a soaked (but still needing to be cooked) pot of organic chickpeas at home.

The recipe I used for the vegan protein bars belongs to Hannah Kaminsky, the BitterSweet blogger and she is a talent.  I highly recommend her blog and have her cookbooks on my amazon wish list!  I added about two tablespoons of roughly chopped freeze dried raspberries since I happened to have an open bag, and that worked as a nice, tart addition to the sweet flavors in the bar.  Here they are, they are a very dark green and appetizing (to me, anyway).  They were delicious! My toddler ate them as well.

I love the dark green color with the bits of raspberry showing through.  Totally a do-again.

Next up was the Chickpea "Mock Tuna" Salad.  I LOVE this salad and it is from one of the first blogs I checked out on advice from a friend (Thanks, Nancy, I remember!).  She is a little irreverent, but we know that is all in the good fun of making delish vegan vittles.  This is the mock tuna salad I always talk about.  I don't use the kelp powder (only because I don't have it) but I don't think it's necessary.  In addition to the chopped celery, I add one small chopped carrot and probably about 1/4 cup minced onion.  I don't put pickles IN it but I serve them on the side.  You know, you make it just however you like your regular tuna salad.  This is a GREAT recipe to try nutritional yeast because it calls for so little, but it works amazing magic along with the soy sauce (I use organic Tamari, as I prefer its taste to regular soy sauce) to make chickpeas taste like tuna.  It REALLY does.  I make mine in the food processor (all ingredients except the onion, celery and carrot) to get the chickpeas all shreddy and tuna-like.  Then I turn it out into a bowl and add the veggies and some extra mayo (if needed) and some extra salt and pepper, if needed.  I also like it with garlic powder (about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp).  This is what we ate for our late lunch.

Now if that don't look like deli tuna salad, I don't know what does.  Oh, deli tuna salad :-).  But this is so much healthier for you, cruelty free and tastes better, too.  SUPER yum.

And, unfortunately, spring has decided to give us a pass for this week.  I know I mentioned something about amazing hot chocolate a few weeks ago, then it got all springy and I forgot about it.  Winter has returned for the moment, so, I'll give it to you as you might need it!  Here it is, with permission from The Urban Vegan, (I would also recommend buying her book, it is a STEAL on amazon!).  Dynise also has an excellent blog.  Survived on these for the last few weeks while my son decided to try dropping his 2-3 hour afternoon nap :-).

Here is the recipe:

1 cup full fat soy milk (I used Original Silk in the refrigerated section)
3 tablespoons best quality chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (at least 60%)
1 tsp vanilla (I use Penzey's vanilla)
1/2 to 1 tsp agave syrup (I use light, organic agave)

Heat everything in a small stainless steel pan over gentle heat and stir until chocolate is melted and milk is hot, just starting to steam, but not boiling.  I use a little whisk to stir it well while it s melting.  It is really delish.  I also found I could use two tablespoons of chocolate and it was still really good (and about 70-80 fewer calories and 4-6 fewer grams of fat, depending on the brand of chocolate).  With three, though, it is stupendous.

Hoping we don't need too many more of these (though any excuse to drink them is a good excuse).  Common' spring, we're rootin' for ya'!

And for National Carrot Cake Day, I participated by making the Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Creme Cheese frosting by Annie Shannon.  Meet the Shannons is veganizing the Betty Crocker Cookbook, and they are right on target.  It was FANTASTIC.  Here is the link to the blog post containing the recipe

They were ASTOUNDING and their (vegan, of course) creme cheese icing will be my go-to recipe from now on (but I reduce the amount of sugar a bit).  Check out the comments to see which ingredient I balked at, but then, I became a believer.  Whoah.

Have a great week guys, stay warm, eat some great food.
Dawn