Research and Development: Thanksgiving 2012

I've been doing my research for The Big Day, guys!

These are both wonderful books.  I love Holly Garrison's The Thanksgiving Cookbook, which I took out from my library in August (early R&D!) then purchased (used, for a penny on Amazon!) because I love it so much.  I love her storying, her tone, the early 1990's vibe, I could go on and on.  I WON Meatless Celebrations, which I just got today in the mail!  I can already tell it's amazing.  Apple Rosemary Walnut Pie, anyone?

Because I live in New Jersey (though I work in Philly) I only photographed South Jersey restaurants due to logistics. I came in a very respectable third place in the Philadelphia Inquirer's Vegetarian Awareness Month Photo Contest 

and I won two cookbooks...

Kim O'Donnel's Meatless Celebrations and Bryant Terry's The Inspired Vegan.  

OH YEAH.  They work for me, now!

And work they shall...

CSA Week #24 (11/7/12): 

Rutabaga (does anyone especially dig this?), Carrots, Cauliflower, Kohlrabi, TONS of Sweets, Beets, Turnips, Spinach, Arugula and Spicy Mix

Pa came down this past weekend for a practice T-day visit :-)

OH YEAH.  The Vegan Cowboys in their element.

And I made a practice round of Soft and Hard Gruyere from the hottest new vegan cookbook on the market, Artisan Vegan Cheese!

With a little help from my old friend, Sandor.  

He has a new book out (an updated version of mine) you guys should check it out!

 Quinoa Rejuvelac. SO FUN.

 Soft Gruyere (above and below).

 Soft Gruyere is damn delicious!

Let's not talk about the Hard Gruyere yet, OK? :-)

And, I picked up my very last CSA box of the season tonight :-(

CSA Week #25 (11/14/12):

Cabbage (beautiful!), Cauliflower, Fennel, Parsley, Beets (in sink), Arugula (in the bowl in the sink), Carrots (oh yeah!), Spinach, Sweets, Daikon (behind the carrots).

Farewell, Honey Brook Farm! See you next season!

Only Sweet Potato Man can absorb the sadness of the next six months with no CSA:

Sweet Potato Man.  
He's restin' up for The Big Day, so don't wake him!

What am I making for The Big Day this year?  I don't know yet, I need to do more R&D. (Please tell my husband that cookbooks all over the house, fermented grains in jars and three different kinds of sugar on the counter=R&D).

I do know what I did last year, and it went something like this:

Vegan Thanksgiving Planning and Resources

The Gobbler (she's amazing!)

Isa's Seitan Roast (she's amazing, too!)

Vegan Fazool's Thanksgiving Feast 2011 

What are you guys making this year?  

*Update: OMG, guys!! After getting like three hours of sleep last night after I wrote this, when I was woken up this morning by the highly inefficient and super loud town leaf vacuum truck (that was on my small street for at least an hour from 6-7 a.m.) I thought, THANKSGIVING PIZZA. Homemade Organic Yeast Dough, Sweet Potato Puree Sauce (I'll make it with garlic, olive oil, onions, rosemary), Slices of Seitan "Turkey," like, perchance, Gobbler Slices or Isa's Roast?! Dollops of Homemade Vegan Gruyere Cheese, Sage Cornbread Dressing. Mushroom Gravy drizzled over everything!  Dollops of cranberry sauce? Some sauteed greens? Any and all feast elements can top this thing.  

Tasteful amounts of everything, of course.   
R&D BABY, R&D.   


I'm thinking of doing the T-day Pizza with The Big Day leftovers instead of the traditional T-day sandwich.  I am also thinking I may do it with the tester items I'm making now...


Sweet Potato Man must have visited me in my dreams last night!  Thank you, Sweet Potato Man!

Sweet Potato Sage Bread (Low Gluten or GF!)

I've been in sweet potatoes lately, thanks to my awesome, certified organic (and local!) CSA.

CSA Week #23 (11/1/12): 

A few tiny head lettuces, huge bunch of carrots, eight sweet potatoes (yes!), a head of Romanesco (cool!), a bag of arugula and a bag of "spicy" mix (spring mix).

 Romanesco is a cruciferous veg (related to broccoli & cauliflower). 

You prepare it the same way.  It's supposedly more mild and creamy than either of its cousins.  

 This week's haul of sweets!

Monster carrots (they were SO good).  I glazed them just like that first week of Hakurei Turnips.  

And the week prior, sweets galore as well!

CSA Week #22 (10/24/12):  

Kohlrabi, parsley, carrots, sweet potatoes, beets (yes!), arugula, kale (double yes!!), spinach (yeah!), and lettuce (OK, it was gorgeous).

Here were the sweets:

These were the sweets I had prior to Hurricane Sandy.  Two HUGE ones, one medium, and three smalls.

They made my Hurricane Sweet Potato Pie!

 Roast them taters real good! I do them for at least an hour at 400 degrees until they are oozing and the skin is crispy in some places and they are VERY soft.  

 This color blows me away every time.  

 I used this recipe by The Witchy Kitchen but I had to double the volume of the filling.

If you make it, double the filling recipe or it will not even fill half your pie crust!  I don't think this recipe was ever tested.  But, it was tasty once I made enough of it!

Thirst quenching hurricane provisions in the background: 

TJ's instant coffee, diet iced tea, hot cocoa, ginger ale.

With this week's sweets, I made a Sweet Potato Sage Bread!

Sweet Potato Sage Bread*

*Can be gluten free* Is also soy-free and nut-free (unless you want to add nuts!)

Inspired by Sweet Potato Rosemary Bread in Flying Apron's Gluten-Free & Vegan Baking Book.

Yield: One loaf

2 cups Brown Rice Flour 

1.5 cups White Whole Wheat Flour*

*or 1.5 cups more BRF for a Gluten-Free bread

1 Cup Garbanzo Bean Flour (Chickpea Flour)

1/4 cup Ground Flax Seeds

1 tsp Sea Salt or Kosher Salt

3/4 tsp Xanthan Gum

2 tsps Home Dried Sage, chopped finely

1/4 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp cinnamon*

*it adds depth and not so much a "cinnamony" flavor

1/2 cup raisins or chopped dried fruit (apricots would be good)

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

(I would have loved to add walnuts but my son is a "no nuts" kinda guy)

1/4 cup EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil :-)

1/4 cup maple syrup (organic if poss)

1 cup lukewarm water 

(just warm to your finger when dipped!)

1/2 tablespoon cake yeast 

(in the refrigerated section of your store)

1 cup pureed sweet potato or yam

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F.  I use a double-burner cast iron griddle to bake bread and pizza on and I also preheat that inside the oven.  Spray it or lightly coat with olive oil before preheating.

Combine dry ingredients (flours through nuts) in a bowl and mix well to incorporate.

Dry ingredients (not yet mixed well, haha).

Heat one cup of water in the microwave until just warm to the touch.  45 seconds on 80 percent power for my little microwave is perfect.  If you have a powerful microwave, this would be way too long.  Add the cake yeast and stir until it is dissolved.  You can mash it about, too.  Then, add your warm yeast water to the maple syrup and olive oil in a large mixing bowl:

Cake yeast.  Ain't she purdy?

 Wet ingredients with yeast added.  Let sit about five minutes for yeast to "activate." Will look creamy/cloudy and bubbles will form.

Add dry ingredients a little at a time, alternating with some sweet potato until a lovely dough forms.  Do not over mix.  Strangely, I had a full half cup of dry ingredients left over when I did mine.  Not sure why, but maybe my sweet potato was lowish in moisture.  Anyway, use your judgement about when to stop adding the dry ingredients.  You want the dough to be moist and pliable, but not too dry.  

Take your preheated cast iron griddle (or baking pan or pizza stone) out of the oven and put it on your (heat proof) counter.   Get ready to add your loaf!

On a floured work surface (I use a RoulPat mat dusted with a little flour) knead your loaf gently only a few times just to incorporate everything.  Shape into a loaf and lift gently (I slid the whole loaf onto my forearm) and place on your griddle/sheet/stone.  Slash a few times gently with a floured knife.  I sprayed my loaf with olive oil to give it some extra moisture in the oven.  If you don't have a Misto, just brush some oil on to lightly coat your loaf.  Bake at 300 degrees for about one hour and five minutes.  Done when a toothpick comes out clean and it has started to brown on the bottom. Do not overbake this bread.

 Raw loaf ready for the oven!

 Baked loaf! Not sure why it cracked so much, probably still a little too dry, but it was delish!

 The loaf had just the right flavor: herby (but not too strong, my husband said he wanted more herbs in it, actually), sweet from the potato and raisins and with a touch of warmth from the cinnamon.  It has a moist crumb, and is quite satisfying, dense and chewy and has a lovely golden color from the sweet potatoes.  Yum!

Would be great for a sandwich, toast, french toast (!), bread pudding or even cubed and toasted as a stuffing for your Thanksgiving Seitan Roast (I'd mix it with veg sausage and nuts, definitely) or as a dressing baked on the side of your Thanksgiving main dish (I'd still add veg sausage and nuts and dried cranberries!).

Hope everyone is well.

Enjoy!

The Sheriff's Farewell

Well, folks, it's sure been an October to remember on the Homestead...

Haddonfield, NJ from October, 1912 

(Courtesy of the Historical Society of Haddonfield/The Haddonfield Sun)

We took our boxes of CSA goodies and showed 'em who was boss!

We roasted our pumpkins and perfected our seeds.

And The Sheriff was proud as punch to see it was a big enough steer to get herded up into the second MoFo Round-Up, Taco Tuesday!

We made soup outta her, too...

We wrangled down and dried those herbs faster than the best cowhand!

We jeweled (not canned! ;-) our jars, 

And got in a whole heap o' trouble...Candyin' Cowboys, Hornswagglin' Salads, even Homesteadin' up a Hoagie, that The Sheriff had to pay us a visit!

It's a good thing The Sheriff stayed in town to keep an eye on things since I had to go out on the town!

Haddonfield, NJ October, 2012

Had to get me a snack, too...

And don't ya' know? Me and The Sheriff were in the ol' black and white!

The Sheriff could relax and toast his boots, while I got to workin' my way through those big, beautiful boxes of CSA produce, freezin' everything in sight! 

But, then there was trouble on The Homestead, Miss Sandy was headin' right for New Jersey. The Sheriff don't like that kinda stress, so he fancied up those Candied Cowboys real good...


He felt a little better, and he spruced right up when he met 'Pa and got a present!

'Pa and The Deputy 

Still, even the cat needed help gettin' through the storm...

We all did.

A whole lotta folks in New Jersey need our help right now.  Don't forget 'em.  

Farewell, Aquarium! We will never forget you!

Stay safe, stay warm, be kind to each other, and I'm sure The Sheriff will come back for a visit soon.

It's been a real pleasure, folks.

XOXO
The Sheriff

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

Tumbleweed for the Cat

She ain't no common barn cat.  She found herself a catnip mouse that revealed itself whiles I was cleanin' the Homestead, preparing for Sandy.  So, I refilled it with fresh catnip.  

Cat needs a bit o' tumbleweed to weather Sandy, too. 

 Them eyeballs is all a' bulgin'!

 Ollie gets all tangle footed* when she’s indulgin’ in the nip.

Crazy face.

One cat post is mandatory for MoFo.  Here's my cat post from last year.

We'll see how Sandy treats us, and hopefully The Sheriff'll see ya'll for at least one more post!

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

*tangle footed or tangle legged=drunk & stumbling