Lessons in Love: V-day feast, Temp Tatts, Contest Win, Two Pies and a Tester

I love temp tatts, and I suggest you get 'em on for this post!  

Emory's Flaming Panther

 Daddy's Cobra

Mommy's BBQ Dragon

I love blueberries.  And lemon.

 Homemade Blueberry Lemon Compote

 Over Hoecakes!

Next...I really loved this recipe!

 DIY Bisquick from Betty Goes Vegan.  So useful! So fun to make!

I needed it to make the amazing...

Cheezeburger Pie (this is SO good).  I love savory pies!

A delicious, cheezy, doughy bite.

Onto another tester from Joni's upcoming book, 

The Sesame Sriracha Sauce:

I am in love with Joni's new book!  And, now I'm more into spicy stuff than ever (and that's saying a lot since I always loved spicy stuff).

Sesame Sriracha Sauce over Korean Fresh Noodles with Organic Baby Kale, "Heathy Food" Vegan Shrimp (:-) and Black Sesame Seeds.  SO GOOD.

I had never, ever seen baby kale before, but Wegmans had it last week in the pre-washed salad greens-in-boxes section.  It's DELICIOUS and super convenient.  I hope they will carry it on a regular basis.  I LOVE BABY KALE.  

A more traditional, Asian presentation.

And this year, I made a special Valentine's Day Dinner.  I used two recipes from The Inspired Vegan:

Beet Tapenade Crostini and (from scratch) Jerk Tempeh and Peppers over Coconut Lime Rice. 

Molded Beet Tapenade Crostini.

Unmolded! Served with a surprise olive oil (see below!). 

Jerk Tempeh:

This was a wonderful Jerk sauce, even though it had, like 1,000 ingredients!

For dessert, I was out of my Whoopie Pies, but, my friend had made a batch of her own (a GF version of the recipe in BGV!).  She had extras leftover and was nice enough to 

re-purpose some of them over to me :-)  

These were SO delicious.  She promises to give me her GF recipe for them, guys!

I love whoopies!

And, I got a big box on my porch earlier this week...

What could it be?

 Ah ha! My prize from winning The Urban Vegan's Colavita contest!  

I got both the Private Selection and the Argentinian Fruity Olive Oils. SCORE!

I love winning :-)

And here's an early birthday present to myself (to fill all those future whoopie pies I still want to make!):

I was a little tired of the pastry bag thing (they always have some kind of issue), so I thought I might try this gadget.  Got good reviews on amazon, so, we'll see...

My birthday is coming up (I love my birthday!!) and I'll have more exciting stuff to show you and recipes to share.  If you can't wait, here's my birthday post from last year! Gonna be hard to top that...

Anyhoo, have a great rest of your weekend, everyone.  

(I love Mondays off for President's Day :-)

XOXO

Pepita Beet Spread and Sweet Corn Ice Cream (!)

So, from our box this week came the following:

Gorgeous Pepita Beet Spread (recipe below!) as a boost to this gorg salad (tomatoes are local but not CSA, yet!).

 Grillin' up the CSA bounty.

 Swiss Chard (as usual! 6th week in a row!), Beets & Greens (3) but 5th week in a row!), fresh onions (5), fresh corn (yes! 6 ears), fresh garlic (one clove, yes!), zucchini (4) and cucumbers (2), scallions (yes!) and 4 tomatoes are from my garden.

 Israeli Couscous with CSA Zucchini, Onions, and Organic Homemade Chickpeas.

 Yeah, I'm at it AGAIN with the ice cream maker!  FRESH CORN ICE CREAM!!

 Library Style.  

 

Sweet Corn Ice Cream (from Hannah's Book Vegan A La Mode) made with local, Organic CSA Corn. This ice cream is totally amazing (and our corn was amazing, so use local, organic corn if you make it). It is probably the most unusual and surprising ice cream I have had in years, and it is delicious. Texture and taste is right on the money.

Garnished with Half-Sharp Paprika (which is quite hot and spicy if you ask me). Delish!!

Onto the Pepita Beet Spread!

Pepita Beet Spread...

The perfected recipe is now forthcoming in Soy Not Oi 2!

image from Soy Not Oi's website.

I'm so thrilled to be a part of SNO II!  

If you don't already have it, the original Soy Not Oi is the classic, vegan anarchist cookbook.  Check out the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I made from it!  They are SO good.

As soon as Soy Not Oi 2 has a link for purchase, I'll put it up.  I can't wait to see what else is in there!

XOXO

Blueberry Popsicles, Grilled Radishes, and Pasta Verdura!

In keeping up with my CSA, here are my creations of the week:

Organic Blueberry-Strawberry Popsicles

6-8 ice cubes

1/2 to 3/4 pint of organic blueberries (we got them last week, forgot to mention them!)

6-8 organic strawberries, hulled & sliced

2 Tablespoons maple syrup or agave syrup

1 cup organic soy or almond milk (or your fave plant milk)

Blend up in a blender (I used my VitaMix for 1 min) until smooth, pour into popsicle molds and freeze.  You can also add yogurt, ice cream, herbs like mint or basil or whatever else your heart desires.  More pops to come!

These were unbelievable.  Seriously. SO good.

These grilled radishes were also amazing!

 Pre-grill: Trim radishes, slice large ones in half, add organic scallions or other onions, some cubed butter and a sprinkle of turbinado sugar (it has a high melting point so is great for the grill).  Wrap up in your foil packet and grill until radishes are tender.  Radishes & Scallions both from my Organic CSA.

Done! They were custardy, mild, and sweet.  I added organic lime juice for a kick of acid, and salt and pepper of course.

You can also grill your beets, which I did! We've been getting beets every week in our CSA and I LOVE beets! Grilling them is great because they take so long to cook I didn't want to do them indoors when it was so hot a few days ago. Just add a little olive oil, salt and pepper to the beet packets and grill until tender.

 Lastly, an easy greens saute.  All greens were from my CSA: Radicchio, Swiss Chard, Beet Greens and Garlic Scapes, and non-CSA Garlic and Organic Raisins sauteed in olive oil with salt and pepper.  Serve with al dente pasta for a lovely Pasta Verdura!

Pasta Verdura, SO good.  

The sauteed radicchio tastes like a slightly more bitter escarole, perfect for me!

Now, I'm ready to pick up my new box tomorrow!  Bring it on, Honey Brook Organic Farm!