Stuffed Squash

This was my 9 year vegan anniversary meal and so much more delicious than I was expecting.

Stuffed Delicata:
1 delicata squash, cut in length and cleaned
1 yellow onion, diced small
1 carrot, diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon Mirin
1/2 tart apple, diced
1 large chard leaf, chopped
1 cup rice, cooked
Spices like thyme, salt, pepper...
1/2 cup shredded cheese

Bake the squash until it's done, usually it's about as long as it tastes to do the rest.
Saute the onion until it's caramelized. Add the diced carrots and cook until tender. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes. Deglaze the pan with a splash of mirin. Add the rice, and thyme, or other favorite spices. Keep cooking until the rice is cooked through.
When it's complete add the cheese and mix. Fill the holes of the squash and cook for another 10 minutes. Serve warm.


Part of what makes this dish take so great is the small size of all the ingedients. It packs in the filling in the squash, which add extra flavor with the sweet onions, tart apples, and sweet squash. The cheese isn't necessary but it adds to the texture.

Soups

How many soup posts can be made? Apparently thousands during the winter months.
A couple of weeks ago I started by making soups of every color, red, orange, yellow and green. I lost the majority of the photos and wasn't able to complete my project of going after purple, brown, and blue. Without completing my project, I show you two soups.

Green Kale Soup:
This soup used boiled chard and steamed broccoli, pureed it all with lots of spices and my green soup was done, and damn tasty.

Corn Chowder:
When I created this soup I had already created my yellow corn soup, so I went for a twist to my corn chowder. Caramelized onions, carrots, corn, tarragon and potatoes in a creamy soy and vegetable broth.
It was nice to have a stew-like meal with creamy potatoes.

Crepe Cake

Today is my 9 year vegan anniversary! So today I post a cake! However, I will not be eating cake today. I am once again trying to go without processed sugars for about a month and a half.

This cake was inspired by a photo/recipe in Martha Stewart a few years ago for a chocolate crepe cake.
I just my regular crepe recipe with a bit of cocoa added. I used a cashew cream between layers until I ran out so I used a blueberry filling.

Simple Breakfast Crepes:
1 3/4 Cups Flour
1 1/4 Cups Liquid (apple juice, water, soy milk...)
4 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 1/2 Cups Soy(/Rice/Oat/Nut) Milk
4 Tablespoons Oil
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
Pinch of Salt

Mix all together until the bumps and lumps are gone.
Ladle a small amount into a warm frying pan, or use an electric crepe maker. Pick up the pan and rotate until the batter doesn't spread anymore and let cook on one side until the other side is done.

To make the cake, keep layering crepe with the filling of your choice until it's as tall as you want, or you run out of crepes.


This was a very intensive process! And unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my cashew cream thick/strong enough to support so many crepes. None of that matters when you taste it though - it was great, but something I'd rather have someone else make for me.

Lemon Garlic Brussle Sprouts

Normally I eat my brussle sprouts roasted with a bit of garlic, today I was looking for a different flavor and decided on lemon and garlic.

I started with a roux - soy milk, flour, earth balance and a bit of lemon juice. I added the garlic and stirred until it thickened. I poured over my broiled brussles and served with rice.

This was a simple meal that added much more flavor than normal, though I added a bit too much lemon. The sauce was a nice touch with the nutty tasting broiled vegetable.