Pj's Peace Kitchen

I have a new blog, I hope all of my followers will join me on this one- Vegan CineGrub :)

http://vegancinegrub.blogspot.com/

Fry or bake these. I fried mine because it’s my birthday tomorrow and I can do what I want :) Falafel is one of my favorite things.

3 cups cooked or canned garbanzo beans (chick peas)

One small onion

One cup loose packed flat leaf parsley

juice of one lemon

2-3 garlic cloves

1 and 1/2 tsp ground corriander

1 tsp cumin (the ground black cumin seeds if you got it)

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup bread crumbs (panko if you got it)

In a food processor, chop the garlic, then the onion and parsley, then add the chick peas. Blend into a paste. In a mixing bowl combine your mixture with the rest of the ingredients. Heat some oil in a pan about 1/2-1 inch. Form into ping pong balls and place them in the pan, rotating frequently to get a nice even brown all around. When finished transfer to some paper towels to soak up the extra oil. Serve in a pita, or on a salad, or alone. Good sauces for falafel are tahini cream- *tahini, lemon juice and salt in the food processor. or cucumber-mint sauce- *vegan yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice and mint, dash of salt in the food processor.

G-FREE option-  Chickpea flour instead of white; instead of bread crumbs try rice crackers pulsed in the food processor.

Makes 15 to 18 ping-pong balls

I am BROKE, which means lets have beans, beans for every meal. Or close to it. I really can’t believe what a steal dry beans in the bulk section are. Beans are versatile and there are so many creative possibilities for meals. When people tell me it’s so expensive to be vegan, I tell the excuse-itarians that vegan cuisine stretches far beyond tofu-pups and tofurkey, in fact those are silly novelty items, which I indulge in from time to time for fun, but I hate that they are out there representing vegan food to the mainstream. I ate this as my dinner, there are leftovers for lunch tomorrow and it all ended up to be under a dollar.

-About 3 cups cooked white northern beans

-4 cloves of garlic

-Small handful of basil, chopped

-Juice of half a lemon

-1 plum tomato

-3 TB olive oil

-salt (to taste)

In a food processor, put in 2 gloves of garlic and chop it up. Add the beans, lemon juice, 1 TB olive oil and salt and blend until creamy. Scrape the mixture out of the processor and put in a mixing bowl. Fold in the chopped basil. Let chill for about an hour (semi-optional). When ready to serve, put the dip on a plate or in a dip bowl. Chop the tomato and the remaining 2 garlic cloves. Heat 2 TB olive oil in a pan and place the chopped garlic in until fragrant (don’t burn it). Top the dip with tomatoes, then drizzle the garlic and oil over the top. Top with fresh cracked pepper. Serve with crackers, bread or crostini.

* G-FREE (depending on what you use for the dipper)

Vegan food is so whimsical.

2 large parsnips (2-3 cups) peeled and shredded in the food processor

2 sheets Nori (sushi seaweed) diced

1 celery stalk diced

1/4 cup diced onion

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt to taste

Vegenaise to taste ( about 1/4-1/2 cup)

1/8 cup (about) finely chopped dill

2 TB Nooch

2 cloves of garlic

Diced de-seeded, de-ribed jalapenos (optional)

wheat bread

Mix it all up and serve on toasted wheat bread. Sliced tomatoes optional. One option is to make it a mermaid melt by melting some daiya on top. Go all out and make it a total grilled mermaid melt, put some vegan butter on the bread and grill the whole thing with daiya (:

*G-FREE option - g-free bread, or scoop out a zucchini boat, put the mix inside, or use as a dip with rice crackers.

This handsome boy is Frank. He is a feral that lives in my front yard along with 7 other street cats. All of my ferals are going into a non-profit Trap Neuter and Return clinic to get all fixed up except Frank. They won’t take him in because he is sick :( , so he has to go to a vet. He has an upper respiratory infection and a big gash on his leg that might be infected. He needs medical attention and a neuter. I am going to take him in ASAP, but I need a little assistance footing the bill. Whatever you can do to help out would be greatly appreciated by both me and Frank. If nothing else, please share this link via your online networking sites. To donate, there is a donate button on the upper left-hand corner of my blog’s home page. I promise any money I receive from this blog’s donation button will ALWAYS go directly to helping animals in need. Overflow donations after frank is fixed up will first go to food for my ferals, along with the vet bills for Fable (aka Fj) who is sociably acceptable by human standards, therefore I will hopefully be fostering her until I find her an awesome home. 

This is Fable… 

These are some of my ferals at breakfast time (including Frank)… 

Last year over the holidays, my sister did this cool thing, she went to a cookie exchange party, and how it works is, however many people are invited to the party, you make one dozen of the same cookies for each. Say there are 6 people total, when you go to the party and exchange cookies, you’ll end up taking home 6 dozen different kinds of cookies. Well, I thought it sounded awesome and here’s one cookie option you can consider if you do this. If you do this though, vegan cookies only! I don’t want to be the inspiration for a milk and egg fest. Also, to make this whole thing a little less suburbanie, I thought it would be great to add a beer exchange. Everyone brings a six pack of a winter ale or any kind of unique beer they like, and do the same kind of exchange. Do the cookie exchange at the beginning of the party, save them for home, then start your beer tasting and watch Bad Santa.

Make sure the beer is vegan though. Some use cow’s bladders and other animal products in the filtration process. (I know, weird). There are plenty of vegan beers, check it out -  http://www.barnivore.com/beer

Anyway, for the cookies. these are soooo good.

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 cups sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Zest of about 1 lemon

Juice of one lemon

1/2 cup safflower oil (or other light tasting oil)

1/2 cup vegan milk (I used soy) + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar- let sit 5 min.

For the icing

about 1 TB lemon zest

2 cups confectioners sugar

juice of one lemon

mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and lemon zest. In a separate bowl, mix lemon juice, vegan milk and oil, then add the wet to the dry and mix all together well. Form the dough into a ball about the size of a ping-pong ball, flatten it a bit between your palms and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 12-18 minutes.

To make the icing - mix the powdered sugar and lemon zest, then add the lemon juice. Stir together until you get icing. If it is too soupy, add more powdered sugar. When cookies are cool, go ahead and ice ‘em up.

Makes 12-14 cookies

It’s soup season! :)

1/2 cup of each - half moon sliced onions, chopped celery and thickly sliced carrots

About 3-6 red and/or purple potatoes (depending on the size) cut into small wedges

3 plum tomatoes cut into wedges

2 long or 4 short whole sprigs of rosemary

3 whole sprigs of tarragon

juice of one lemon

1/4 cup white wine

3 TB soy sauce

sea salt

about 10 sage leaves

green onion and fresh parsley (garnish)

2 TB olive oil

6 cups water

about 4-6 cups diced rustic Tuscan bread (depending on how much you like to load up on croutons)

Put onions, carrots, celery, potatoes and 2 TB olive oil in a pot with 1 and 1/2 tsp salt, on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Next, add the wine, then 6 cups of water. Add tomatoes, lemon juice, soy sauce, rosemary and tarragon. Bring to a boil, then cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Take out the rosemary and tarragon sprigs before serving. Add more salt if desired, to taste.

To make the sage salt - take the 10 leaves of fresh sage and about 1/2 to 1 TB of coarse sea salt, put them in a coffee grinder and blend. Cut your rustic bread into cubes, toss with olive oil, spread on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with the sage salt and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Ladle out some soup, and top with green onion, fresh parsley, and LOTS of croutons.

*G-FREE option- no croutons :( or make g-free bread and make the croutons out of that :)

About 4 BIG servings; 6 smaller servings

This recipe really had no forethought. I went to the farmer’s market today, and got my usual fennel, not really knowing what I was going to make. I got some dill for some green beans I’m making later in the week and when I got home, I had a bunch of produce in front of me, waiting for me to make something cool with it. Well, I did. I had never thought of dill in pesto, but I love fennel and dill together and fennel and pesto, so here’s what I came up with. I just ate it… it was so freakin good. I was so hungry I didn’t take the time to measure out the ingredients for the pesto, but you can work it out with my approximations. 

For the flatbread

2 cups flour

1tsp.salt

1TB oil

3/4 cups water

For the pesto

about 1/4 to 1/2 cup walnuts

about 1/4 cup fresh dill loosely packed

small handful of spinach leaves

juice of half a lemon

1 tsp. salt

about 1 TB nutritional yeast

about 2-3 TB olive oil

For the fennel

one big bulb of fennel (or 2 small) cut into thin wedges

Coat the fennel with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Roast at 400 for about 30 minutes.

The dough - mix all ingredients together and knead until you get tired of it. the longer you knead the better it will be. Separate the dough into 3 equal balls. Flatten the balls and roll out the dough into the desired shape, a little less that 1/4 inch thick.

For the pesto - blend all the ingredient in a food processor. (I use a mini one for pesto)

Spread the pesto on each flatbread dough, top with the roasted fennel, and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

Makes 3 personal flatbreads

Roasted Fennel

Roasted fennel is one of my new favorite things. It has a very slight anise flavor and it is soft and slightly sweet when you bite into it. I gave it a try with my risotto and it was a perfect compliment!

1-2 bulbs of fennel

olive oil

sea salt and pepper

Cut the fennel into thin wedges, coat with oil and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Roast at 400 for 20-30 minutes. The fennel should be soft, with the edges a little crispy when done.

Risotto
.
1 and 1/2 cups arborio rice
4-5 cups vegetable broth
1 cup white wine
about 1 TB shallots
1 TB olive oil
3/4 cup soy creamer (or soy milk)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 TB vegan butter
.
heat olive oil in the pan, add rice, then add the shallots about a minute or 2 later, wait until the rice is slightly toasted, then add the wine. When the wine is absorbed, add 1/2 cup of vegetable broth until it is absorbed. Keep adding 1/2 cup of vegetable broth at a time, waiting for each half cup to be absorbed. Add the butter, soy creamer, and nutritional yeast and mix. Place the risotto in a bowl, take the fennel, cut into manageable bite sized pieces, top the risotto and serve. Garnish with fresh diced chives.

*G-FREE :)


Make 2 huge portions, or 4 light portions

antimonia-deactivated20110608-d asked: Thank you so, so much! I'm definitely going to watch these videos and educate myself some more. It means a lot to me that you would take the time to help me, thank you.

Of course, anytime :)

antimonia-deactivated20110608-d asked: Thank you so much for sharing that! It gives me hope :) I'm still afraid to tell my parents though :/

It’s possible they won’t take you seriously, that’s common, but I know it’s very hurtful, especially coming from your parents. But your reasons are valid, don’t let them make you think otherwise, Educate yourself with the facts. Be prepared for questions like “how will you get your protein and calcium?” Your parents will probably be concerned about your health. Watch these videos, they explain how animal products are toxic for the body. Also, I included a link to one of my favorite vegan advocacy videos, it might be a good one to show to your parents.

http://vimeo.com/5753057

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfsT-qYeqGM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6_hjA4cdjM

Good luck! I hope your parents understand what a great thing it is that you’re doing.

I heard Rachel Ray today on a talk show advising to get 2 small turkeys instead of one big one “so you can sleep in”. Naturally this enraged me, as if it is not enough that 45 million turkeys are murdered for Thanksgiving, she wants to make it 90 million so you can get an extra hour of sleep.

I often tread lightly when I attempt to spread information because dare vegans speak for their cause, but I’m over it. I’m over my cause being reduced to a belief or a choice (which it is neither), therefore I should keep it to myself. So here is my last big attempt to get this information across before Thanksgiving.

The ammonia from waste turkeys live in cause severe stinging in the eyes, blindness and burning of the skin especially on their feet and legs. They live and sleep on a ground that is made up of up to 80% urine and feces. They have their beaks and toes cut off with no pain relief. Their toes are sometimes microwaved off. This procedure is done to 3 day old babies. Male and female turkeys are raped, males are held upside down, clamped down by their ankles as somebody gets the semen manually. The Females are held upside down by their ankles as somebody injects semen into their vaginas. They are Injured, diseased, have broken legs, heart failure, infections, their lives are spent crammed into a tiny space with barely enough room to move. Transported to slaughter, they are piled on top of one another and many die due to extreme weather conditions. The “lucky” ones die in the electric bath, but this is rare, it usually doesn’t kill them. After they are electrocuted (still alive), they hang by their ankles as their throat is slit. They are often still alive after all of this, only to finally die by drowning in boiling water. 

It is not a choice to not participate in this, and it is not a belief that we shouldn’t be doing this to animals. it is a moral imperative, it is the foundation of our humanity. We have an innate moral compass that has been bent by the society whose core value is capitalist greed. It is not natural, it is not healthy, it not only promotes the torture of animals, it causes pollution, depletion of our water, deforestation, world hunger, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and numerous other  diseases.

Please have a happy cruelty-free Thanksgiving and show your children that you won’t stand for violence.

Another Thanksgiving Option! As you can see i only use about half of the squash. I recommend making something out of the squash that you aren’t using, like the butternut squash and apple phyllo pies below.

4 small butternut squash

1- 8 oz. package of tempeh

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 plus 2 TB vegetable broth

1 TB apple cider vinegar

2 TB olive oil

2 tsp liquid smoke

Seeds from the squash (de-gooked)

1/4 cup crushed pecans (optional)

12 leaves of sage - chopped

1/2 TB fresh thyme

cut the squash so that you can see the hole. scrape out the gook, and set the seeds aside, coat them with oil, sprinkle with salt and bake on a sheet at 375 for 10-15 minutes or until browned. Crumble the tempeh in a bowl, add bread crumbs, nutritional yeast, onion, sage and thyme. Mix together. In a separate bowl, mix all of the liquids and add the wet to the dry mixture. Mix in the seed when they are done. Stuff the squash and bake on 400 for 50-60 minutes (until squash is soft).

Makes 4

I wanted to take the idea of spanikopita and somehow make it into a Thanksgiving dish, Here’s what I came up with… 

Phyllo dough- You can find this in the frozen food section near the pies. They should be vegan, Athenos is at least, but just double check the ingredients to be safe.

2 cups butternut squash cut into small cubes

2 cups of apples (about 2 apples) cut into small cubes. I used Fuji, but I think any will work.

2 and 1/2 TB vegan butter plus more (about 1/2 cup) to melt and brush on the phyllo.

2 TB real maple syrup

3 TB bourbon (optional but recommended)

1/2 TB of each, fresh rosemary, thyme and sage

1/2 cup crushed pecans (optional)

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

All of the seeds from the squash (separate from the gook)

Put all ingredients except for seeds, pecans, phyllo and 1/2 cup butter intended for phyllo into a pan on medium to high heat. Stir so everything is coated evenly, cover and let cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Put the seeds on a baking sheet, coat with a little oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake them at 375 for about 10 minute or until slightly browned. When squash/apple mixture and seeds are done, mix them together. Along with the pecans if you have opted for them.

There are different ways to work with the phyllo, this is how I do it. Take 2 sheets (they should be thawed by now) and cut it in half. Lay one sheet down vertically, lay another sheet up at the head of the first sheet. So it should be one long sheet, you just married 2 to make one. You should have your melted butter and a brush, dip the brush and spread a light layer over the sheet. Do the same exact thing for the next 2, but do it directly over the ones you just did. Now take your filling and place a scoop in the left bottom corner. We are attempting a triangle, keep that in mind. Fold the bottom right corner without the filling over on top of the filling. (I hope I’m explaining this okay) Now fold it directly away from you, now over to the side and so on until you are out of dough. You should have a triangle. here’s a visual and more explanation http://greekfood.about.com/od/makephyllosweetsavory/ig/Folding-Triangles/ Now place them on a baking sheet, brush the tops with more butter and bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes until nice and brown and crispy.

Makes about 7