Applesauce Tutorial - no peeling necessary!

We had the wonderful opportunity to pick apples at a private orchard this fall. Friends of my parents had grown a bumper crop and could not "possibly use any more." We went on a rainy Saturday and picked about a bushel and a half of cortland and honey crisp apples. They had been sprayed twice during the season and while not organic, they were as close as we could find locally and they were free! We had experimented a little earlier this fall making sauce with apples from our own tree and unfortunately overcooked it in our slow cooker. We later salvaged that batch by making apple butter. We also did a test batch in our pressure cooker and liked how that turned out but getting the skins out of the sauce with a strainer was time consuming. For my birthday I requested an attachment for my KitchenAid that would make applesauce and tomato sauce a breeze. The foodmill attachment hooks onto the grinder and seperates the sauce from the solids (ie skins). The end result was a bright pink sauce that was both sweet and tart. It's a good thing it's frozen in small batches or it might already have disapeared :)

Step 1:

Wash the apples. I used a scrub brush dipped in baking soda. The baking soda does an excellent job at removing dirt and waxy coatings (if using store bought apples).

Step 2:

Cut the apples into fourths. Leave the skin on. Discard cores.

Step 3:

Place apples in pressure cooker basket. Add approximately 2 cups of water. Start pressure cooker. After pot has pressurized, cook for 4 minutes. When time is up depressurize using your usual method (I run cold water over the pot in the sink until the pressure drops). Apples should look like this, they do move out of the basket. Use a slotted spoon to scoop apple solids out of the water in the bottom of the cooker. Cool for a bit.

Step 4: Turn KitchenAid to setting 4 and feed pressure cooked apple mix through the grinder/mill. The mill separates the sauce from the solids. We emptied the sauce into a large stock-pot to cool further and to mix all of our batches together (as to get the most consistent sauce). The bowls of "solids" were discarded in our compost bin. After cooling, we froze the sauce. The bushel and a half of apples yielded just over 4 gallons of applesauce, 15 cups of diced apples (frozen in baggies for making muffins over the winter), and a dozen apples for eating whole.

Tex-Mex Polenta Pie

When we first became full-vegetarians I worried a little about future pregnancies. I knew how important nutrition was, specifically protein. After doing a LOT of reading. I felt much better. I already consumed on a daily basis almost as much as would be recommended during pregnancy. There is a huge difference between being a "junk food vegetarian" and eating a "whole foods plant based diet." Anyway, this is neither here nor there. I am going to attempt to add more of my favorite recipes to help out a couple of veggie friends that are expecting and want to add more variety to their recipe rotation. This is a very quick, warm, filling, great make-ahead meal.

(Picture below is the "pie" with filling, the top crust has not been added yet).

Ingredients:

Olive oil

2-3 fresh garlic cloves

1 medium yellow onion

1 pepper (any color)

1 can or approximately 2 cups black beans

1 can or 2 medium fresh diced tomatos

Corn - I use frozen (about 1/2 to 3/4 cup)

Polenta (can be purchased at health food stores in bulk, try to buy organic as most corn grown in the USA is genetically modified)

2 tablespoons of flour (for thickening of batter, can be omited for those needing gluten free

Lime juice (I like a heavy lime flavor so I use about 1/4 cup)

Cumin (1-2 teaspoons)

Salt (greatly depends on weather your beans and tomatoes were fresh or canned. Add slowly)

Instructions: (Everything is to your taste, modify seasonings to your liking)

Filling:

Dice the onion and pepper and mince your garlic. Saute in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until translucent and soft. Add cumin. Add beans, tomatoes, corn, lime juice, salt. I then stir in a tablespoon or two of flour to help the filling thicken. Let filling cook on low while you prepare the crust.

Crust:

I am lazy, I usually microwave my polenta with water and leave it sit for about 5 minutes after it's done. I then "grease" my pie plate or casserole dish with olive oil and press half the "crust" down along the bottom and sides. Then I pour in the filling and "glop" the rest of the polenta down over the top smoothing it out the best I can. I like to garnish wish a dash of hot red pepper powder before baking.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes (for a pie plate size) and longer for a deeper casserole. Keep an eye on the crust and when it is golden or a little browned you're ready!

This is great drizzled with a little extra lime juice or topped with salsa!

Black Eyed Pea Spread/Dip

Let me start by saying this recipe was a complete accident - but an absolutely delicious one. I had a batch of black eyed peas in the pressure cooker and was planning on making spicy black eyed pea and sweet potato soup. Well, I left it on a few minutes too long and I was left with about five cups of slightly soggy beans. My husband recommended I make a sandwich spread and this is what I came up with. I have another batch of beans on the stove right now in the hopes of making soup but maybe I'll overcook these too and make a second batch of this spread. Use it on crackers, tortilla chips, or bread. It's just plain tasty. I will intentionally make this again :-)

Ingredients:

5 cups slightly overcooked black eyed peas

1 large clove (or 2 medium) FRESH garlic cloves minced

2 stalks of chopped celery

1 cup of sliced tomatoes (I used pearl tomatoes)

2 tablespoons of egg-less mayo (I love Trader Joe's brand)

small bunch of cilantro finely chopped

1 big squirt of lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Mix it all together. Seriously it's that easy. All amounts are approximate and I'm sure you can use different beans and other veggies to suit your personal tastes.

Polenta Stuffed Peppers - campfire friendly!

We went on our first camping trip in five years this past weekend. It was our first trip with a baby, and our first trip as full-vegetarians. I scoured the internet for food ideas most of which revolved around highly processed veggie burgers and fake soy cheese. I was looking for healthier whole food options. I finally googled "Foil and vegetarian" and came across some decent options. My favorite meal of the trip was our Polenta stuffed peppers. I "veganized" a recipe to the following. I tried this recipe both at home in the oven and on the campfire, both methods of cooking produced very palatable results. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
3 cups water
1 cup polenta/corn grits
1 medium onion chopped coarsely
2-3 cloves garlic - minced
1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms (fresh is best!)
2 cans diced tomatoes
4 cored and seeded green peppers sliced lengthwise***
fresh basil
1 teaspoon salt
olive oil

***Purchase organic if possible. Peppers are one of the "dirtiest" conventional produce items.

Preparation instructions:
In a small saucepan heat 3 cups water until boiling. Add polenta. Cook for instructed amount of time for your variety of polenta. Meanwhile in a medium skillet heat a small amount of olive oil and saute the onion and garlic. Add mushrooms and a can of diced tomatoes. When polenta is cooked fold vegetable mixture into the polenta and add your salt.

Fill your cored peppers with the polenta/veggie mix. Pour the remaining can of diced tomatoes into the bottom of a baking dish, sprinkle fresh basil into the tomatoes and nestle peppers face-up in the pan. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Then uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Mix-it-up: I think almost any veggie would be good in these peppers. Asparagus comes to mind as a particularly tasty option. Use what's in season!

Campfire variation:
If preparing ahead of time you can fill your peppers, put them "back together" and wrap tightly with foil. Put all wrapped peppers in a large plastic bag and keep on ice in the cooler. At camp pour tomatoes and basil in a disposable foil pan, add peppers and cover with foil. Cook on the grid of campfire pit. Add a little extra liquid to the pan when cooking over a fire and expect the cook time to go faster. Check frequently. I found that cooking further with the foil removed was not necessary.

Mung Bean and Rice Soup (aka: Screaming Sarah Soup)

I call this "Screaming Sarah Soup" for two reasons.
1) The prep is fast; I can easily throw this together even on the worst of screamy (teething) days.
2) Sarah loves it. If I don't move the spoon fast enough from her cup to her mouth she "screams" (well, grunts) for more.

Anyway it is a fantastically fast (and healthy) little number inspired by a red lentil soup recipe that I found on one of my favorite cooking websites 101cookbooks.com. My version substitutes mung beans for red lentils (we prefer their texture and slightly nutty flavor over the red lentils which we find to be a bit too mushy). My version also yields a larger batch and has more rice. Throw some together on the next rainy afternoon and enjoy :-)

Mung Bean Soup Ingredients

1 medium onion

1-2 shallots

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

8 cups water

2 cubes veggie bouillon (we love the Rapunzel with sea salt and herbs but have been using Edward and Sons Garden Veggie due to availability at our local store). (These are large size cubes so one cube flavors 2 cups water)

1 cup rinsed Mung beans (we used the split variety)

1 cup brown rice

2 and 1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

Chop onions and shallots. Caramelize onions and shallots with red pepper flakes in a small splash of olive oil. Once caramelized add 8 cups water, veggie bouillon, Mung beans, brown rice and salt. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for approximately 45 minutes (or until rice is at desired texture). Adjust seasoning to taste and enjoy!

Serving Note: My hubby and baby love this soup "as is." I enjoy it with a small splash of citrus (you can use lemon or lime but I would add it to taste bowl by bowl).

XXL Hummus - for a 14 cup food processor

One of our staple foods since turning full-vegetarian is hummus. We enjoy it in the following ways: plain on bread or crackers, on sandwiches piled high with sliced peppers, onions, tomato and avocado, and on our vegan "pizza" (wheat crust, hummus, sliced tomatoes, fresh basil, and homemade pickled garlic (see recipes for that too!). With the volume of hummus we eat we would go broke buying it pre-made from the store. This is my husband's recipe which almost fills a 14 cup food processor! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
4 cups dry chick peas
2 cups lemon juice
1-2 cups water
1 cup olive oil (the greener the better)
1 cup sesame tahini
5 large cloves of fresh garlic
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
fresh ground black pepper to taste
ground red pepper to taste

Directions:
1)Re-hydrate the chick peas using your preferred method (we use a pressure cooker which requires no pre-soaking and approximately 40 minutes of cook time once pressure has built).
2) Place chick peas, garlic and tahini in food processor
3) Add half the lemon juice and begin to process. Add the rest of the lemon juice and olive oil while processing. Add water slowly to get hummus to desired consistency, remember if the beans are warm err on the side of making a slightly thinner hummus, it will thicken in the refrigerator as it cools. (If you add the full volume of liquid before processing it will leak as the liquid level will rise above the center hole in the processor...)
4) Once processed smooth, add spices, salt, and pepper. Process until well mixed.
Remember this is a starting point recipe, we add more oil, juice, salt and seasonings as needed batch to batch. Season to taste!

Hummus keeps well in the fridge for up to a week. We freeze in deli tubs (which we re-use with each batch). Make sure to leave a little space at the top of the tub (for expansion when freezing.) Cover with a thin layer of olive oil if you desire.) When you thaw you may need to mix a squirt of lemon juice or olive oil to get the hummus to desired consistency.

Serving Suggestions:
Traditionally hummus is served with on a plate topped with olive oil, fresh chick peas, and sprinkled with paprika.
We enjoy variations on this involving ground red pepper or fresh black pepper.


*** This is a double XXL Hummus batch minus a container for a neighbor and what we had for dinner :-)***

Mashed Potato "Pancakes"

Growing up in a German Catholic family I got my fill of potato pancakes - especially during lent. I LOVED them and have fond memories of my dad mixing the shredded potatos with eggs and listening to the sizzle when they hit the griddle. I made them a few times myself as an adult, I found shredding and then squeezing the water out of the grated potato was always so time consuming. This recipe was something I devised to use up a huge bag of organic potatoes that were on their way out. I drew inspiration from a recipe for Indian "tikki" and made a hybrid recipe that is vegan. These are very quick and easy (no shredding or squeezing!), versatile (use up whatever veggies you want), perfect for preparing ahead of time, and extremely family friendly. My one year old loved hers with a bit of salsa on it. Enjoy!

Mix Together these ingredients:

- cooked (mashed) potatoes
- diced veggies (I used peppers but you can use anything you have)
- semi-mashed beans (I used chick peas)
- a good squirt of lemon juice (the liquid aids in creating a shapable patty and adds a great flavor)

Add seasoning to taste:

- freshly ground black pepper
- garlic salt

Cook:
Create your patties. Brush both sides with olive oil. Cook on electric griddle (heated to 350 degrees). Flip them a few times until browned to your liking. Serve

Topping ideas:

-olive oil with salt and pepper
-salsa
-maple syrup