Viva Vegan! Book Review & Fiesta: Part 3

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 12:43:34 PM PDT

Our fiesta

Below, I describe making posole, refried beans, blue corn tortillas, and sopes, as well as my family's reaction to the food.

Viva Vegan! Book Review & Fiesta: Part 2

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 15:33:30 PM PDT

This diary includes: Finding and buying organic blue corn masa harina for tortillas and two recipes from the book: horchata and roasted tomatillo salsa.

Viva Vegan! Book Review & Fiesta: Part 1

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Aug 11, 2010 at 01:00:53 AM PDT

My very own made-from-scratch tortillas!

Tortilla soup (my own recipe, since it wasn't in the book)

The Corona Hand Mill and Homemade Tortillas

by: Crider

Mon Aug 02, 2010 at 14:56:01 PM PDT

The Corona mill isn't a grain mill, it's a corn mill. Got that?

Catalog page circa 1929.

I'll admit it took me a long time to figure this out. I've been aware of these mills way back in the early 1970s when I used to subscribe to Mother Earth News magazine and dreamt of a life of subsistence farming to replace the suffocating suburban lifestyle of a twenty year old. Buy whole wheat in bulk and grind your own flour for pennies!

To this day, people buy these things and then complain at how totally useless it is for bread flour.

“I bought this for the sole purpose of making bread flour. I got it, set it up, put some wheat into it, tightened basically as far as it would go, and the berries came out almost exactly as they went in. Plus, there were little iron filings from the burrs mixed in. Great.”

reported an unhappy customer on Amazon's Weston Cereal and Multi-Grain Mill customer review page.

Summer stir fry thread

by: desmoinesdem

Sat Jul 24, 2010 at 17:25:22 PM PDT

Usually I make my own stir-fry sauces. One light version is an Asian marinade from Moosewood Cooks at Home. In a small saucepan heat about 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup dry sherry, the same amount of tamari or soy sauce, half that amount of rice vinegar, a tablespoon or two of brown sugar, and a few slices of peeled fresh ginger. Bring to boil, stir and simmer for a minute before removing from the heat. I soak the cubed tofu in this sauce, then add it to the rest of the stir fry a couple of minutes before serving. I like to toss in a few tablespoons of toasted sesame oil at the end too.

I also like to make a variation on the Spicy Peanut Sauce from Moosewood's Low-Fat Favorites. This can be drizzled over almost any steamed vegetables or added to a stir-fry near the end of cooking. To make it, throw the following in a blender: about 1/4 cup peanut butter, 1/3 cup water, 1 pressed garlic clove, a little fresh chile or dash of hot sauce, 2 Tbsp cider vinegar or rice vinegar, 1 Tbsp honey, 1 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari, 1 Tbsp lemon juice and about 2 tsp chopped fresh ginger root. Moosewood says to throw in 1/4 cup of diced tomatoes, but I leave those out. If you have extra sauce, you can keep it for a couple of weeks in the fridge (tightly sealed).

Share your own stir-fry secrets in this thread.

Mexico Diaries: Cuisine of Jalisco

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Jul 20, 2010 at 06:00:00 AM PDT

Traditional Dishes of Jalisco:

TRADITIONAL DISHES TO LOOK FOR

• Birria -- stewed goat or pork in thick, spicy tomato broth
  
• Pozole -- thick, hominy-based soup with hunks of pork, tomato, cilantro and garbanzos
  
• Sopa de Elote -- sweetcorn soup
  
• Caviar de Carpa (Lago de Chapala) -- carp caviar
  
• Ancas de Rana al Mojo de Ajo (Lago de Chapala) -- frog legs in garlic sauce
  
• Pico de Gallo -- appetizer accompanying tequila, consisting of small squares of jícama (turnip-like tuber from Bean Family member Pachyrhizus erosus), orange sections, lemon juice, all sprinkled with flakes of chili piquín

NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

• Sangrita -- sweetened orange juice with ground onion, chili pepper, salt and vegetable coloring

ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

• Tejuino --fermented from corn (maize), with alcohol added

Also listed in a quick Google search are recipes for Tortas Ahogadas and Rollos Del Mar. And, below, I've included a recipe for Jalisco Style Enchiladas. Last, thank goodness, apparently Jalisco is known for a dessert - jericalla.

the quest for yellow butter

by: RiaD

Sun Jul 18, 2010 at 19:25:43 PM PDT

preserving food is a way to keep garden fruit & veggies edible for months & months after they become ripe.
canning is one way to do this.

*(warning: photo-diary with LOTs of pictures)*

Almond Curry Stew (I Ate the Squash That Ate My Yard)

by: Jill Richardson

Sun Jun 06, 2010 at 00:18:30 AM PDT

Every day when I wake up, the leaves of this monstrous thing are drooped over as if it has not gotten a drop of water in weeks. I bring it a watering can-ful of water or two, or perhaps just give it water straight from the hose, and in a few hours it perks up again, only to repeat it the next day. At the same time, this stupid thing is growing so fast you can almost see it happening. It's actually two plants, not one, although I had already named it "The Squash That Ate My Yard" before I found two stems coming out of the ground. Each day, these plants are longer and thirstier than before, and San Diego won't get a drop of rain for months.

I had been watching the formation of two squashes and finally, when one threatened to grow as big as a pumpkin, I cut it off the vine and began to eat it. I was going to roast it, but then the almond butter caught my eye. And I remembered that my boyfriend just bought some new curry powder... The resulting recipe is below.

My huge squash, with Meg the Fat Kitty posing next to it

Polenta For the Lazy

by: la motocycliste

Tue Jun 01, 2010 at 22:25:48 PM PDT

I like to eat polenta in cold weather, something about it warms you up. Polenta is just a special grind of cornmeal. It is the basic food of Northern Italy and southern Switzerland.

There is a lot of lore, myth and ornamentation about the making of polenta, but as I understand the traditional method, you put a pot of water to boil and immediately add one quarter by measure cornmeal and salt to taste. Then you stir...

Sunday Bread - Potato Bread

by: Something The Dog Said

Sun Apr 25, 2010 at 09:21:25 AM PDT

Happy Sunday Bread Heads! This week we're going to fulfill a request for potato bread. There are those who really go ape over potato bread, though it is not really one of my favorites. I like my bread to either be sweet, or to be savory, potato breads tend to be a little of each with just a light sweetness to them. They do, however have a lovely thick crust and a fine moist crumb.  

Celebration: Carrot Cake!

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 23:47:40 PM PDT

The recipe (below) was actually pretty healthy - except for the massive amounts of sugar. Other than the sugar, it was carrots, whole wheat flour, homemade yogurt, local organic eggs, and applesauce. Not too bad! Too bad that there is so much sugar in the cake that you can't eat it and consider it a health food.  

Special Wednesday Edition of Sunday Bread- NY Rye

by: Something The Dog Said

Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 12:08:28 PM PDT

Our Post-Harvest Celebratory Dinner

by: Jill Richardson

Sun Mar 14, 2010 at 22:50:23 PM PDT

Yogurt, Pefected

by: euclidarms

Sat Feb 20, 2010 at 04:59:54 AM PST

I'm always looking for ways to simpifly our yogurt making process. We make a quart each week with milk and cream we get delivered from our grassfed dairy, South Mountain Creamery. Until recently, I used a fairly rigorous process of bringing a mix of "creamtop" (unhomegenized) milk and heavy cream to 200 degrees on the stove top, then lowering the heat on the stove and keeping the milk at that temperature for about 20 minutes, monitoring frequently with my instant-read thermometer to make sure it didn't overheat. Then I would put the pot in a bath of cold water and quickly lower the temperature to 120 before mixing in my bacteria culture.

Well, sometimes I got distracted and the milk did overheat. Or maybe I just got tired of taking the milk's temperature all the time. And the whole water bath thing is a bit of a hassle, as well as a waste of water. In any case, I've found that my yogurt comes out just as fine--thick and creamy--if I just bring the mix to that magic 200 degrees, then turn off the stove and let the milk cool to 120 degrees on its own. Voila: I don't have to do hardly any work at all. The yogurt makes itself.

Sometimes the lazy way is also the most effective and fool-proof. The point of heating the yogurt is to make it thick. If you were thinking it's the amount of starter culture you add to the mix that thickens it, you'd be wrong. It's the heat, and the amount of time heat is applied. This binds the proteins in the milk together, resulting in thickness. So letting the temperature rise slowly, then deline slowly, gives those proteins plenty of time to do the necessary binding.

Still, this method didn't seem entirely simple enough. Is it possible to make yogurt this way if you don't have an instant-read thermomenter? Before I answer that, I would urge you to get an an instant-read thermometer if you don't have one already. It is an essential kitchen tool. That's why you see chefs walking around with one stuck in the pocket of their chef's jacket.

But, yes, I think it is possible to make yogurt without actually measuring the temperature of the milk. When the milk gets to 200 degrees, there should be a fairly thick layer of foam on top. The milk won't be bubbling--you don't want to boil it, at which point the proteins will separate. But there will be foam. Then simply turn off the burner and let the milk rest until it is just warm--not hot--to the touch. This might not be exactly 120 degrees. But the point is, bacteria are killed around 140 degrees, and the last thing you want to do is kill your starter culture when you add it to the milk. You won't get any yogurt at all if the bacteria are dead. Better to err on the cooler side.

So this is my new method for making our weekly yogurt: To make enough yogurt to fill a quart-size canning jar, first put two heaping tablespoons of last week's yogurt in a small bowl and set it aside on the kitchen counter to come up to temperature and activate the bacteria. If you don't have yogurt already, you can use any plain yogurt from the store with active cultures in it. We started with a small container of "Icelandic-style" yogurt. It was expensive, but incredibly delicious, with a distinctive tang.

Next, measure 3 cups of the best whole milk you can find, then add 3/4 cup heavy cream (the cream is optional--you can use milk only if you like.) Pour this into a heavy saucepan and heat on the lowest setting on the stove. We have an electric range, and not the typical coil burners, but those big, solid, European-style metal burners. These give off a gentle heat at the lowest setting.  If you have a gas range, or if your saucepan is not so heavy, you might want to consider investing in some kind of heat deflector so that you don't scorch your milk.

Heat the milk gently to 200 degrees, as measured with an instant-read thermometer, or when there is a thick layer of foam on the milk. Turn off the heat and allow the milk to cool to 120 degrees, or to a point where it is warm--but not hot--to the touch. Use a small whisk, if you have one, to stir your reserved culture into the warm milk. Now pour the mix into a warm canning jar and place the jar in a small cooler. I usually place a couple of extra canning jars filled with hot water in the cooler as well. Set the cooler in a warm spot overnight.

The yogurt will form within a few hours. But since I restrict the number of carbohydrates I eat,  I let my yogurt ferment another day at room temperature. This gives  the bacteria plenty of time to convert the naturally occurring lactose in the milk into lactic acid.

Try this and see if it isn't the best yogurt you've ever tasted.  You may never buy yogurt again.

Eat Yer (Carrot) Greens

by: Jill Richardson

Sat Feb 13, 2010 at 18:53:13 PM PST

After some discussion on this blog, I looked around and found that (much to my compost pile's disappointment) carrot greens ARE edible and, in fact, there are carrot top recipes. Woo-hoo! So here's a photo diary of two different carrot top recipes.