Author: betsy

by betsy

Vegan Smoky Nooch-Roasted Pumpkin Seeds–THE Best Snack with a Glass of Wine or to Give as a Holiday or Hostess Gift

It would be beyond selfish not to share my super-simple, absolutely addicting new snack with you asap!

You see, I LOVE popcorn–lightly buttered (with vegan Earth Balance)–and sprinkled with nutritional yeast (nooch).  Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.  You know nooch, yes?  It has a rich, cheesy flavor that can take on almost mushroomy notes in, say, a pot pie.  A favorite recipe I make starts with a roux made of toasted flour, nooch and vegetable oil, and its aroma while cooking…oh my-heavenly.  But I digress.

One day, craving a big healthy infusion of nooch, but not having any popcorn on hand, my eyes lit on Trader Joe’s roasted and lightly salted  pepitas (pumpkin seeds) in the pantry.  A mere 5 minutes later, I was munching on the most delicious snack to enjoy with a glass of white wine.  They are also delish sprinkled on a whole range of other dishes.  And poured up into little jars, they make very festive gifts.

Can I just tell you how many times I have burned my mouth on this snack because I simply couldn’t wait?  Sad, I know.  But I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, only with a little more self-control!

Yield: 1 cup

1 tablespoons vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)

*1 cup roasted and lightly salted pepitas (I use Trader Joe’s brand)

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (Red Star brand contains B12)

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Pinch sea salt

Melt butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.  Add pumpkin seeds and toast, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes.  Sprinkle with nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and smoked paprika, and toast, stirring constantly, for about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until nutritional yeast coating is golden and lightly toasted.  The buttery yeast may smoke a little while toasting, so just watch the color and avoid overcooking.  Remove the pan from the heat, stir in just a pinch of salt, and pour into a small bowl to cool.

Note:  Feel free to try it with pumpkin seeds removed from a fresh pumpkin, but I love the green color and narrow size of the variety Trader Joe’s sells and have never seen them in any pumpkin I have ever purchased.  Since Trader’s brand is already roasted, you’ll probably need to toast tfresh dried pumpkin seeds longer than my recipe calls for.

by betsy

Food Network Magazine’s Food Truck Contest: The Zooming Platter

Darn!  I didn’t win.

Last summer, I entered this competition to design a hypothetical food truck and menu because as soon as I read about it in the Food Network Magazine, “The Zooming Platter” leaped into my mind.

The winners were announced in this month’s magazine and they were quite clever.   But, more to the point, none of them were vegan or even vegetarian.

Has anyone noticed–or does it go without saying–that the Food Network is not only not terribly supportive of plant-based diets (have they ever even presented a vegetarian special?), but that many of their celebrity chefs–talented and personable though they may be–seem a bit cavalier in regard to animal slaughter?

Oh, well.  Honk if you love The Zooming Platter!

by betsy

Blooming Platter Cookbook Author a Featured Guest on PRN’s “It’s All About Food”

Yesterday, it was my distinct honor and heck of a lot of fun to be one of two featured guests on Caryn Hartglass’s super-informative and highly conversational internet radio program, “It’s All About Food,” on PRN (Progressive Radio Network) to talk about The Blooming Platter Cookbook and much, much more.

Just click here to access the program.

And while you’re on the site, stay awhile and poke around. You’ll find lots to hold your attention.  Caryn’s nonprofit “REAL” (Responible Eating and Living) was chosen by VegNews Magazine as one of the top ten nonprofits we all need to know about in 2011.  After one visit, you’ll see why!

Congrats, Caryn, on yet another accomplishment! (Caryn is one impressive gal.  Check out her bio here.)

by betsy

Give the Gift that Lasts All Year–The Blooming Platter Cookbook: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes!

Move over “Black Friday;” some of us favor “Green” when it comes to our holiday shopping!

And if you happen to be one of those people–and I suspect you are–perhaps the blooming platter cookbook would be perfect for someone on your list.

TBPC is truly a gift that lasts all year–year after year– with what has been called “Four Seasons of Yum!”

 

Note: for local residents, I’ll be signing books at the Eastern Shore Chapel Parish Book Store holiday open house this Saturday, December 3, 10 a.m. to noon.  Please join us!

by betsy

Our Blooming Thanksgiving Platter–Third Up: Barley with Butterut Squash and Baby Bellas

For this addition to our five-star Thanksgiving feast, I turned to star chef, Emeril Legasse. 

In a recent culinary magazine, his recipe for a barley, mushroom, and squash risotto made in a slow cooker really appealed to me.  I gave my slow cooker away age ago–I just don’t enjoy cooking that way–but I loved his concept.  So I simply made some quick-cooking barley and folded in cubed and sauteed butternut squash and baby bellas whose flavor I deepened with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast.  It was a hit and it made a ton, so I plan to add broth and make soup with the leftovers.  

Minced rosemary would be a nice addition, but I was flavoring the gravy with rosemary, so I didn’t include and it is still super tasty.   Similarly, since our dressing included sauteed onion, I didn’t add, but sauteed onion and garlic would be nice, though my stripped down version was delicious and satisfying.

Yield: 16 servings (when served with a couple of other side dishes and a main dish)

4 cups vegetable broth or stock

Pinch sea salt

2 cups quick cooking barley

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 butternut squash about 8 inches long, seeds, membrane, and peel removed; cut ino 1/2 inch pieces

Pinch of sea salt

1 pound baby bella mushrooms, sliced about 1/4-inch thick (I purchased them pre-sliced from Trader Joe’s)

Approximately 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a 2-quart saucepan, bring the broth or stock and a pinch of salt to a simmer.  Stir in the quick cooking barley, and simmer, loosely covered, about 12 minutes or until tender and water is evaporated.  Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high.  Add squash and a pinch of salt and saute, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until tender and just beginning to develop some color.  Lower heat if necessary to prevent from sticking.  Add mushrooms and continue sauteeing and stirring for about 3 minutes or until tender.  Turn off heat and stir in nutritional yeast.  Spoon cooked barley into a large bowl, add vegetables, and gently stir to combine.  Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if desired.  Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately.  If you make the dish well in advance of serving, spoon it into an oiled heat-proof serving dish, cool, cover, and refrigerate until about an hour and a half before serving time. Remove the dish from the refrigerator about an hour before serving.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and heat barley mixture, covered, for 20-30 minutes or until lheated through.  Serve immediately.

by betsy

Our Blooming Thanksgiving Platter–Second Up: Vegan Apple-Roasted Pecan-Sage Stuffing

On a recent Sunday, listening to our outstanding local public radio station, WHRV, announcer and jazz musician, Jae Sinnett, host of “Sinnet in Session,” shared his recipe–as he frequently does, for his show follows “Splendid Table” in their line-up–for an apple-pecan stuffing.  I didn’t write the recipe down, since I was driving; rather I just used it for inspiration, thinking it sounded perfect for our Thanksgiving feast.  To Jae’s basic recipe, I added cornbread to the bread base, as our family has always used a combination for what we think is the best taste and texture.  I also used roasted pecans–and a lot of them!–for depth of flavor.

Yield: 10-12 servings (when served with a couple of other side dishes)

1-8 inch pan of cornbread, cooked and cooled

About 10 ounces of multi-grain bread

1 pound roasted and lightly salted pecan pieces or halves (I purchased them already roasted and salted and Trader Joe’s; if using halves, break them with your fingers as you add to the stuffing); reserve a few to sprinkle on the top if desired

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large yellow onion, but into 1/4-inch dice

About 3 stalks of celery, trimmed, and cut lengthwise into 4 strips and then cut crosswise ino 1/4-inch pieces

2 sweet-tart apples (I used an apple grown here in Virginia), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/4 inch pieces

Approximately 2 teaspoons of rubbed sage or to taste

Vegetable broth or stock, added a little at a time until mixture is very moist but holds its shape and is not soggy (this will take at least 2 cups, so start with that amount)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Photo Credit: SoupAddict.com

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Crumble cornbread into a large mixing bowl.  Tear bread into bite-size pieces into the same bowl and toss gently to combine.   In a large cast iron skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high.  Add the onion and saute, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes.  Add celery, and continue sauteeing and stirring for about 2 minutes.  Add the apple and do the same for about 3 minutes.  All vegetables should be tender, but still hold their shape.  Add them to the breads in the large mixing bowl along with the sage, and toss gently to combine.  Begin adding broth or stock, stirring and “fluffing” with a fork until desired consistency is reached.   Taste to check for seasoning, and stir in salt, pepper, and sage as needed.   Oil a 9 x 13-inch glass or ceramic dish and spoon in stuffing without packing it down.  Sprinkle with reserved pecan halves if desired.  Bake just until heated through, about 25 to 30 minutes.  Cover with foil if the top appears to be drying out during the baking process.    Serve immediately.  If you want to prepare earlier in the day and reheat before serving, simply bake for about 20 minutes, cool, cover, and refrigerate.  About an hour and a half before serving, remove the dish from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for an hour.  Then reheat, covered, in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or just until heated through.

by betsy

What Bloomed on Our Platters for Vegan Thanksgiving 2011–First Up: Vegan Roasted Pumpkin with Pepita and Sage Pesto

Thanksgiving 2011 Hosts: Betsy & Joe DiJulio

This Thanksgiving was surely one of the best in recent memory, if a bit bittersweet.

In 1991, the year after my husband and I got married and moved to Virginia, we began a tradition of hosting the Thanksgiving celebration for both of our families.  Over the ensuing two decades, our families changed and grew with everyone welcome, though busy lives, blended families, and family responsibilities to aging relatives meant that not everyone could come every year.  However, some years, we happily picked up an aunt or two and a good family friend.  More recently, both Joe’s and my mothers experienced increasing health issues to the point that his couldn’t travel for the last two years and mine couldn’t travel last year, so we went to our respective homes for the holidays in 2010.  Sadly, Joe’s mother passed away last April (and had been predeceased a few years by his father), but my mother rebounded.  So this year, nine of our clan once again gathered here to revive the tradition.

It was a joyful day of cooking and visiting.   Our niece Gabriella and Joe’s Aunt Cathy stayed with us, with everyone else in beachfront hotels.  Before everybody woke and/or came over, I sprung out of bed and cleaned out our kitchen and garage refrigerators so we would have a clean slate.   The result was two sparkling fridges and an entire dishwasher load of food storage cartons.   Cathy dried every single one of them (I don’t run the heated dry cycle on the fridge to save energy) and she somehow kept up with the food prep dishes and tools all day, as I hand wash a lot of them either because they are special or because they will be reused.

 

Minnie Quickly Had Mom Trained

With the great fridge clean-out and a nice dog walk with Gab and Cathy under our belts, my parents and sister arrived and we all eased into a nice leisurely five hours of food preparation.  Joe and his sisters went to the gym, stopped by to say “hi,” and then headed to their hotel suite, complete with kitchen, to see about their contributions, returning around 4 p.m. with them in tow for the feast.

Meanwhile, at home, our house guests and my family were wonderfully helpful and conversant kitchen companions, easily moving in and out to offer help as needed.  And plenty was needed, as the only preparation my sister and I had done the day before was to make the dessert–Cranberry Crunch, a longtime family favorite–and a pan of cornbread for the dressing.  My dad turned out to be the ace pumpkin cleaner and peeler.  Doing that for a crowd is a bit of a chore, but was so much more enjoyable with my papa.

When we sat down to dinner my husband said he was surprised that there was nothing green on the menu.  He was right: there were no green vegetables!  But that was somewhat by design, as there simply wasn’t anything other than collards and broccoli at my go-to farmer’s market, and I didn’t have a particular hankerin’ for either.  But the market did have beautiful pumpkins and butternut squash, so I served both. 

Let’s begin with a recipe I’ve featured here on The Blooming Platter before:  Roasted Pumpkin with Pepita and Sage Pesto.  It is loved by many, including former pumpkin haters.  And, after introducing it to our Thanksgiving guests this year, it has even more fans.  Simply click on the link to access the recipe.  Note that, for Thanksgiving, I used six small striped pumpkins about 6 inches in diameter (see photo below) instead of a Turk’s Turban Squash and doubled the pesto recipe to serve 10 to 12 people (with other side dishes).  But we prepared the pumpkins the same way: roasting them for a little bit before removing the seeds, pulp, and peel; cutting it into chunks; and then roasting the chunks again for 17-20 minutes, or 8-10 minutes on each of two sides.

These Beauties Are as Tasty as They Are Pretty

Be sure to check out my three remaining Thanksgiving posts for my Apple-Roasted Pecan Dressing and Barley with Sauteed Butternut Squash and Baby Bellas plus my sister-in-law’s Cranberry-Orange Relish with Ginger and Walnuts and Aunt Cathy’s Caponata.

And for even more seasonal specialties, I hope you will check out The Blooming Platter Cookbook, great for everyone on your holiday gift list.

by betsy

Vegan Thai Red Curry, Pumpkin and Coconut Milk Sauce with Fresh Peanut Butter-Roasted Pumpkin and Tofu Recipe

My Thanksgiving Day post is coming up, but–and I bet it is no different in your household–there is no time for carefully staging food photographs in the midst of the convivial holiday hubbub.  So, before the throngs gather today–and, in any event, with less going on in the kitchen–I hope to photograph the components of our meal.  I made one recent recipe and two brand new ones that received rave reviews, so I’m looking forward to sharing them with you.

In the meantime, though, I am excited to offer this Thai-inspired pumpkin dish.  If you follow The Platter, you know that I am all about fresh pumpkin this year, including in Asian preparations, like this one and my Vegan Miso-Roasted Pumpkin and Grilled Tofu over Udon Noodles which was featured on OneGreenPlanet.org.

Pumpkin is so agreeable to rubs, and this peanut butter riff is no exception.  Enjoy it with creamy white chunks of tofu over my silky, golden, and pleasantly spicy melange of red bell peppers, onions and chard in a coconut-red curry sauce thickened with pureed pumpkin.  Its subtle tang is courtesy of fresh lime juice and vegan fish sauce.

Yield: 4 servings

Fresh Peanut Butter-Roasted Pumpkin:

2 tablespoons smooth natural peanut butter

1 tablespoon vegan fish sauce (sold as “vegetarian fish sauce” in Asian markets)

1 teaspoon prepared Thai red curry paste

1 1/4 pounds pumpkin (this weight is with seeds and pulp removed, but the skin still on) , peeled and cut into about 3/4 inch cubes

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Oil a large metal baking dish and set aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk together peanut butter, vegan fish sauce, and curry paste until smooth.  Add pumpkin and toss gently to coat.  Transfer to the prepared baking pan, spread out, place in the oven and roast for about 8 minutes.  Stir gently or flip chunks, and roast an additional 8 minutes or until lightly caramelized.  While pumpkin roasts, make sauce.  When pumpkin is finished cooking, remove the pan from the oven.  If sauce isn’t quite finished, cover pumpkin to keep warm.

Vegan Thai Pumpkin and Coconut Milk Curry Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 of a large onion, cut into 1/4-inch wide slivers

Pinch sea salt

1 large red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, cut into 1/4-inch wide slivers and then cut in half crosswise

2 large garlic cloves, minced

2 cups finely chopped Swiss chard–I use the food processor for this task (about 1 bunch with thick stems removed; you may use kale or spinach instead, but the chard was lovely at our farmer’s market recently)

2 tablespoons prepared red curry paste (feel free to adjust the amount to your taste)

1-15 ounce can coconut milk or lite coconut milk

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup vegan fish sauce

Juice of one lime

Sea salt to taste

Optional, but recommended:  1 tablespoon each finely chopped Thai basil and cilantro or to taste

Accompaniments: 12 ounces regular tofu cut into 1 inch chunks (baked, broiled or simply heated and kept warm until serving time); and 2 cups cooked Jasmine rice

Garnish: chopped peanuts,  sliced green onions, and optional lime wedges

In a large cast iron skillet or wok, heat olive oil over medium-high.  Add onion and a pinch of sea salt and saute, stirring, for about 3 minutes or until onion begins to soften.  Add bell peppers and continue sauteing for about 2-3 more minutes or until it begins to soften.  Add garlic and chard and saute for one to two  minutes or until chard is tender, but still bright green.  Add curry paste and saute, stirring, just until smooth and incorporated.  Add coconut milk and pumpkin puree, and cook until heated through.  Add fish sauce and lime juice, and stir to combine.  Check for seasoning, and add salt if necessary.  Stir in optional Thai basil and cilantro and remove from heat.  Serve sauce over cooked Jasmine rice topped with roasted pumpkin and tofu.  Garnish with chopped peanuts and sliced green onion.

 

For 150+ more specialties of the season, I hope you will check out The Blooming Platter Cookbook.

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