OLE! Mexican Food Night!!!

1st pic = sweating down 3 different types bell peppers, onions, jalapenos and corn
2nd pic = spanish rice with black beans, kidney beans, tomato sauce, ground cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika and the mixture from #1
3rd pic = TVP with stewed tomatoes, green chili peppers and flavored with ground cumin, garlic, chili powder and paprika.

Serve with hard taco shells and a side dish or all wrapped up in a soft tortilla! You choose!  Fresh lettuce, tomato and avocado work really well with this!

Homemade veggie burgers, rolls and fries!

Burgers...4 cups 1 inch cubed winter squash, finely chopped leeks, onions, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, 1 small bell pepper, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 cup bread crumbs, 1/2 cup oats and 3 Tablespoons oil, chili powder and black pepper to taste.  Puree all ingredients except for bread crumbs and oats in blender.  Make patties, dust with flour and fry in light oil until crisp and cooked through.

Rolls...  scroll through to find my bread recipe and make them! LOL!

Fries... if you can't figure that out, you shouldn't be cooking! ;)

This meal took me less than an hour to make and that counts the time for the bread to raise!  There is no reason for people to not eat healthy!

Make the bread ahead of time and freeze it if need be!  The veggie burger "meat" can be made in advance also! Make the patties and freeze them when you have time! Easy Peasy!

Keep it here for more recipes and fun in the future!

Don't forget to smile at a stranger! :)

To help a neighbor

Today there was a gentle knock at our door.  When I opened it, there stood our neighbor looking confused and forlorn.  I greeted her with a smile and said hello.  She burst out with, "I don't know what to do with all of this fresh produce! HELP!"  So I did.

I spent a couple of hours at her place helping her to chop, grate, blanch, puree and freeze most of her produce.  We had a grand time chatting and getting to know one another.  She talked of her children and their accomplishments and how proud she was of all three of them. She loved showing me all of their pictures along with pictures of her grandchildren.  It was wonderful!  We made plans to do it again next week.

When we were finished I returned home and began my daily tasks.  Again, there was a knock on the door and upon opening it I saw the same neighbor with four grocery bags in her hands.  "Here, these are for you." She handed me the bags as she thanked me for my help, smiled and walked away.  It was so nice of her to share this produce with us and was even nicer to see her smile. :)

Tonight, so far, I have made dinner with the bottoms of the four squash. I stuffed them with a mix of rice pilaf, sauteed onions, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, 1 bell pepper and 1 egg plant.  They smell delicious!  I also cut up the remainder of the squash and prepared and froze it!  Four quarts in all!  I am preparing the seeds (that I did not keep to dry and plant next year) to roast them as one would roast pumpkin seeds this evening.  The rest of the produce was put away because I am sure that we will use it within the next couple of weeks.

We need to start doing more of this.  Sharing our time, our knowledge, our laughter and stories and... our produce! :)  I had an amazingly incredible day and am looking forward to next week when we work on the tomatoes and the rest of the peppers! :)

I did not set out today to "earn" anything. I simply wanted to help out a stressed out neighbor.  The rewards were plentiful and I thank her for her contribution to our freezer! <3


Don't forget to smile at a stranger... it's how I met this neighbor! <3

some more homemade goodness

Just thought I would share a pic of one of the many things I make.  These are fun and easy to make! I don't know how to read a pattern so I just make my own.  I wouldn't even know how to begin to explain how I do it either.  I guess that just goes to show that anyone can figure out what they want to do if they want it enough.  I use the instructional videos on youtube A LOT to figure things out.  :)

Time for a bit of selfish promotion I guess.  If interested in the things I create, here's the link to my Facebook page... http://www.facebook.com/OfYesteryear

Hope to see you there!

Don't forget to smile at a stranger! :)

Pumpkin, pumpkin and more pumpkin!

Ever had one of those days when everything just goes right?  I had one today! :)

First of all, I finally got some decent sleep!  RLS kicked my ass until around 5 this morning but I was able to sleep until almost 11!  YAY!

Secondly, my favorite football team, the San Francisco 49ers won!!!  They not only won... they STOMPED the Bills!  Woo Hoo! :)

Next, I spent a couple of hours processing a nice size pumpkin and made pumpkin soup, pumpkin bars, pumpkin/potato hash and froze 3 1/2 quarts of pumpkin for future use!

I baked 2 loaves of bread and 8 garlic/basil rolls.  My boyfriend made a seitan loaf and we had it in sandwiches tonight on the homemade rolls with the hash on the side!  It was absolutely delicious!  And, there are plenty of leftovers for his lunch for the rest of the week!  Oh yeah, we do it right in this house!

So, here's how you make the hash...

Sweat down an entire small onion and 3 garlic cloves, add 4 large diced potatoes and saute on low heat until almost done.  Then, add 2 cups diced pumpkin and stir well and allow to saute until it is tender.  Season to taste (I used basil, fresh shredded ginger, freshly ground black pepper corn and a bit of fresh thyme.)

Oh, and the next time you make iced tea, try putting a few fresh basil leaves in it while you steep it!  It's INCREDIBLE! And, so good for you!

Well, that's all for tonight folks!  Going to watch a movie! I am wiped out after cleaning up the mess from today! Good night kids! Don't forget to smile at a stranger! <3

Vegan Tofu/Veggie Pot Pie

It's that time of year! Yep! Autumn is upon us in just a couple of days so I thought I would share one of my favorite Fall recipes with you! Enjoy! <3

Vegan Tofu and Vegetable Pot Pie
Serves 2

Crust:
1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Vegan Margarine
Ice water

Filling:
8 ounces firm tofu
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 potato, diced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 teaspoon finely chopped sage
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400° F.

The secret to this crust is chilling the ingredients and tools. Place the flour in a mixing bowl and chill in the freezer while you are preparing the filling. Also place a pastry blender or fork in the freezer.

Filling:

Cut tofu into 1/3-inch dice and press between clean kitchen towels or paper towels to rid of excess water.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook tofu until golden on all sides. Remove tofu from skillet and set aside.

Heat remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the same skillet. Add onion, celery, carrot, and garlic and sauté until onion is translucent.

Add potato to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until tender.

Add flour, nutritional yeast, and soy sauce to the skillet and stir into the vegetables.

Add vegetable broth and stir until combined.

Add tofu, peas, sage, and thyme and stir until combined.

Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Crust:

Take the supplies out of the freezer.

Using a pastry blender or fork, cut margarine and flour together until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Then, using your hands, quickly rub the mixture together so that the margarine is absorbed into the flour.

Gradually drizzle ice water into the bowl, mixing with the pastry blender or fork until the dough just comes together. 1 - 3 Tblspns

Divide the dough in half and quickly shape the dough into balls and flatten into disks. Place on a floured surface a roll out to 1/8 inch thick.

Assemble and Bake

Place a dough round into bottom of pie plate and tuck the sides under to form a thicker crust around the edge. Fill with tofu/veggie mix and add top dough round. Press to seal around the edges of the dishes and crimp with a fork. Cut a slit in the middle.

Bake in the oven until golden and bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Let sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

My bread recipe

I've used so many bread recipes and couldn't fine one that I liked so, I figured one out! :)  Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

INGREDIENTS:

1 package active dry yeast
1 package quick yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water (about 100-110 degrees... just over luke warm)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 Tblspn vegetable oil
1 tspn salt
7 cups flour of your choice

DIRECTIONS:

Turn on some of your favorite music! It's important! Trust me! :)

Put both packs of yeast and sugar in bowl, add water and stir with wooden spoon until dissolved.

Add 2 of the 7 cups of flour, salt and oil and stir.

Allow to sit for 4 minutes.

Add remaining 5 cups of flour and mix with hands.  This is the fun part.  Turn dough out onto clean surface and kneed for 7 minutes.  It doesn't matter if you can't mix in all the flour to start with... it'll get mixed in! :)

Place dough into oiled bowl and turn once so it is lightly coated.  Cover with damp towel and allow to rise for about an hour.  Punch down, form loaves, rolls or whatever.  I usually make two small loaves of bread and a pan of 8 rolls.  Cover pans with damp towel and allow to rise for 30 minutes before baking.  Rolls take about 25 minutes and a loaf of bread about 30.  Should be golden brown and sound hollow when you tap on it.

I also use this same dough for cinnamon rolls and bread!  Just pat it out, add your cinnamon and brown sugar, roll it up and cut it into rolls or leave it as a loaf of bread!  I've also added garlic powder and basil sprinkles to the tops of the plain rolls... It is so versatile!  Have fun with it! Don't be scared! :)