Lentil Recipe to try

Sloppy Lentils

1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil
1 medium-size onion, diced
1 small red or green bell pepper, seeded and diced
1-2 tablespoons chili powder
1-1/2 cups dried brown or green lentils, picked over and rinsed
One 14.5-ounce can crushed tomatoes
3 cups water
2 tablespoons tamari or other soy sauce
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon light brown sugar or a natural sweetener
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper


1. Heat the oil in a medium-size skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and bell pepper, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chili powder, stirring to coat.

2. Transfer the onion mixture to a 3-1/2 to 4 quart slow cooker. Add the lentils, tomatoes, water, tamari, mustard, brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine. Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours (or high for 4 hours).

3. Serve on lightly toasted burger buns or over rice or pasta.

Scones

BROWN SUGAR SCONES

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, loosely packed + 1 Tablespoon
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening
3/4 Cup Soy Milk
1/2 Cup Maple Syrup

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, 1/4 cup of brown sugar and salt.
Add and cut in the shortening with either two knives or a pastry cutter to a coarse crumb texture.
Add the milk and maple syrup and stir well with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together, finishing up by hand if necessary to form a ball.
Transfer the dough ball to the parchment lined baking sheet and flatten to 3/4″.
Cut the dough into 8 wedges and sprinke with the 1 tablespoon of remaining brown sugar.
Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until golden.

I substituted rice milk for the soy milk, honey for the maple syrup and a mix of palm oil/coconut oil for the shortening. And I threw some raisins in too.

Cornbread

I am on a search for a great cornbread. TJ's brand is our current favorite but b/c we didn't have any around I tried making this one from scratch. It was pretty good but a bit dry. Perhaps I'll play with the recipe:

Blue Ribbon Vegan Cornbread?

I was skeptical that pareve cornbread could be moist at all, never mind an award winner. Imagine my surprise when Cook’s Illustrated reported a recipe for vegan cornbread that actually won the blue ribbon at the Iowa State Fair… and those folks know their corn.

DANA SLY’S BLUE RIBBON VEGAN CORNBREAD
Serves 9

2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
6 Tbsp. water
1 C all-purpose flour
1 C cornmeal
1/4 C sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. table salt
1 C soy milk
1/4 C canola oil

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 8-inch-square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the ground flax seed, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer the ground flax seed in the water for 3 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt until well-combined.
4. Add the ground flax seed mixture, soy milk, and canola oil to the flour mixture. Beat just until smooth (do not overbeat.)
5. Turn into prepared baking pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes; invert cornbread onto wire rack, then turn right side up and continue to cool until warm, about 10 minutes longer. Cut into pieces and serve.

Roasted Cauliflower

I've been meaning to make this forever... Recipe from a NAMI event from Shana:

Roasted Cauliflower
5 to 6 cups cauliflower florets, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter (from 1 medium cauliflower)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sliced garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan (I usually omit this)
Chopped chives, for garnish (I always forget this)

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

Place the cauliflower florets in a large saute pan or a roasting pan (I use a 9x13 glass pan). Drizzle the olive oil over the cauliflower, and season with the garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Place the saute/roasting pan in the oven and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure even roasting. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with chopped chives and serve immediately while still warm.

Granola Bars

I think I found my new favorite granola bar recipe ! We used cheerios for the dry cereal and it gives the perfect amount of crunch. Yummy!! Here is the recipe reprinted:

Alicia's Mix and Match Granola Bars

Makes about 20 full sized bars or 30 smaller bars

Ingredients:
4 cups quick cooking oats
3 cups dry cereal *
2 cups dried fruit **
1 cup nuts or seeds ***
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup honey (I used part agave)
1 cup sunbutter, soy nut butter or peanut butter
2 tsp real vanilla

1. Grease and set aside a 9x13 or 10x14 inch baking pan.

2. In a very large bowl, stir together the oats, cereal, fruit and nuts.

3. Heat the brown sugar and honey in a pan over medium heat, stirring often, just until boiling. Remove from heat and stir in the nut butter and vanilla.

4. Pour hot mixture over dry mixture and mix well. (If you are adding in chocolate chips, allow the mixture to cool slightly so they do not melt.)

5. Press very firmly into prepared pan (wetting your hands can help a bit). Allow to cool and cut into bars.

* Good dry cereal choices are rice crispies, cheerios and corn flakes. Rice crispies are perfect but anything crunchy will do.

** Dried fruit options include raisins, cranberries, blueberries, cherries, pineapple, etc. Diced prunes are surprisingly sweet and delicious but they're rather sticky. I dust them with powdered sugar to chop them so they don't make a sticky mass. You can also add ingredients like coconut and chocolate chips. Our favorite mix so far is chopped prunes, tart cherries, coconut and some white chocolate chips. You can also do themes like tropical with coconut, papaya, pineapple...

*** Any nuts or seeds will do. These contribute protein, texture and a bigger health punch. Options include sunflower seeds, chopped almonds, pecans, sesame seeds, flax seeds....

I wrap these in aluminum foil for on-the-go snacks. They can be kept at room temperature or refrigerated. They are slightly sticky and soft at room temperature, or at least they are in the summer.

Enjoy!

Tea Bags for Bits of Goodness 2/2010

I'm up way too late once again but I just had to add my latest creations. I finished all 12 tea bags for the bits of goodness craft exchange. But then of course, I decided that they needed nifty little bags so I suppose I have 5 more bags to make. I'm guessing it won't take long. As far as I know they are entirely 'natural' so hopefully they will be acceptable for the exchange. Lillian's tea bags, on the other hand, will be colorful and synthetic. Which reminds me... I need to finish Lillian's tea bags for her Feb 25th birthday!

Tea Bags for Bits of Goodness 2/2010
Originally uploaded by DDN and friends

Crafty Craziness

Yet again I have Brynn to blame (or thank) for a new craft craze. Right now I am making 6 kid grocery bags & 6 set of tea bags for the new craft exchange I joined. I'm excited about the exchange but I'm finding it really hard to adhere to the rule that everything must be natural. So many things are polyester and so many things that are 'natural' are expensive! But it's fun none the less. Off to create.

Want to make ice cream

Why is it only now that I've discovered that you can make your own coconut ice cream!??! Here is a recipe link I'm going to have to try later. I'll be back to post the outcome

Edit 2/17: After I posted I realized that the above mentioned recipe called for an ice cream machine (we sold ours at a garage sale a while back). So I found a way to make it sans machine in Mothering Magazine. Here is what I did:

3 cans Coconut Milk (full fat)
2/3 c cocoa
1 c agave

mix with electric blender. Put in freezer and pull out and mix every 30-60 minutes.

I started this morning at 9am and have been mixing it about every 45 minute (except for the 1 hr we were away for value world). Right now (1:15pm) it tastes awesome but it's not quite ice cream. I'll be back to update.'

Evening update: Oh, my. This is a wicked discovery. This was really stinkin' good. It was ready by about 3pm and we ate it between 5 & 8. Definitely a keeper. Though, next time I'm going to try it with the 'lite' coconut milk.

Days later update: Still good days later. Really tastes like chocolate ice cream. There is also a way to do this with a vanilla bean & maybe next time I'll try honey instead of agave.

Valentines gifts

Valentines gifts
Originally uploaded by LMN and Friends

We made these sweet little 'flowers' for the grandfolk this year. Lillian and I had such a great time!

Sun catchers

My dear friend, Brynn inspired us to make some sun catchers. Ours turned out a bit like frozen salad instead of the works of art she created but it was fun just the same.