Name that Raptor

Our walk yesterday morning started with a raptor just around the corner from where we live. There's a very tall fir tree in the yard, where we frequently see a mockingbird or kestrel perched on the top. The mockingbird sings from the perch while the kestrel prefers it for the great visibility it provides.

Photo of an American Kestrel by Len Blumin.
Yesterday, however, the raptor perched up there was quite a bit larger than the kestrel. Kestrels, also called "sparrow hawks", are the smallest of the hawks in the US. Our bird yesterday was sitting on the top of the tree bending it over from its weight. Not a kestrel!


Photo of a juvenile Cooper's Hawk by Rick Leche.
Another frequent sighting in our neighborhood is Cooper's Hawk, an accipiter that hunts small birds. There is a resident pair that raises young each year nearby. But, it wasn't a Cooper's Hawk either, not with its bulkier build and dark markings on the face.

We decided it was worth fetching the binoculars for a better look. I waited with Angel while my sweetie hot-footed it back to the house. The reason I stayed behind was to watch to see if the bird flew. The shape and colors on the underside of the wings and the tail can give clues as to the identity of a raptor, as can the style of flight. The bird, however, kindly stayed put.


Photo of a Prairie Falcon by Jerry Oldenettel.
We both checked it out, noting its overall brownish hue. The markings on the breast were a warm brown, the back a darker brown, with a strong mustache mark coming down the side of the face through the eye. Prairie falcon perhaps? We've both seen them often along the washes (dry river beds except during monsoon thunderstorms) through the city, but the nearest large wash is a good two miles away.


Photo of an adult Peregrine Falcon by Picture Taker 2.
I suggested Peregrine Falcon, but they tend more towards darker color less in the brown range and our only sighting in the city was one I spotted flying overhead in the city park a few years ago.

We used to be avid birders, frequently going out to good areas to watch birds, taking the binoculars on our hikes, and keeping up with the local birding news. In the past few years, though, we dropped that activity in favor of cycling, running, and lately, peak oil/climate change "prepping". We've had a hard time justifying burning gas to drive somewhere to watch birds, so we've only done a little bit in our own neighborhood. Without practice, ID skills fade.


Photo of a juvenile Peregrine Falcon by Len Blumin - BINGO!
It took a quick check in the bird book to remind us that the Prairie Falcon should have a light line above the eye and a pretty skimpy mustache (review its photo above). This confirmed my impression that the bird was a Peregrine. The warm brown colors were due to its immature status. Juvenile birds often have different plumage than adults. It was a thrilling way to start the day!

Thanksgiving memories

The smell of a traditional Thanksgiving meal cooking brings back a flood of childhood memories. It was my favorite holiday meal of the year, better even than all the candy at Halloween. The turkey went in the roaster early in the day because it took hours to cook the big bird - big enough to feed the family, any company, and for plenty of leftovers.

Once the turkey was on, it seemed the work in the kitchen was nonstop to put together the rest of the meal. Potatoes had to be peeled and boiled, green beans had to be cleaned and boiled, and the cornbread had to be baked for the dressing. No need to bake the pumpkin pie; one of the many pies in the full-size freezer was popped into the oven to reheat. (And those "pumpkin" pies were made with giant home-grown banana squash more often than with pumpkin. No-one could tell the difference.)

When the cornbread was done, we had to cube it for the dressing while the adults chopped up tons of onion and celery to mix with it. Almost a dozen eggs and turkey drippings siphoned from the roaster were also added. Stuffing was baked in the roaster pan around the turkey, not inside it. Dressing stuffed inside a turkey's gut has always grossed me out, and apparently my mom wasn't crazy about it either.

After an all-day assault on the olfactory nerves, we'd know it was almost time to eat when the smells of the turkey, dressing, and pumpkin pie all began to co-mingle. Well, that and our orders to set the table with the nice china and silverware. Oh, and my dad getting frustrated because either the gravy wasn't thickening properly or he couldn't get the turkey sliced just right. We'd sit down for the big meal with the table groaning under the weight of these dishes plus salads and more.

It only took me a short while to figure out that I didn't care about half the dishes on the table. Sure, they were good and, any other time, I loved them, gladly eating mashed potatoes and gravy, yams, green beans, broken glass salad (a family favorite!), and others. But not at Thanksgiving. What made me happy was the turkey - dark meat please, cornbread stuffing, and Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce. Each bite had to contain some of each of these three magic Thanksgiving elements. That was heaven. That was what made this my favorite meal of the year.

That is also what makes eating a vegan Thanksgiving dinner challenging for me. I make a damn good cornbread dressing, without the eggs and turkey drippings. I still buy Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce. Yes, with the high fructose corn syrup. I can't stand homemade chunky cranberry sauce. But I have trouble finding a good replacement for dark turkey meat. I miss my magic triad of Thanksgiving flavor.

Natural food stores do have options for those of us eschewing the turkey.

The most popular is Tofurkey. Please note the first four letters. They spell a food substance which I cannot eat, unless I want to follow up with a trip to the hospital to restore my ability to breathe.

Another option is Celebration Roast. We bought this grain-based vegetarian roast for several years until we both agreed that it just didn't quite meet our needs. The "turkey" part is very good but neither of us enjoy the "sausage" stuffing.

I tried making turkey-flavored seitan one year. While the flavor was good, the texture came out too smooth and rubbery. We all choked it down but I don't want to do that again. (I just noticed Bryanna Clark Grogan has a new "turkey" recipe without tofu. I'll try it some other time.)

I've tried serving vegetarian "turkey" lunchmeat, but it's so thinly sliced that it doesn't approximate real turkey slices. And it's not dark meat.

Last year, I simmered Morningstar's "chicken" strips in a faux turkey broth. It didn't work to change the flavor much, but with my outstanding gravy, it was somewhat satisfying. Still not dark meat but the poultry flavor and texture is there.

I'll be serving it again this year, but I'm cutting out the simmering part and just serving up the "chicken" strips covered in gravy. I will eat it with a bite of cornbread stuffing and jellied cranberry sauce, and be happy. I will have seconds. Maybe thirds if nobody is looking.

Are you skipping the bird this year? What are you having instead?

The Best Turkeyless "Turkey" Gravy You'll Ever Eat

Regular readers of this blog may recall other times I've mentioned replicating the flavors of animal products with all plant ingredients. I've discussed faux cheesy sauces, egg-like flavors, and meaty broths.

My Thanksgiving gravy, though, is one of my best creations. It combines ideas and concepts I've picked up over the years, along with recipe influences from a Wild Oats newsletter and Simply Heavenly! The Monastery Vegetarian Cookbook by Abbot George Burke. The recipe is a bit of work, but the effort is worth it. The gravy is rich and flavorful, with a good mouth-feel. Yet, as you will see, it has no added fat. The soymilk adds a small amount of fat, but far less than you will find in most gravy recipes, and trust me, this does not taste like a wimpy lowfat, healthy, vegan gravy!

Before I give you the recipe, here are some photos showing the first half of the process. Most of the year, I make cheap and tasty vegetable stock from trimmings.


Before making the gravy, I make a special stock specifically for this recipe. It starts with fresh whole vegetables.


Just straining and pressing all the stock liquid out of the veggies yields a tasty stock but leaves lots of vegetable material to be composted.


I hate wasting edible food, so I use my mother's Chinois food mill to extract the soft parts of the vegetables as well.


The fibrous parts are left behind inside the mill.


The vegetable pulp are pushed through the holes in the mill.


This is all the liquid and pulp I extracted after straining the vegetables in a regular sieve. This extra step makes the gravy extra rich (and is a good way to sneak some extra vegetable's into your family's diet.)


This is all that's left of the vegetables at the end. I doubled the recipe given below, so this half-cup of pulp started out as 6 carrots, 6 celery sticks, and 6 onions!



Turkeyless stock
3 onions, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
6 cups water
1 tbs salt
6 peppercorns
3 bay leaves
1 tbs thyme
5 sprigs fresh parsley

Simmer 30-60 min on medium-low heat or cook for 10 minutes in a pressure cooker.

Strain through a sieve and reserve the stock.

Push the vegetables through a Chinois food mill, discarding the fibrous parts and whole spices left behind.

Combine the stock and vegetable pulp to use in the following recipe.


Chile's Wonderful TurkeyLess Gravy
4 cups Turkeyless stock
¼ cup soy sauce
2 tsp Kitchen Bouquet*
1/4 tsp sage
1 c chopped onion
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 tbs minced parsley
2 tsp sugar
2 cups soymilk
1/3 cup whole-wheat flour, toasted in dry skillet
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix broth and other ingredients except soymilk and flour in a saucepan.

Heat to boiling over medium heat; simmer 5 minutes.

Turn heat to low. Mix flour with soymilk. Stir into pan slowly. Cook, stirring constantly, until gravy is thickened.

Yield: a whole lot of really tasty gravy that can be poured over mashed potatoes, dressing, turkey substitute, toast, hashbrowns, etc.

*You can make your own "Kitchen Bouquet" caramel sauce with this recipe.

No Solar Cooking for this Holiday

Darn it. I really wanted to do much of the Thanksgiving cooking in the solar ovens this year. We've had reasonably sunny weather lately. Even though I only get 4 hours of decent sun in the yard where I use the ovens, I planned to start today to get it all done.

The weather is not cooperating. The sky is completely overcast.

The view to the south.

To the west.

To the northwest.

The weather forecast shows 10% chance of rain today increasing to 60% chance tomorrow and Thursday. Oh well, on to Plan B.

Plan B is to cook the food as efficiently as possible indoors. This means grouping baking tasks so the oven is on for a shorter period of time, using the crockpot or pressure cooker for the stock, and cooking one thing after another on the stovetop using the same eye. This is, I would think, slightly more efficient than using multiple eyes since the iron grate will retain heat between dishes.

To figure out how to cook everything efficiently, I have to start with the meal plan. My menu is similar to last year's meal, but I eliminated the special drinks and added a yam dish (that only I like).


Morningstar "Chicken" strips
Cornbread Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes & Turkeyless Gravy
Yams with Orange Marmalade
Yams with vegan "marshmallow creme" & pecans
Smoky Green Beans
Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Topping

So, here is the plan for cooking that can be done in advance.

Oven

• Bake cornbread √


• Roast yams √


• Bake pumpkin pie crust √


• Bake pumpkin pie √

Stovetop

• Make some evaporated soymilk (cook down to double-strength) for pie √


• Toast pecans √


• Toast flour for gravy (richer flavor) √


• Pressure-cook stock for gravy & stuffing √

On Thanksgiving, all that's left to do is:

• Heat "chicken" strips


• Pressure-cook green beans & season


• Pressure-cook potatoes & mash


• Cook gravy


• Bake stuffing


• Bake yams with marshmallow* topping


• Reheat yams with orange marmalade


• Whip topping for pie

The cooking won't be quite as efficient on that day because the idea is to have everything ready, and hot, at the same time. So, I'll be using both pressure cookers as well as a third burner for the gravy. However, it will be a cold rainy day and the heat will feel good. Plus, it's a holiday, a celebration, a feast. It is the time for a little excess without guilt because it comes rarely.

*Vegan marshmallow creme is available at natural food stores. It's called "Ricemellow creme" and is made with brown rice syrup. Caution: very addicting!

Kitchen Clean-Out Finished (almost...)

In between listing my spice collection and drooling over the bibim bap recipe, I cleaned out all of the kitchen cabinets and drawers, as per my weekend plans for Operation Clean-Out. While I was at it, I even cleaned the outside surfaces of the cabinets and drawers. My kitchen looks better than it has in a while!

I'd like to also say that I'm completely finished with the kitchen sorting. Unfortunately, I cannot. I still need to make a decision about a couple of rolling pins. Do I need two - one wood and one marble - when I rarely roll out anything? Which do I keep? This will require a test run with something I have to roll out and I'll be too busy this week with Thanksgiving plans to do that. I also have a couple of manual food grinders that I need to work with to decide if both are necessary. Again, this will have to wait until after Thanksgiving.

However, I did choose to let go of the above items. The coffee grinder was already set aside but fit in the picture nicely. I'll never use the little copper potpourri pot but I'm sure someone else will love it.

I always struggle with cookware because I have an assortment of cooking needs. It's easier to make fatfree pancakes and saute without oil in a nonstick skillet. However, I have some reservations about the nonstick coatings and find they just don't last as long as they advertise. When we thought we'd be moving to colder climes and cooking on a wood stove, I sought out used cast iron cookware. My skillet is well-seasoned now and I'm used to cooking with it, so the nonstick one (and spare lid) can go away.

The other skillet in the picture is one that I used in the solar oven after removing its handle. I picked up some thin dark enamelware, from thrift stores, of course, and they work far better. Too bad I didn't hang onto the handle. I also took the handle off the small baking pan for the same reason. However, my new Tulsi oven can handle my great big baking sheet so I don't need to keep this itty bitty one. I'm relieved to get rid of it, too, because it's aluminum. I always had to use parchment paper with it to avoid hot food coming in contact with it.

Since I was cleaning as well as cleaning out, I removed items from cabinets that I knew only had items I wanted to keep. Imagine my surprise when I found the orange citrus juicer stuck behind something else. The glass juicers work just as well and are, well, not plastic. The metal one works pretty well and is quicker if I only need to squeeze half a lemon. I thought I was getting better about reducing my utensil duplication but still found a couple of other items (spatula & spoon) to toss in the yard sale box.

Does anyone like the little hand crank herb mincers? I've used it a couple of times and hate how it crushes and mangles the herbs. Big nasty clumps of crushed leaves get stuck in it, too. It just does not do a nice job of mincing at all. Time for it to go!

The brown colander thing is being repurposed. My sweetie said he could use it out in the garage for sorting and sifting stuff.

The package of food is dried sweet potato stems. This was an impulse buy at an Asian market over a year ago. I finally tried following the package directions to prepare it this past week. Stems sound like sticks, right? Well, trying to eat these things was like chewing on little wet sticks. (If you look at the bibim bap picture, you'll see these on the rice. We had to individually pick them out...after mixing them with everything else.) I've searched on the Internet and can't find much about them so I don't want to bother with them again.

I doubt there will be much decluttering going on in the next week but maybe my mother-in-law's visit will inspire me to set more things aside for her yard sale next month.

Vegetarian Bibim Bap

Presenting my version of bibim bap, or Korean mixed vegetables and rice. As I discussed in this earlier post, I decided to try Maanchi's recipe this week. I adjusted it for my tastes while making it, reducing the oil and omitting the beef and fried egg that traditionally tops each bowl.

This recipe reduces the fat even further, adds lettuce, and streamlines the labor-heavy preparation a little bit. I've changed the amount of some vegetables for personal preference, too. Please note that I have not yet tried the kosari but am including it as an ingredient.

There is a fair amount of prep work for this recipe. The key is to group tasks to make it go more quickly. Ingredients are listed in the order of use, as they are in all of my recipes. If something has to be prepared the night before, rest assured you’ll find that at the top of the list so you aren’t surprised when you get halfway through a recipe!

This should serve about 6-8 people, or create a whole lot of wonderful leftovers for two.


Vegetarian Bibim Bap

Dried kosari (bracken - available at Korean grocers)
6 shiitake mushrooms
2 carrots
2 medium zucchini
2 medium English or Armenian cucumber, peeled
2 ½ cups bean sprouts
3 cups spinach or any cooking greens (radish or turnip leaves, collards, kale, etc.)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 head leaf lettuce
Sesame seeds – total of 1 tablespoon + ½ teaspoon
4 tablespoons gochujang (available at Korean grocers)
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
Water
Toasted sesame oil
Salt – total of 3 teaspoons
Sugar – total of 2 ½ tablespoons
Soy sauce – total of 3 tablespoons
5 cups medium or long-grain white or brown rice

The night before

• Place 1 cup kosari in 20 cups of cold water in a large pot. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from heat but don’t drain. Let it soak overnight. In the morning, check to make sure it is no longer tough. If it is, boil briefly again. Otherwise, drain and refrigerate until needed in a further step.

Several hours before

• Put dried shiitake mushrooms in a large bowl of warm water to rehydrate. Turn them over periodically or weight them down so they are immersed in water. Check periodically to see if completely hydrated. When they are, drain, saving the soaking water. Cut off the fibrous stems; these can be chopped and simmered in the soaking water for a flavorful broth. Slice the rehydrated (or fresh) shiitakes thinly and set aside.


• Start prepping the remaining vegetables. The carrot, zucchini, and cucumber can be cut into julienne strips by hand or coarsely grated using a food processor. Process one vegetable at a time, in order, and keep them separated.


• Mince the garlic and set aside.


• Clean and dry the lettuce. Tear into bite-size pieces. Return to refrigerator until assembly.


• Toast sesame seeds in a small pan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Watch carefully and remove from heat as soon as they turn golden brown. Pour into a small bowl so they don’t continue browning. You can crush them slightly in a mortar and pestle to release more flavor, if desired.

45 minutes before

• Cook rice in rice cooker or on the stove.


• Rinse bean sprouts thoroughly. Place in a pot with 2 cups water & 1 ½ tsp salt. Cook for 20 minutes. Drain. Mix bean sprouts with 2 cloves minced garlic, a drizzle of sesame oil, 1 tsp salt & ½ tsp sesame seeds.


• Soak cucumber strips in salted water for 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.


• Clean greens. If using heavier greens, use only the leaves. (Chop the stems and simmer until tender as a tasty vegetable side dish.) Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add all the leaves at once and stir gently while cooking. Spinach will only need to blanch for a minute. Heavier greens will need several minutes to become somewhat tender. Drain. Rinse with cool water. Squeeze out enough water that you can chop the greens into smaller pieces. Toss with 1 clove minced garlic, a drizzle of sesame oil, a pinch of salt, & 1 ½ tsp soy sauce.


• Sprinkle zucchini shreds with salt and toss together. Set aside.


• Chop drained kosari into 2 ½” long pieces.


• Make red pepper sauce. In a small bowl, mix gochujang with 2 tsp sesame oil, 1 tbs sesame seeds, 1 tbs sugar, and 1 tsp rice vinegar. Add up to 2 tbs water to thin it slightly, if desired.

The final steps

• Four vegetables need to be sautéed and they need to be cooked separately. Do them in the order listed here, re-using the same pan. When one is done, remove it and add the next one. If you are using a nonstick skillet, you will not need to add any oil. If you are using a well-seasoned cast iron skillet, wipe the bottom of the skillet with oil (using a rag or paper towel) between each vegetable. There is no need to use a large amount of oil.


• Heat skillet over medium-high heat.


• Add the carrots and a pinch of salt. Sauté for about a minute. Remove.


• Add the salted zucchini. Sauté for several minutes until tender. Remove.


• Heat ½ tsp oil. Add kosari and sauté briefly. Add ½ tbs sugar & 1 tbs soy sauce. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove and drizzle lightly with sesame oil.


• Heat ½ tsp oil. Add shiitake mushrooms, 1 tbs sugar, & 1 ½ tbs soy sauce. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove and drizzle lightly with sesame oil.

Assemble each person's bowl

• Place cooked rice in large bowl and arrange some of each of the prepared vegetables on top. Traditionally, they are arranged like the spokes of a wheel radiating out from the center.


• Serve with red pepper paste (gochujang). To eat, add red pepper sauce to your bowl. Mix the rice, vegetables, and sauce together thoroughly.

To accommodate tastes of different family members, you can place all of the prepared vegetables on a large platter in the center of the table and a bowl of rice at each place setting. Each person can add the vegetables they desire and add as much red pepper sauce as they want.

Optional: provide additional side dishes to eat with the bibim bap. This can be extras of the prepared vegetables, kimchee, or other pickled vegetables.

What's in YOUR spice cabinet?

A number of bloggers showed what was in their refrigerators recently. (My pictures are here.) While taking out my herbs and spices to clean the cabinet today, it occurred to me that sharing a list of our seasonings might be interesting.

Here is a complete list of all my dry herbs and spices (no extracts). An asterisk (*) denotes those items I grew or dried myself.

To share yours, just copy and paste this list to a new post on your blog (or to the comments here if you are blog-free). Leave the entire list and highlight anything that you also have in bold. If you have additional herbs and spices, add them at the end. (You can link to this post for folks at your blog to come get the original list without anything in bold yet if they want to play, too.)

1. Allspice, ground
2. Allspice, whole
3. Anardana, ground* (dried pomegranate seeds)
4. Anardana, whole*
5. Basil leaves*
6. Bay leaf
7. Caraway seeds
8. Cardamom, ground
9. Cayenne pepper
10. Celery seed
11. Chile pepper, New Mexico, ground (note: this is not a blend; just pure ground red chiles)
12. Chile pepper, green Anaheim, whole*
13. Chile pepper, pasilla negro, ground
14. Chile pepper, red Anaheim, whole*
15. Chile pepper, red Thai, whole
16. Chipotle
17. Chorizo spice mix (mixed by me)
18. Cilantro*
19. Cinnamon, ground
20. Cinnamon, stick
21. Cinnamon sugar
22. Cloves, ground
23. Cloves, whole
24. Coriander, ground
25. Cumin, ground
26. Cumin seed
27. Curry powder
28. Dill seed
29. Dill weed
30. Fennel seed
31. Fennel seed, sweetened (Indian)
32. Fenugreek seeds
33. Garam masala (mixed by me)
34. Garlic powder
35. Ginger, ground
36. Ginger, whole Jamaican (dry)
37. Indian "Sweet Seasoning" (mix from local spice store)
38. Italian seasoning
39. Juniper berries
40. Lemon Omani, whole
41. Lemongrass
42. Lemon peel*
43. Mace, whole
44. Marjoram
45. Mint leaves
46. Miso powder
47. Mrs. Dash Table Blend (great all-around salt free mix)
48. Mustard, ground
49. Mustard seeds, black
50. Mustard seeds, yellow
51. Nutmeg, ground
52. Nutmeg, whole
53. Onion, granulated
54. Onion powder
55. Orange peel*
56. Oregano leaves
57. Paprika
58. Paprika, Spanish smoked
59. Parsley flakes
60. Pepper, black
61. Pepper, red rose, whole
62. Pepper, white
63. Peppercorns, black
64. Peppercorns, mixed
65. Pickling spice
66. Pomegranate chutney* (dry mix with anardana)
67. Poppy seed
68. Poppy seed, white
69. Poultry seasoning
70. Red pepper, crushed
71. Rosemary
72. Saffron
73. Sage
74. Salt, Hawaiian red
75. Salt, kosher
76. Salt, Mexican rock
77. Salt, pickling
78. Salt, pink
79. Salt, sea
80. Salt, smoked
81. Savory
82. Smoky sweet pepper seasoning
83. Tarragon leaves
84. Thai seasoning
85. Thyme (in a bottle)
86. Turmeric
87. Vanilla beans
88. Wasabi

Your turn!

Next Project: Kitchen Drawers & Cabinets

For those wishing to declutter their kitchen drawers & cabinets, it would be helpful to review these two past posts from the previous Cut the Crap challenge: Kitchen Duplications and Dark Kitchen Corners.



Did you think I'd forgotten about this while having so much fun cooking lately? Nope. Since my mother-in-law will be here in just five days for Thanksgiving, I've been working on straightening up the house. You'd think it would look great from the big clean-up for Beany's visit, but two things have happened in the meantime:

1) It's the desert and it's been windy lately. That means dust has piled up again. I already need to dust again, and, of course, vacuum (because I have a dog!)

2) The surfaces in the house are cluttered already; this looks messy and interferes with effective dusting. Clean surfaces are like a subliminal trigger for both of us to cover them up as fast as possible with assorted crap. For instance, here in the office I've got clothes on the file cabinet, toilet paper packages on the covered stack of canning jars, and assorted papers on the desk.

In the rest of the house, I mostly had paper clutter or things simply not put away where they belong. It's all too easy to walk through the house, put something down and think, "I'll get to that later." As I'm sure you realize, "later" rarely comes. It finally did on Thursday when I decided to tackle the front of the house using the timed clutter clean-up technique. The rest of the house still needs work.

However, this weekend, I am geared up for the kitchen. I have to clean the kitchen because we'll be spending a lot of time preparing (and cleaning up after) the big meal on Thanksgiving. I don't think my mother-in-law will appreciate seeing the dried up cricket leg in the utensils drawer. As long as I have to remove everything to clean, I might as well give it a good sort as well.

It shouldn't be too hard since the containers are already cleaned out and the extra coffee gear is traveling to new homes. I will post photos and results when I'm finished.

What are you working on cleaning out this weekend?

Anticipa...

...tion. That sums up my state of being today. You see, lately I've been craving Asian food in a major way. I have no clue why. Maybe it's been fueled by making two different types of kimchee this past week with CSA produce.


The first one was from my Korean vegetarian cookbook using daikon radish and its leaves. It only sat out 24 hours before going in the refrigerator. It's tasty but not particularly sour.


The CSA share gave me black Spanish radishes - a spicy large radish that is black on the outside and white inside. I decided to use it for kimchee, too.


The second kimchee, using a recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking, called for radish and cabbage. I used the black radishes and mizuna since I had those on hand. This kimchee is still bubbling away in my living room, causing us to say, "What is that smell?!" every time we walk by or enter the house from outside. (Now I know why kimchee is traditionally buried...because it smells!)

In any case, yesterday morning, I checked my Korean cookbook to see if it had a recipe for Bibim Bap. This is an addictive dish, thanks in part to the tasty red chile sauce tossed with the rice and mixed vegetables. To make it, I needed gochujang, the red chile paste which is the base for the sauce. Tucson has plenty of Asian stores and I found it fairly easily. I picked up a few other vegetables I needed, and just to prime the tastebuds, I got a package of vegetables already prepared and ready to be added to rice.

I had the "instant vegetables" with rice for lunch, along with a taste of both kimchees.

After doing a little Internet research, I'm torn between two versions of Bibim Bap. SusanV at FatFree Vegan Kitchen has a collection of recipes to be combined for this dish, all modified to reduce the fat. They look good but it also looks like quite a bit of work.



This video looks more like the traditional dish I've had in restaurants. (I wish I could chop as efficiently as she does!) So, for tonight, I'm making this version, but using less sesame oil and, of course, eliminating the beef and egg. Maybe after Thanksgiving, I'll try Susan's recipe. After all, I've got a big ol' container of gochujang now.

I can't wait for dinnertime!

Some Assembly Needed

Folks often encounter the problem of different tastes and diets within the family. For the person doing the cooking, this can be a real challenge as they struggle to make dishes to please everyone. Personally, I'm cantankerous enough that I'd make difficult family members fend for themselves, but this is not realistic for many people, especially if children are involved.

There is a solution, though, which will work for at least some meals. Make all the component parts of the meal and let each person assemble their own plate. Tonight, for instance, I made burritos. Available were tortillas, refried beans, cooked bulgur with veggie "ground beef", roasted chiles, salsa, and lettuce.

Inside my tortilla, I used the beans, bulgur mix, and chiles. My sweetie skipped the chiles, I think.

After grilling this in my George Foreman grill, I topped it with salsa and a huge handful of lettuce. My sweetie used about a quarter as much salsa and lettuce.

Let's envision a family with one person that wants to follow a vegetarian diet and others who absolutely are not interested in giving up their meat and cheese. Having ground beef and shredded cheese available, along with beans, rice, and vegetables, allows each person to make the burrito they want. Putting meat and dairy options on the side is easier than cooking multiple meals.

If having the meat and dairy on the side is impossible, oftentimes similar dishes can be made with the base ingredients. Take tuna noodle casserole as an example. Cook the noodles and peas together. Mix half with the tuna and creamy sauce for the casserole, and toss the other half with additional vegetables and dressing. Or, make a vegan creamy sauce for both but omit tuna in one half.

For families dealing with food allergies or picky eaters rather than vegetarianism, self-assembled meals can help ease the difficulty of getting everyone fed. Just remember with food allergies, the person preparing the food needs to be careful to avoid cross-contamination.

Changing how you put meals together may take some getting used to, but it certainly seems like it would be easier than cooking two (or more) entire meals to keep the peace. Quite frankly, I would never cook two meals. My sweetie knows if he doesn't like what I've made, he is welcome to make himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and he better darn well wash up those dishes, too. But then again, I'm cantankerous, and he knows that, too.

MIL's Yard Sale

Yowza! I just talked to my mother-in-law and she is planning a yard sale next month. This is absolutely amazing because she, personally, has never held a yard sale before in her long life. Ever. She has given me items of hers to sell but even then she usually told me not to worry about the money since there wasn't much stuff.

When we remodeled her entire house some years ago, she let go of many things but it took a lot of encouragement from us. I gave her the yard sale earnings from that time because there was quite a lot. For ages afterwards, she told us how amazed she was that she didn't miss her things and that she was really enjoying the house with less clutter. (Huge step for her!) But, still, for her to plan her very own yard sale is a jaw-dropper around here.

She asked me several months ago to help her with getting rid of her things prior to our move to a new place (she's going with us). I figured that I'd have to hold her hand again as she sorted through her belongings, encouraging her to examine what she really loved and used. Then I'd be pricing it all for her, doing the ad, making the boxes, and basically doing the hard work. Nope. She's already sorted, cleaned, and priced her goods. She's writing up her own ad and will submit it. She doesn't have the supplies to make box signs so I offered to bring my stuff and help her with the signs. (Experience helps.) So, the only work I'll be doing is helping her set up and sell.

The bonus part is that I now have a place to bring my own yard sale goodies. I don't have much yet but I do have enough to make hers look better. It does mean, however, that I need to quit slacking off on my Clean-Out challenge. The house is clean enough for Thanksgiving, the food pulls together in a day or two of work, so I really have no excuse not to declutter.

First step: Post Office to ship out most of my coffee gear!

Learn to Substitute Ingredients

One of the most valuable skills one can learn in the kitchen is how to substitute ingredients. Not everyone knows how to cook entirely from scratch without following a recipe, and that's fine. Even if a recipe is used, though, learning to be flexible and creative enough to substitute ingredients is very helpful.

"Why bother?" you ask, complaining that just making the recipe in the first place is hard enough for you. Well, think about some of the benefits of switching out one ingredient for another:

• Eliminates last minute trips to the store for the ingredient you forgot you didn't have on hand


• Saves money by not buying specialty ingredients or more than you need for one recipe, not to mention the gas and time spent driving to the store


• Makes eating local foods far easier


• Allows you to personalize a recipe to include what you and your family like most


• Lets you make your favorite recipes without ingredients that you've just learned cause you to have an allergic reaction


• Encourages creativity - use the brain or lose it!

I learned to cook when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. My mom encouraged the kids to get in the kitchen and learn how to make food. Yes, we made a mess, but we also were able to help put meals together and, more importantly, learned the skills we'd need to take care of ourselves once we left the sanctuary of our parents' home. Gender was no excuse either. My father cooked as often and just as good as my mother, and my brother's cooking skills are just as good as mine. They are quite possibly better, although we focus on different types of food so it's hard to compare.

When I was a teenager, I got obsessed with baking cakes from scratch. Then I became interested in whole wheat flour. Enter my first experiments in ingredient substitution. I don't know whether my family hated all my healthy cake attempts, trying to make a light product with the heavy whole wheat flour of those days, or loved it because of the readily available sweets on hand.

After reading The Tightwad Gazette years ago, I started stretching foods to make meals cheaper. I used less meat and increased the amount of vegetables and starch to cut costs. This had an added benefit of making the meals healthier. My tuna salad had more vegetables than tuna once I broke out of the standard recipe of tuna, mayo, pickle relish, and onion. Soon I was adding minced or shredded carrots, celery, and green pepper to it, too. I stretched guacamole by adding a little mayo, salsa, and more vegetables (red onion, green pepper, and green onion).

One of the tastiest recipes I created using this idea was meatloaf. For some reason, I got obsessed with creating the perfect meatloaf recipe. I'm not sure why since I don't recall having meatloaf regularly while growing up and it wasn't something I had previously craved. However, I scoured recipes and started trying to make them better. My first substitution was ground turkey for the beef. Then I looked at ways to make it cheaper: more meatloaf with less meat. The starch that worked best for extending the meat was regular rolled oats mixed with water to about the same consistency and moisture level as the ground meat. I was on a roll and wanted to go further.

The next step was to add vegetables for flavor and moisture. This seemed to work best when the vegetables were in small pieces. To save on chopping work, I eventually learned to throw them in the food processor and grind them up to the consistency of the meat. I used carrots, celery, onions, green pepper, and parsley. On a whim, I tried adding powdered dry mushrooms and found that added a huge flavor kick. My final recipe used one pound of ground turkey for two large meatloafs, and it was well-received by all who tried it.

Once I adopted a vegan diet, I had to ramp up the learning curve on substituting ingredients. There are far more vegan cookbooks on the market now than there were when I started so back then, cooking vegan meant adapting non-vegan recipes. I've already written about substituting for dairy, eggs, and meat so I won't repeat that information here.

I do want to share a recipe with you, however, that built upon the lessons I learned perfecting my meatloaf recipe years ago. I added a small amount of oats to this recipe and they turned out wonderfully. I have one last package of the vegan sausage in my freezer. I plan to try this again but add more oatmeal along with some ground carrots and celery.

Not-So-Meaty Balls

1 package Gimme Lean sausage*
1/3 cup quick rolled oats
Water
1/4 cup ketchup
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup toasted sourdough bread crumbs, ground fairly fine
2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic, pressed
Salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Stir water into the oats until they are the consistency of ground meat.
Mix all of the ingredients together. If the mixture seems really dry, add a little bit of water.
Spray a baking sheet with oil.
Roll into small balls, about 1" in diameter, and place on the oiled sheet without any touching each other.

Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes until they are lightly browned and have firmed up.

*You can find this in a tube, just like real sausage products, in the cold case of natural food stores. This can also be made with the Gimme Lean Beef flavor.

Very tasty with spaghetti!

If one of your dietary goals is to eat local foods, then you will almost certainly have to embrace substitution. At my CSA, members get produce that is often unfamiliar to them and they must learn how to use it to avoid waste. While there are recipes in each week's newsletter and the website has a large collection of recipes, many people have their own favorite recipes they've used for years. Learning to substitute new vegetables for standard favorites helps them enjoy the local produce without giving up their familiar flavors.

The Cook's Thesaurus is a handy site for getting ideas for food substitutions. In fact, the web address is foodsubs.com. The vegetable section groups vegetables together by type, such as roots, cabbages, stalk vegetables, and tubers. No matter the category you choose on this encyclopedic site, foods listed will include possible substitutes.

While starting some radish and cabbage kimchee this morning, I made a couple of substitutions to use the CSA produce I already had and avoid a trip to the grocery store. I used black Spanish radishes in place of Chinese radish (daikon). I had no cabbage, but I did have the stems I'd cut from bok choy. That wasn't enough to fill in for the cabbage so I stretched a bit for the substitution and used mizuna. Mizuna is more frequently used as a hearty salad green and doesn't really have a cabbage-like flavor, but I think it will work. Kimchee, like chutney, is forgiving and allows the use of a variety of ingredients.

What are your favorite substitutions?

Award & Personal Responsibility

Belinda generously awarded me this Premio Dardos award that acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values every day. It's nice to be recognized for the effort put forth to create and maintain a blog, so Belinda, thank you!


There are two rules associated with this award:

1. Accept the award and post it on your blog along with a link to the person who has awarded you.


2. Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I'm not very good about following the rules so I am going to do something different here. If you are here reading this blog and think you fit the criteria for this award - blogging to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values with your posts - consider yourself tagged with this award. Link back here and post the award on your blog.

If you are here reading this and feel you do not fit these criteria but you wish that you did, examine what you need to do to incorporate these values into your blog. Wishing doesn't get you anywhere; you actually have to take steps to create change. For instance, I really wish my house wasn't as cluttered as it is. Does that do the sorting for me? Nope. But it does give me the push to start working on it.

Last year, I wished our utility bills weren't so high. That wish did not cause the utility companies to take pity on me and send me lower bills. However, I worked hard to find ways we could cut back on the resources we used, which did result in lower bills (or at least keeps them from rising too much as they increase their rates.)

My blog is mostly about making changes in my life and hopefully inspiring changes in yours. The blogs I tend to gravitate towards are also ones about making change, whether on an individual level or at the community, national, or even global level. Won't you join us in making a change for the better?

Using Cloth Wipes

After reading my recent post about hosting another green blogger, Daharja asked for more information on the cloth wipes that I use. Rather than hide the answer in comments, which I know plenty of people never read, I am answering her here.

Other bloggers have written about using cloth wipes, such as Sara and Crunchy Chicken. The comments section on the posts of both blogs have additional information and ideas on how to set this up. There is no "right way" to do cloth wipes. For convenience, having multiple wipes available is ideal but one of the families in the PBS series, Frontier House, had one piece of cloth per family member only. After each use, it was washed out and hung back up on their nail in the outhouse to dry. (They never discussed where it was washed out. I hope it wasn't in the stream!)

Choice of material is up to the individual. Flannel, velour, and terrycloth are commonly used. There are companies online that sell premade wipes, often ones that also sell cloth diapers and supplies. I didn't want to spend the money to order them or do any sewing (to keep the edges from fraying) so I just cut up an old terry towel into similar dimensions as the ones I've seen online: about 5 x 7 inches. The edges do fray a bit in the wash, but I usually stuff them into a couple of lingerie bags to keep the loose threads from getting on other laundry and just trim the edges when needed. Terry cloth is nice and absorbent; however it is somewhat scratchy after line-drying. I have some velour in my material stash that I will eventually use to make new wipes, but the edges will probably need to be sewn to keep them intact with frequent washing.


I keep the wipes in a pot on the back of my toilet. I only use them after urinating at this time, which really barely gets them damp. After use, they are tossed in the bucket, along with cloth pads, until laundry time. I don't push the bucket lid down tight and I've rarely had a problem with odor. These are washed about once a week, with other dark laundry. At least 4 hours before I plan to do the load, I add washing soda to the wipes bucket and fill it with very hot water. I agitate this briefly and let it soak until ready to do the laundry. As I mentioned, I put the wipes in a couple of lingerie mesh bags for washing. The soaking water is used on the trees outside.

I launder everything on the cold setting (which is actually lukewarm in the summer months). All laundry is line-dried including the wipes. A quick fluff in the dryer with just the air setting (no heat) after they are dry helps soften them a tiny bit, and removes lint and dog fur, but this step is not required.

For Crunchy Chicken's cloth wipe challenge last year, I committed to one week of using only cloth wipes. I found the logistics of using wipes for messier clean-up a little more daunting as I'm not particularly coordinated nor do I have a bidet set-up in my bathroom. I eventually settled on a small Tupperware container full of water for rinsing the backside and then dried with a wipe. It worked well enough but I didn't stick with this regimen after the challenge ended. Urine, when it leaves the body, is sterile. The same cannot be said of feces and the ick factor proved stronger than the desire to use less paper, perhaps challenging for me since I don't have children and never dealt with poopy diapers. The transition to wholesale cloth wipe use seems easier for mothers for that reason.

Using cloth wipes, even if not exclusively, will reduce your use of toilet paper considerably. This is better for the planet and your budget. It really does not increase laundering needs as they don't take up much space at all. Why not give it a try? (And if the family doesn't want to share, just designate a different colored wipe for each family member.)

The post in which I concede my defeat to coffee.

For the background story on my long love/hate relationship with coffee, read this post from one year ago.

We pick up the story in the summer when I began experiencing vertigo and gave up coffee as a result. In desperation, I bought every coffee substitute I could find in town and conducted a scientific comparison to find something to fill in for my beloved coffee. As the vertigo subsided, I slowly began to become accustomed to the fake coffees.

Every now and then, though, I'd brew a cup of real coffee. I miss my drug of choice. Even the best coffee substitute really doesn't quite capture the essence of the real thing. Each time, I fervently hoped it would no longer affect me and each time I would face bitter disappointment in the morning when I awoke with that nauseating sense of dizziness.

Yesterday I was dragging in a major way by early afternoon. I'd worn myself out cleaning the entire house for company and then staying up until midnight visiting with them. I slept fitfully and woke early. When they wanted coffee, I made a pot but resisted drinking any. After they headed out, I finally succumbed and had two weak cups of coffee. I was fine the rest of the day and knew I'd beat this vertigo curse.

Ha!

I slept in this morning. When I woke and turned to the side, a wave of dizziness washed over me. Darn it! Later, I bent down to check in a cabinet and the room began to spin, leaving me staggering to a chair to sit down. It's here again.

I concede. I do not understand the physiological reason that coffee now sickens me, but I finally accept that this is my life. I will no longer fight this nor hang on to my fantasy of enjoying coffee again. Please observe a moment of silence with me while we mourn the passing of my coffee-fueled hopes and dreams.

In a perverse way, I suppose this has a good side. I can now declutter some of the coffee equipment I've been hanging on to. I won't be needing the copper pot for making Turkish coffee. I don't need multiple French Presses in case I break one (or two. See extra metal press part in photo as evidence of a recently broken glass pot.) I don't need extra manual grinders in case the main one gets so dull it won't grind coffee beans anymore.

I really only need to keep one manual grinder and one French Press (maybe two, in case of breakage) for my sweetie's occasional cup and for company. I'll also be donating my stash of coffee beans to some lucky friend here in town.

Are you hanging on to something you no longer use? Have you quit drinking but still have a collection of beer steins? No longer can sew because of arthritis but still have all the supplies? Gave up on competitive cycling but still have loads of spandex? Take the time this weekend to examine what equipment you are hanging on to that no longer serves a purpose in your life. Sell it, give it away, donate it to a charity, but don't hang on to useless clutter.

So who were these Mystery Guests?

Our guests were Beany, who blogs at One Size Fits All, and her husband. Yes, I got to meet an out-of-town blogger! It was just as much fun as meeting an in-town blogger but bittersweet in the knowledge that they were only passing through.


As wise travelers know, you should always bring a treat for the dog. Angel says, "Thanks! May I have another, please?"

It was incredibly affirming to meet and talk with other people who understand the challenges facing us (humans, the world) right now and are making changes in their lives and lifestyles in response. Even before they arrived yesterday, this realization hit home for me.

As I cleaned the bathroom in anticipation of their stay, I looked at the pot of cloth wipes and the bucket for used ones, and debated taking them out of the room. They didn't look nice or normal, certainly not what my mother would have had in the bathroom when guests were coming. But then I remembered, Beany has read my blog. She knows I do this stuff and she's not going to think I'm a nut for doing it. In fact, if I hide all the evidence of our low impact living, she may wonder if I'm just a fair-weather greenie.


So, I left them them. And we had a good laugh talking about it last night, sharing times when we have hidden these sorts of things from family and friends that don't get it. I did put labels on the containers just to clarify their purpose, though.

After they got settled in, we walked a mile to a nearby vegan restaurant where we all had a tasty and satisfying meal. The full moon made our flashlights barely necessary on the walk home. And then we sat and talked.

How often do people sit around and actually talk to each other anymore? No phones, no texting, no TV, no distractions. Just human interaction. And as I said, it was wonderful to talk with other folks on a similar quest for lighter living. We each may take different paths but we are all going in the same direction. I am very grateful our paths intersected for a brief moment in time and hope I will have the chance to meet other travelers along this path in the future.

Cleaning by Whirlwind

I have overnight guests coming today, possibly within the next couple of hours. I learned only on Monday that my mystery guests would be in town today. I did some cleaning yesterday, but more sorting really than cleaning. I learned last night that I can be stupid.

Oh, wait. That's incorrect. I already knew I could be stupid, but it's a lesson that never sticks.

Because I generally like to help out nice people, I offered my home when my guests inquired about hostels in Tucson. I'm looking forward to the visit and am sure we'll enjoy each others' company.

The problem? My house was D-I-R-T-Y! I guess I really let it go for the past few months. Since 6:30 am, I have been racing against the clock to get it presentable. It's finally there. Well, not quite. I still need to wash the dishes and pick up a couple of items. And I still need to get out the guest air bed for them. But, for all intents and purposes, my house looks pretty good.

I am still a mess as I have not showered or even sponged off today. I have a tendency to do this - work hard to clean the house and not leave time to clean myself. And here I am blogging about all this instead of showering! Am I crazy?!

Don't answer that.

I better go get cleaned up before they arrive. Yikes!

A Quick Bag Sort

With company coming for Thanksgiving, it's high time I straighten up and clean my house. Luckily, this ties in well with Operation Clean-Out. This morning, I'm working on the front entry room. It's not a foyer, but rather one big long room that was originally a carport on the side of the house.

The room is an awkward size with a low ceiling and is where we enter and leave the house. As a result, it becomes a catch-all for stuff we need when coming and going (dog leash, caps, daypacks, bike gear, bags for the store, donations for thrift stores, outgoing mail, etc.). It's also the residence of stuff that doesn't fit well in other places, like my stack of canning jars, the treadle sewing machine, and, unfortunately, some kitchen pots/pans overflow.

Are you getting the picture? I hope so because there's no way in you-know-where that I'm sharing a photo with you! On a big set of shelves, I noticed the shelf with my re-usable grocery bags was a mess. I would have shared that picture with you but I forgot to take it before pulling them all out.

Here are all my bags laid out on a six foot table also living in this room. I don't think I purchased any of these new. They've all been gifts, thrift store finds, or salvaged. (I found the green insulated cold bag laying in the middle of the road, brand new with the tag still on it. Just had to scrub off one tire mark and it was fine.)

Let me tell you what I've done to clean up the mess and make it more likely that we both remember to use these when running errands.

The store-specific bags (upper left) and the produce-size mesh bags (lower middle) are all in the vehicle now. To keep from becoming covered in dog fur, they are way in the back which is not terribly convenient.

The two roll-up bags (middle) are in the vehicle console as a visible and convenient reminder to grab them before going into a store.

The cloth bags, including the denim ones we received as a wedding gift, (upper right) are back on the shelf. I use these frequently when hauling stuff around at home or to other places.

The two nylon gear bags (lower right) are going away. The little rope straps don't work well and are uncomfortable when any weight it put in the bags.

The two burlap rice bags (lower left) are now storing onions and garlic in a cool closet. My sweetie just installed the hook for me with his hand drill.

Still left to sort through are the few paper and plastic grocery bags we end up with when all the above bags come into the house and don't make it back out to the vehicle. I'll probably donate most of the paper and plastic bags to my CSA for use by members who forget to bring their own bags. Hopefully my re-usable bags will help minimize the number of other bags that infiltrate our home.

Cluttered Computer Files

My computer is cluttered but I usually don't worry about it because it's not really visible clutter. The messy files do not collect dust. I do not trip over the scattered bookmarks as I walk through the office. The overly full email folders don't result in overdue bills.

This clutter does result in wasted time, however. There are plenty of instances when I know I've got something on the computer but have to search to find it. Sure, the search function will do the work for me, but I'd rather have it organized.

Well, actually that must not be true because I haven't done that. Every now and then I vow to clean it all up, and I do get a good start. Then I run out of steam, something else pressing comes up, and the project gets abandoned once again.

So, once again, I'm here to vow, "I will get the computer cleaned up!" Am I going to sit here for the next five days straight and go through every file, bookmark, and email? Ha! No way. But what I will do is tackle it, in an organized fashion, for half an hour a day. I'll start right now with my email folders.

I actually worked on these some a couple of weeks ago when I noticed my personal inbox contained thousands of emails dating back for months. Currently, it sits at 831 messages. My "Chile" folder has 954 messages, thanks to the wonderful Blogger feature of being able to subscribe to comments. By the end of this week, I pledge to pare both of these down to no more than a hundred each.

Just thinking about the Favorites folder and all my Word files is making my head hurt...

Holiday Harvest Cake

Amidst the decluttering and other work around here, I occasionally make time for baking, especially when the weather turns chilly. There were pumpkins to be cooked and I took care of one of them yesterday. I prefer to roast or steam them in the solar oven but clouds and high winds yesterday made that impossible. The pressure cooker is an energy-efficient second choice as it only takes 10 minutes (at pressure) to cook a chopped pumpkin. As a change of pace from my usual pumpkin muffins, I made a delicious cake with a rich frosting.

This recipe makes a dense, moist pumpkin spice cake that is vegan and very low in fat. The frosting, while also vegan, is very high in fat. To make a low-fat dessert, let the cake cool and dust with powdered sugar or drizzle a simple glaze over it. For a rich holiday version, enjoy it with the cooked frosting.


Chile's Holiday Harvest Cake

2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour (such as King Arthur's brand)
1 2/3 cups organic natural sugar (not bleached)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 cups pumpkin puree
2/3 cups flax seed egg substitute
2 tbs Earth Balance, softened
1/4 cup soymilk
1 tbs vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Oil and flour a 9x13" baking pan, or line with silicone baking mat.*
Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
In another bowl, whisk together wet ingredients until well-combined.
Add wet ingredients to dry, and mix just until combined. Do not overmix.**
Spoon into prepared pan and spread out evenly with spatula.
Bake for 50 minutes until cake tests done. (Knife comes out clean and top springs back when gently pressed with a fingertip.)
Remove from oven and let cool for 20 minutes.

If a baking mat was used, remove carefully with this method. Loosen the edges of the cake. Place a large baking sheet over the top of the pan. Holding the baking sheet and baking pan firmly together, invert and gently shake the cake loose. Peel off the baking mat. Place the 9x13" baking pan over the cake (which is still upside down on the baking sheet) and invert while holding the sheet and pan together. The cake will now be back in its pan.

Let cool before frosting.

*KitchenAid's solid silicone baking mats can be cut to custom fit your baking pans eliminating the need for oil and flour, or disposable parchment paper. Please note that the nonstick baking mats with visible fibers, such as Silpat, cannot be cut. Doing so would expose the fibers and be harmful to your health.
**Overmixing lowfat and fatfree batters yields tough baked goods. Not tough as in "Don't mess with me!" but rather not tender or nice to eat.




Chile's Vegan Pumpkin-Pecan Frosting with Coconut

This recipe takes the egg yolks out of traditional coconut-pecan frosting, and adds fullness and flavor with pumpkin.

1 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup Earth Balance
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup soymilk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups unsweetened coconut shreds

Toast pecans in a small saucepan over medium heat until fragrant. Stir constantly to prevent burning. Set aside in a bowl.
Melt Earth Balance in the saucepan. (Don't worry about a few nut crumbs.)
Add the brown sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes thick and sticky.
Remove from heat to stir in the remaining ingredients.
Return to the burner and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook for 8-9 minutes.
Let cool for two minutes and then spread over cooled cake.

Local Food for Dinner

Other than the seasonings, this dinner was completely local, compliments of my CSA. The potatoes, pressure-cooked with one Hakurei turnip, were mashed with nutritional yeast, salt and pepper, and soymilk. The steamed Chioggia beets are the the next sweetest variety after sugar beets. The beet and turnip greens were sauteed with onion and garlic. They were dressed with a mixture of hot chile vinegar, the syrup from making candied lemon peel, and salt and pepper.

Despite its simplicity, this was a very satisfying meal. It was also vegan, very low in fat, naturally full of nutrients, and high in fiber. Too bad there aren't any leftovers for tomorrow!

The beet colors are even more vibrant when raw. Raw slices could be used on snacking trays and would be nice for the holidays with a green spinach dip.

Challenges & Projects Update

For Rob's Make Do & Mend Challenge, I had one success and one failure. There was a loose rubber seal on the vehicle that has been in the way for ages. I secured that with some silicone. I don't remember where I saw this link to a video showing how to darn a sock in the past week, but it was very inspiring. My mistake was trying to do this with a sock whose entire heel was threadbare. It was far too much area to do, plus I used embroidery thread which proved too large. I did not, however, toss the socks. I cut them up for use as dusting mitts.

For Sharon's Competence Project, I pledged that instead of asking my sweetie to repair stuff, I would ask him to coach me through it. Well, the first project was one nasty smelly job: cleaning out the bathroom sink traps. I did both, though, and neither are leaking. Then I cleaned out the bathtub drain, too, since I was already dealing with slimy soap-scum hair clumps. Ick!

For my own Operation Clean-Out, I woke early this morning and decided to sort through the place settings: plates, bowls, mugs, and glasses. I only eliminated one mug but I took the opportunity to do some much needed cleaning in the kitchen cabinet. Then I noticed the lacy curtains were filthy from a summer of outside dusty air being pulled in through the kitchen window, so I washed them. Once they were down, the dust build-up on the window screen was evident as was the need to wash the windows. So, although it wasn't decluttering, I did get some cleaning done.

Have you been productive lately?

Kitchen Containers Cleaned Out

I have completed my first project for Operation Clean-Out. I dug out all of my empty containers for the kitchen to sort through. It is important to emphasize empty since there are many jars, canisters, and Rubbermaid containers currently in use that I did not sort through at all. I will address these individually as their contents are used up.


Here are the glass jars and canisters I had sitting around in a kitchen cabinet and in the living room. I really don't need this many, so I culled half of the small food jars right off the bat. Everybody has a zillion of these so I'm sorry to say they got tossed in the recycling bin. I'm not worried about getting rid of too many because there are plenty of jars in use in the refrigerator and pantry.

You can't see it in the photo, but the large half-gallon square jar towards the back left side has a little sticky on it that says "x 12". That's because I didn't want to drag all 12 jars out for the photo. I bought these on craigslist and am keeping these as they are a good size for dry goods. The plastic lids also work well for pickled and fermented foods that generally require a non-reactive lid. Which brings me to the two large pickle jars. I decided I really don't need to keep them so I'll be selling or giving them away on craigslist.

I like the hinge-top glass canisters since they seal well enough to keep bugs out. These all came from thrift stores but I've decided that I don't really need all the tall ones. I'll be selling two of those and keeping one for homemade spaghetti. The white canisters are good for items that need to be protected from light, such as replacement rubber seals for the hinge-top canisters, new gaskets and corks for liqueur bottles, and coffee beans (if I'm ever able to drink the brew again).



Speaking of liqueur bottles... here's my stash, all purchased secondhand (including one today at the church rummage sale). I'm really having fun making liqueurs so I kept most of these for storing (and giving away) the finished drinks. However, we decided that we don't want the amber bottle and shot glasses, so I hope to sell those. The local brewing store sells replacement gaskets for the bottles as well as corks in various sizes.



The plastic in my kitchen is mostly storage containers I've had for years. They are useful for storing leftovers but we try to avoid heating the food in them. I'm not getting rid of these but will not be purchasing any more. I'm not thrilled about using the plastic but I already have these, can't afford stainless steel replacements, and am too clumsy to use only glass for leftovers. (Example of clumsiness: the amber bottle above had six shot glasses before I got them down from the high cabinet...)

The bottles are good for storing water for emergencies or freezing for use in the ice chest.

The little containers in the front are from fast food places, mostly a couple of years old. I use these for taking small amounts of food to the CSA for others to sample, but they'd also be handy for crafts or paint. I don't need that many so I may see if the local gradeschool would like some.

My canning jars and lids were not up for elimination. They will definitely be used for food preservation, although I'm not crazy about the regular quart jars, as the wide-mouth ones seem much more convenient. Any canners want to convince me of the pros or cons of keeping the quart jars with the narrower mouths?

Clean-Out Project #1: Kitchen Containers

Review Dark Kitchen Corners from Cut the Crap challenge. (For more previously posted decluttering tips, click on CutTheCrap in the sidebar index.)

Today's project for me will be dealing with kitchen containers. My cabinets are too full so these containers now spill out into the living room. I'll clear off my six foot table and put all of them out at once so I can see what I have, decide what I really need, and select those to eliminate.

Elimination does not mean a trip to the garbage bin. It means donating to schools for craft projects, listing for free or sale of craigslist, giving to friends, or donating to a thrift store. The recycling bin is the very last choice, especially since these items still have plenty of use left in them...for someone else.

I'll post the results on this project later. Right now, we're getting ready to go to the huge annual church rummage sale. No, I don't intend to stock up on more kitchen containers, but I'm hopeful that I can find a glass blender to convert to pedal power.

Operation Clean-out Logo

I figured a photo of some of my recycling, books to trade, and stuff from the yard sale box would suffice for a logo for this project. (I am keeping the shovel...and the pumpkin that wore the bikini.) Leave a comment if you'd like to join me and the others already signed up!

If you want to post this logo on your sidebar, here's the code:

<a href="http://chilechews.blogspot.com/2008/11/decluttering-revisited.html"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2H3G4C5T6s0/SRSSNr8efpI/AAAAAAAABoA/8xFn6xwP4Vs/s200/Operation+clean-out+mini+logo.jpg" /></a>

• Copy the code above.
• In Blogger, go to your layout options, and click on Add a Gadget.
• Select Text.
• Click Edit Html
• Paste the code you copied in the body.
• Then click Rich Text to confirm the image shows up.
• Save.

When you view your blog, the sidebar image should now appear and have a hyperlink back to this blog.

Uber Amazing!

It's been a while since anyone has honored me with a blog award (that I know of), so it was a pleasant surprise to see my name listed over on Peak Oil Hausfrau's blog as she passed along this award. I've apparently got an "uber amazing blog"!

I find constant inspiration from her writing but it's considered a bit tacky to nominate the person who nominated you for an award so I suppose I'll pass this along to these folks:

Daharja at Cluttercut. I don't always agree with everything she has to say but I respect her passion and commitment to a better life.

Melinda at One Green Generation. Melinda is actively working hard to improve her community and helping teach others to improve their own lives and communities.

Lindy Loo at Yeah, That "Vegan" Shit. She proves that vegans are not sucking the joy out of life like some loud-mouthed famous chefs claim. I wished I lived closer so I could crash her parties...

Please remember that with your award come responsibilities. You are supposed to do the following (but I'm not going to hound you if you don't):

1. Put the award logo on your blog or post (Right click on award, save in your files, and upload.)


2. Nominate at least 1 blog that you consider to be Uber Amazing!


3. Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog.


4. Share the love and link to this post and to the person who gave you the award.