Vegan Quiche

The flowers bloom on the trees and the snow falls. The weather is doing weird things lately in Western North Carolina, and i’m sure in other parts of the east coast. Emotions are flowing with the weather, having extreme ups and downs.

Throwing all the food together, improv

“Drink your food, chew your water”

Forest Living

The forest has been my home recently. And it has been blissful. I haven’t been posting much because there are no cell phones allowed in the common areas, but I’ve been able to sneak a couple of pictures. Here are some cast iron brownies! Frank taught me how to make them and I made a vegan version next to him. The vegan butter was melted with sugar, a banana was added for egg replacer, then the basic ingredients like flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, with some sea salt inside and on top

Sauerkraut Making Adventures And The Art Of Getting Things Done

Sometimes we forget to make time for the things that are important to us. I feel that living through intentions can help us get out of this stagnant energy. There doesn’t always need to be an intention to everything, sometimes I cook just to experiment and play, and that’s usually why I can only capture a few recipes. Allowing ourselves time to experiment is also important because it lets us experience something with out all the pressure of it going somewhere. Yet if we don’t have intention, we lack that left brain energy that we need. Balance is important, with anything in life. We need time to equally play and be creative, yet the energy to create with purpose and intention.

There is so much around us that we don’t recognize. So many resources. I have all these places planned to go to around the world, yet there are so many places I haven’t seen within my state or even my city. I think this can stand true for many  people.

This is the Orlando Public Library, where I’m currently typing right now. This is my first time working in this library.

We can find inspiration even in our own town, we don’t need to go to India to find it. Setting foot in a new space can help us find inspiration, but even setting foot into a new space in our mind. What I’m getting to is intention creates a new space for us to live through. Setting intentions for the day lets us live through new lenses and manifest things more easily.

Saurkraut 

1 cabbage

2 tbsp salt

2 beets

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garlic

1/4 onion

lil thumb of ginger

Shred up your cabbage, beets and ginger! You can also use a knife, depending on personal preference. At this time you might want to chop up your onion aswell.

Mix in your 2 tbsp salt first, the salt gets out the liquid out of the saurkraut. You’ll have to massage the cabbage for a bit until you get a good amount of liquid out.

Now mix in 2 beets, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp garlic  , 1/4 onion ,lil thumb of ginger

Let your sauerkraut sit in a mason jar outside of refrigeration so it can ferment for a week – a month. I ended up letting this one ferment for about 3 and a half weeks.

Thank you to Jeff for sharing space and vegetables from his food forest for this project, and also for these great pictures 🙂

Jeff is associated with orlando permaculture which ties in the practices of sustainability and community building activities like these! For more information .. orlandopermaculture.org

Peanut Butter Tempeh + Plantain Fries

Peanut butter Tempeh  + Plantain Fries 

Estimated Time: 1  hour

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 1

For Tempeh

1/2 packet tempeh

1/2 tbsp peanut butter

1.5 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp coconut nectar

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp turmeric

For Fries

1 plantain

2 tbsp olive oil

Desired amount of salt(I used less than 1/4 tsp)

Potential Replacements

You can sub soy sauce for coconut aminos if staying away from soy, and tamari if gluten free.

Garlic powder instead of onion powder

Agave or maple syrup instead of coconut nectar

This is some home made tempeh, so sizes may vary if using store bought. I estimated this is about equivalent to a whole packet of tempeh. We will be using half, but you’re welcome to multiply recipe by two and use all of it. 

We will need a container that will fit the cut up tempeh while it marinates. 

Cut tempeh into evenly sized pieces

Here are the ingredients we will be marinating the tempeh in

Mix 1/2 tbsp peanut butter, 1.5 tbsp soy sauce, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp onion powder and 1 tbsp of coconut nectar in the bowl we will use for marinating

Now add tempeh and marinate for atleast 30 minutes, preheat oven to 350 so it can be ready when the tempeh is done.

Place tempeh on a sprayed baking sheet. I use aluminum because it is easy clean up.

If making the plantain fries,

1. First microwave plantain for about 2 minutes in order to get the plantain fries crispy quicker, and also easier to peel.

2. Cut down the plantain till the end, just tracing the skin in order to peel open.

3. I cut the plantain in half and then proceeded to cut into fry like shapes.

4. After, I put the plantain into the same bowl where the tempeh marinated in order for it to soak up some of the flavor from the tempeh sauce. Then I added in the olive oil and salt. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until satisfactory. 

I paired my tempeh and plantain fries with lentils, another alternative would be rice or just on its own! 

Simple Tempeh and Rice Dish

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Serves: 2 

Tempeh

1 tsp liquid smoke

1 tsp maple syrup

2 tbsp barbecue sauce

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1/2 packet or 4 oz of tempeh

Rest Of Ingredients

1/2 cup of rice

1/2 onion

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 collard green and a few pieces of okinawa spinach(or your choice of greens)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 an avocado (or 1 whole for two people)

_____________________________________________________

Cut 1/2 packet of tempeh into cubed pieces

Mix together 1 tsp liquid smoke,1 tsp maple syrup,2 tbsp barbecue sauce and 1 tbsp nutritional yeast into bowl and add tempeh. Marinate for 30 minutes or more. I let mine marinate over night.

Dice an onion and sauté with 1 tbsp of olive oil for about a minute and then add 1 tsp turmeric and 1/2 tsp garlic powder. Sauté for a few minutes.

Add in 1/2 cup of rice and about 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, let simmer and cover.

5 minutes in, add in the tempeh and add another 1/4 cup of water. Let simmer for about 10 minutes.

Chop up the collard greens and okinawa spinach(or whatever greens you chose)

Now add in your greens and let simmer for another 5 minutes, when finished add 1/4 tsp of salt.

Spoon out center of an avocado to form a bowl, and add in your rice mixture.

Finished!