Oh no. I forgot the arms!

We were on the East Coast for a week, enjoying visits with friends and family in Philly. (My last post was written before we left home and was published automatically.) We don't visit our hometown often enough, visits always seem too short, and it's hard to leave loved ones behind when we return to the PNW. We got back Monday night and are settling back into the rain and gloom routine.

The food highlight of our trip was dinner at Vedge, which I'll post about soon — still have to organize the photos and figure out what dishes they are. But today my post is about our family dinner on Dec. 25. We don't celebrate Christmas, so it wasn't a super festive holiday meal so to speak, but I thought it was pretty tasty. The appetizer, shown above, was my take on one of the spectacular dishes from Vedge, sweet potato paté, which I tried to re-create. I'll post a recipe when I write about our Vedge dining experience.

River, from Wing it Vegan, and I, sometimes have a synchronicity thing going on where we comment on each others posts at the exact same time, so I was only mildly surprised to see that we both planned almost the same dinner. Of course, her version was much more creative and clever than mine, but still.

I made beet loaf shepherd's pie and she made beet burgers in muffin tins topped with snowmen — same idea, with a little more creativity on her part. But, she inspired me to make Miss E's dinner a little bit cuter than the rest of ours — I baked her loaf in a mini tart pan and formed her mashed potatoes into a snowperson of sorts, thinking maybe she would actually be motivated to eat it. (You should check River's post to see what the snowmen should really look like!)

Miss E was quite elated with her dinner, though she didn't eat the burger part, only the potatoes. I used olive tips for eyes, a carrot for the nose, a pickle piece for the scarf and sun-dried tomatoes for the mouth and buttons. But, I forgot the arms, which River had made from parsley.

Just for the record, beets aren't the primary ingredient of the loaf, but lend a red color and delicious flavor; it's mostly beans and millet. I served it with cashew gravy made from a handful of cashews blended to creamy smoothness with the leftover bean-cooking liquid, plus sun-dried tomatoes, and assorted other ingredients. It was simmered with sautéed sliced mushrooms, and I thought it was delicious. (Because I forgot to take photos at the dinner, the shepherd's pie pics with the excepti9on of the snowman, are actually leftovers from the next day.)

For dessert I made the  oat/almond cookies that I've grown very fond of, left the chocolate chips out, pressed them as thin as possible and made them into sandwich cookies. Before flattening them, I rolled the chilled dough into same-size balls and chilled them in the fridge for 10 minutes to make them easier to flatten. I flattened the balls with my fingers.

I added the chocolate the lazy way. When the cookies were done, I removed the pan from the oven, and quickly paired the cookies for size. (I had tried to make them all the same so this was pretty easy.) Then I turned one of each pair over and covered the flat bottom of the over-turned cookie with chocolate chips. When all the cookie bottoms were covered, I carefully placed the cookie sheet back into the oven for a minute. When the minute was up, I removed the cookie sheet, covered each cookie with its mate, pressed them together with a little twist, and voila! Sandwich cookies. (The chips don't look melted when they come out of the oven, but they are.) After the cookies cool, the chocolate hardens.

Here is Miss E modeling the tutu her Philadelphia cousin Rebecca made for her and sent back with us. Miss E loves tutus. Becca also made her various hair ornaments. (Becca sells the tutus and bows, so if anyone is interested, just let me know!)

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

I love leftovers

My husband will almost never eat leftovers. Nor will he put them into something he's cooking. I, on the other hand, love leftovers, and will eat them straight up or combine them with other ingredients into something new. It makes me sad to find a small container of moldy leftover food in the back of the refrigerator knowing it could have been turned into something delicious. Here are a few uses to which I've recently put leftovers. Above you can see some leftover Thai coconut curry that was combined with a big bunch of bok choy to make a delicious side dish.

In the bowl, toasted sunflower seeds, green onions, parsley, and shredded carrots were added to leftover rice. A dressing of lemon-tahini made it into a satisfying lunch.

Could this be taco salad? A big mound of mixed greens topped with tortilla chips, leftover beans, smoked provalone (from Artisan Vegan Cheese), and salsa made a great lunch.

Are you wondering what to do with the last slice of your beet loaf? You could toast some corn tortillas on the gas burner until they are crisp (try not to burn them!), spread on the beet loaf, the last of the smoked provalone, and top it with sriracha if you happen to be out of salsa. Tasty tostadas will be your reward. These would be even better with shredded lettuce and olives, but I was clearing out the fridge before going out of town and using up what we had. Still tasted great!

I made beet loaf?

You know how recipes seem to cycle through the blogs, appearing almost simultaneously on the same day. One minute all the blogs have banana bread/banana muffins/banana cupcakes, etc., and the next they're all about peanut stew/peanut soup/peanut pie. Then, every so often, there's a run of beet burgers/beet loaf/beet balls. I've found myself contributing to the surfeit of many such confluences — but never to the ones involving beets. I don't love beets, and I don't hate them. I will eat one or two slices of baked, boiled or pickled beets if they are being served, but I almost never prepare them myself. I like borscht; I like raw beets as part of fresh juice; I like raw grated beets, but sadly, most beets that we bring into the house thinking we might use them, end up in the compost.

Last week I was home alone, and thought it would be a good idea to make a main-dish loaf of some sort that I could eat from all week — just heat and add vegetables — and not have to cook much. As I planned what would go into it, I remembered the beets languishing in the fridge, and decided I   might as well make a beet loaf once and for all. I didn't look up any recipes* because I was afraid that seeing a long list of ingredients that I had to find and measure would make me change my mind, and besides, I had my own list of ingredients that needed to be used up. For example, I had the end of an expired bag of TruRoots sprouted beans, some rather old millet, and the last five remaining mushrooms from a box on the verge of being tossed, as well as a giant jar of mushroom powder that I try to add to as many things as possible. Because I didn't use a recipe, and didn't accurately measure most of the ingredients, you should consider my recipe a guide. The loaf was so good I really couldn't believe it, and I made so much there was plenty left when my husband got home from his travels — he loved it, too. It could easily go into sandwiches or into tacos or nachos or under mashed potatoes for shepherd's pie. Or you could freeze the leftovers for a night when you don't have time to cook. Yesterday I formed some of the leftovers into a burger and sautéed it in a little oil — delicious with sriracha. You could use any beans you want — lentils would be good, and probably any grain, though I recommend trying millet for its taste and texture.

Beet loaf (guidelines) About 12 servings

• 1 cup dry TruRoots sprouted beans, cooked and drained (or lentils or other beans) 
• 1 cup dry millet cooked in 2 cups water for 20 minutes, then allowed to sit, covered for at least 20 minutes, fluffed with a fork
• 1 large onion, chopped 
• 5 large mushrooms, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and grated
• 1 smallish beet, peeled and grated
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 piece fresh ginger root, chopped,
• 1 Rapunzel no salt added bouillon cube, mashed into hot beans
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (more if you really like liquid smoke)
• hemp seeds (opt.)
• sunflower seeds (opt. but adds a nice crunch)
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon mushroom powder (opt.)
• salt and pepper to taste
• herbs and spices as desired (I used crushed red pepper)

1. Sauté onion until almost soft. Add mushrooms and cook until soft. Add carrots and beets and cook until wilted.
2. In a food processor, place beans, bouillon, cocoa, garlic and ginger and buzz until well-combined.
3. Add half the millet and half the sautéed veggies and buzz until well-combined but not puréed.
4. Place the bean mixture into a large bowl with the remaining millet and veggies and mix. 
5. Mix in ketchup, liquid smoke, hemp seeds (if using), sunflower seeds (if using), mushroom powder (if using), salt, pepper, herbs and spices to taste.
6. Press into an oiled 10" x 13" baking dish. Glaze the top with a thin layer of ketchup.
7. Bake at 350˚F for 45 minutes. Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Serve with gravy.

* If I were going to look for recipes, I'd search here and here and also here. Try searching for beet burgers as well as beet loaf. I know I've seen recipes on all three blogs, though I've never been in the right mood to make note of them because, you know, they contained beets. Well, I was wrong. Yes, I was.