This has been a long winter. I can’t imagine living in Nova Scotia, Canada – where folks are still expecting several more months of bitter cold temps and snow. It’s a beautiful place, and the flora impressed me mightily – but they truthfully have only about 4 months of warmer weather (certainly not ever hot like here in north Georgia) and then it is cold again. Compared to them, I have it super easy. I mean really.

Still, to my mind it has been a long winter. It blew in cold and fast in October this year, whereas in previous years it would be mid-December and my friends and I would be wondering when we’d be needing to think about running the heat during the day.

Since it came so early, and was so cold so quickly, I didn’t manage to get my Fall tasks done. Trimming back the perennials after the first few freezes, raking leaves, spreading mulch, and getting pansies in the ground have all had to slowly get done on a few warmer days during the winter months, and I am still very far behind before I can start getting things prepared for Spring.

Winter does have its place, and I truly appreciate the chance to work on projects indoors that never have a snowball’s chance of getting done in the summer, when I am busy growing, weeding, picking and preserving all that wonderful food – or simply enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. This winter I have learned how to crochet, and have successfully made a scarf for a friend, and am partway through my first afghan. I’ve also found time to do some of my usual “nesting” as we slowly settle into normalcy around this house. I’ve painted a reminder, Arts and Crafts style, over the doorway in our dining room that reminds us to live in the moment. I’ve already found having this visual reminder to enjoy every moment of our lives very useful, as my husband and I both tend to get caught up in the million things that need doing, and forget to take a moment to appreciate what is beautiful all around us.

I love the warm coziness of my living room, with a nice little fire crackling in our woodstove and the teakettle steaming away on top, and I love curling up in a chair and reading a book. Not that I’ve managed to do that very much this winter, but it has been nice.

However, I am tired of it being winter. I miss seeing green outside. Indoor plants do help, and some of them have improved mightily with the attention they receive when they are my only babies to care for. Yet, I am tired of being cooped up, tired of being cold, a little tired of carrying wood indoors to feed the stove, and tending said stove several times a day.

My body is ready for fresh fruits and veggies, for sunshine and that gardening-earned tan, ready to turn soil and grow nice little plants. I’m ready for birdsongs to wake me in the early hours, to not dread getting out of the warm covers, for sunny days. I even am ready to pull a few weeds. How’s that for getting desperate?

Soon. It will all happen soon…

Italian Rice and Beans

If I recall correctly, this came from The Daily Green, which posts a new vegetarian meal nearly every day. This is good, simple food - I’ve come to discover the simplest recipes really are best.

1 cup brown rice; 15 oz navy beans, cooked; 1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, sliced in strips; 1/2 cup pine nuts; 2 large handfuls spinach; 2 tsp balsalmic vinegar; 1/2 tsp salt; 4 tsp herbs of choice

When rice is cooked, heat6 thbs olive oil on a pan over medium heat. Add herbs, tomatoes, pine nuts. When nuts start to turn brown, add beans. Toss getly, keep beans whole. Add salt and vinegar and stir in gently. Turn heat to low. Place spinach in one layer on top of beans, and pile steaming rice on top of the spinach, leave until the spinach softens, mix gently and serve. Add vegan “cheese” of choice (optional).

Potato-Leek Soup

This comes from an Italian cookbook of mine. I tend to cut back on the water/broth and make it much thicker - but then, I’m not a soupy person, I like stew.

1tbsp olive oil; 2 leeks, white and green parts sliced into thin wheels; 2 cups chopped onion; 2 cloves garlic; 2 large potatoes, diced; 4 cups veggie broth; 2-3 tsp fresh rosemary leaves; 1 cup barley

Heat a large soup pot over medium heat and sautee leeks and onion for 5 minutes. Add garlic, sautee another minute. Add potatoes, barley, veggie stock - reduce heat, simmer 30 minutes. Serve.

Today I’m going to offer you a medley of side dishes. These work with various dishes, fill corners on leftovers and come in handy on potlucks.

Italian Style Zucchini

This is so easy and so quick - sometimes I just have it for lunch by itself. It came from an old neighbor friend of mine, published in a worn old book she let us borrow but that I never wrote down the name of. I’ve put it on top of brown rice and enjoyed every bite.

1 onion, chopped; 1 # zucchini, sliced; 1 cup tomatoes, sliced/chopped; olive oil; breadcrumbs (optional).

Sautee onions in a skillet over medium heat in olive oil until golden. Add zucchini and cook for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, cover and cook 5 minutes. Serve.

Pilafian’s Pilaf

This is actually a recipe of my mother’s. She serves it with shrimp or salmon, I tend to bring it to potlucks - and it is absolutely an incredible dish!

4 tbsp “butter”; 1 handful fine eggless noodles; 1 clove garlic, minced; 1/2 cup chopped onion; 1/2 tsp salt; 1 cup sliced button mushrooms; 1/2 tsp dried dill weed; 1 cup white rice (uncooked); 2 cups veggie broth; 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

Melt butter in 2 qt saucepan over medium heat. Stir in noodles and let them soften (don’t let them burn!). Add garlic, onion, mushrooms and dill, sautee. Stir in rice and sautee until it takes on a transluscent appearance.

Meanwhile, heat broth and salt to boiling in another pan. Pour over rice mixture, cover pan tightly and simmer 25-30 minutes. DO NOT PEEK!

Remove pan from heat, toss pilaf lightly, then cover pan, placing a dry cloth between the pan and lid to absorb moisture. Let stand 10 minutes, add pine nuts. Makes 6 servings.

Colcannon

An adaptation of an old Irish favorite. I’ve frequently had just this for lunch and been one happy camper.

4 cups chopped potatoes; 4 cloves minced garlic; 3 tbs “butter”; 4 cups chopped kale; 1tbs soy sauce; 2-4 tbs soy milk

Boil potatoes in a pot of salted water for 20 minutes (until mashable). Add butter to garlic in the bottom of pot. Add kale and toss well. Add soy sauce, cook over medium heat. Drain and mash the potatoes, adding soymilk (I add a little “butter” too) until smooth and creamy. Stir in kale, salt and pepper to taste.

Pizza!

Who doesn’t like pizza? Oh nevermind, I know a few people out there don’t care for it… but around here, we enjoy the Italian pie about once every 2 weeks.

I had to discover a good whole-wheat pizza crust recipe.  You just can’t buy a better pizza crust than one made at home from fresh ingredients!

A little tip I found from a friend: add dried herbs to the sugar before adding the warm water - it will help them rehydrate and add more flavor to your pizza crust.

As for the “cheese” we have found that the rice cheese doesn’t melt super well, but it does have great flavor. The soy based veggie cheese does very well at melting - so if you like do a mixture of the two. We have also been known to dab a little vegan cream cheese or sour cream in with our toppings - super yummy stuff!

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

1tsp sugar; 1.5 cup warm water (110 degrees); 1 tbsp yeast; 1 thsp olive oil; 2 cups Soft White flour; 1.5 cups Hard Red flour; 1tsp salt

In large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast on top, let stand 10 minutes until foamy.

Stir in olive oil and salt, and the 2 cups flour. Add the Hard Red wheat flour a little at a time until dough comes together. Knead on flourered surface 10 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Oil your pizza pan, and flatten the dough on the pan, let rise 30 min. Prebake crust 10 minutes, then add your sauce and favorite toppings.

Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes.

In the middle of winter, there really is something to be said for comfort food. This is soooo good with “buttered” bread on the side:

White Bean Soup

1 cup dried cannelli beans (soak overnight, drain, set aside); 2 cups water; 4 tbs olive oil; 1 large onion, chopped; 2 cloves garlic, crushed; 1 stalk celery, chopped; 1 sprig parsley, rosemary and thyme; 1 bay leaf; 1/4 tsp pepper; 4 cups veggie stock; juice of 1/2 lemon; salt to taste.

Sautee onion in deep-bottom pot over medium heat for five minutes. Add the garlic and sautee for another minute. Ass beans, celery, parsley, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf and pepper, stir in veggie stockand bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer for 1.5 hours.

Vegetarian Enchilada Bake

My hubby and I love Mexican food. It’s next to impossible to have the real thing and still be vegan, but I’ve worked at coming up with a recipe that meets the occasional “I want Mexican dinner” craving. If I get that bumper crop of tomatoes this year, I’ll be making lots of fresh salsa to make this even yummier.

I’m honestly not certain where this particular recipe came from. If I’ve “borrowed” it from somewhere, please speak up so I can offer the proper credit, ok?

120z burger crumbles; 1pkt taco seasoning; 2 15oz cans enchilada sauce; 18 corn tortillas (recipe to make your own below); 2 15-oz cans pinto beans, drained; 2 green onions, chopped; 2 cups vegan cheddar cheese, shredded; 1 14oz can diced green chilies; 2 cups corn chips, crushed

Preheat oven to 375. In small bowl mix burger crumbles and taco seasoning.

Coat 9×13 pan with oil

In layers, spread enchilada sauce, 6 tortillas, 2 cans pinto beans, handful of green onion, 1/3 of shredded “cheese”, half the can of green chilies, more enchilada sauce, 6 more tortillas, all the crumbles, 1/3 of the cheese, remaining chilies, more enchilada sauce, final 6 tortillas, more sauce and the remainder of the cheese. Cover in foil and bake 30 minutes.

Remove foil, top with crushed chips, bake another 15-30 minutes until bubbly and browned.

Tortillas

3 cups flour; 2 tsp baking powder; 1tsp salt; 4-6 tsp “butter”; ~1 1/4 cups water

Mix dry ingredients together. Add “butter” and a little warm water at a time until dough is soft, not sticky. Divide into 12 small rolls. Roll out on floured surface until roughly 8″ round.

Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Cook each side of each tortilla for a few seconds, then flip. They will have little brown speckles over them when they are done.

Spanish Rice

This rounds out the meal some if you have a bigger family or are expecting company.

2tbsp veggie oil; 1 cup rice (uncooked); 1 medium onion, chopped; 2 1/2 cups water; 1 1/2 tsp salt; 3/4 tsp chili powder; 8 oz tomato sauce.

Sautee rice and onion in oil for 5 minutes in pot or deep skillet. Stir in remaining ingredients. Boil, reduce heat, cover/simmer for 30 minutes. Serve.

How much variety do I usually get for breakfast, in reality? Well, honestly like everyone else, I get into a rut. I’ll have oatmeal every morning for a week and not even add blueberries to it. Many times I just slather some butter and jam on a few slices of bread, warm up water for tea and call that it. Every morning during the warm months of the year I make fruit smoothies, changing only the fruits that go in it.  How’s that for exciting? Weekends I’ll make something fancier like baking powder buscuits or pancakes, which I’ve posted all those recipes previously.

Truthfully speaking, I rush breakfast except on weekends. I just need to eat and move on with the day. I’m well aware that the first meal of the day should be big: “breakfast like a king, dinner like a prince, supper like a pauper” and all that. Still, I can’t seem to break into that. Breakfast never really excites me.

You can always add a fruit bowl to your oatmeal or cereal in the morning, variety being the spice of life and all that. However, from here on, I’m nearly out of breakfast recipes. There’s always another fruit bread or muffin, like pumpkin or cranberry bread in the Fall, or apple muffins even peach pie for breakfast.

I love pie for breakfast. Actually, nearly any dessert makes a great breakfast in my opinion. Chocolate cake is maybe not ideally health-foodie, but think about it this way: far better to ingest those calories and the caffeine in the morning when you have time to work it off during the day, right?

At any rate, I want to focus more on dinner recipes from here on - reason being, lunch is usually leftovers for me - I very rarely need to cook anything fresh, and how many people actually have access to a kitchen during the weekday?

Without further ado, today’s recipe:

Creamy Fettuccine

This wont fool anyone expecting a heavy cheese dinner. Oh no, no sir, it will not. But it will still satisfy cravings for a creamy pasta dish.

1 tsp “butter”; 1 small yellow onion, chopped; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1/2 cup finely chopped mushrooms; 6 oz silk tofu, 1tbs white wine, 1 1/2 cups soymilk; 1/2 cup finely ground raw cashews; 1/2 tsp salt; dash nutmeg, 2 tsp minced parsley (fresh) for garnish, 1# fettuchine

Heat butter in skillet over medium heat - add onion and garlic and sautee for 5-7 minutes. Stir in wine and mushrooms.

Blend tofu, cashews. onion mixture, soy milk, salt, nutmeg in a food processor until smooth, transfer back to pan and heat on low. Serve over fettuccine.

Mushroom Stroganoff

Quinoa Pilaf

French Toast

Sometimes you can substitute an overripe banana for eggs - this works very well for cake recipes and in this case, French toast.

2-3 bananas, mashed; 3/4 cup soymilk; 1 tsp cinnamon; 1tsp vanilla; vegan “butter”

Stir bananas, soymilk cinnamon and vanilla until mixed very well (you can use a blender or food processor). Dip bread slices into the mixture, coating both sides. Fry in “butter” on a medium-hot skillet until golden brown.

I like to spread warm applesauce with cinnamon on top of mine, rather than use syrup.

Lunch: Quinoa Pilaf

If quinoa (pron. “keen-wa” is a new one for you, you are in for a treat. It’s sorta like rice, only not. This recipe atually comes off the box, is light and still filling, and pretty quick to cook up.

6 cups cooked quinoa (according to directions on box) 1/2 cup carrot, diced; 1/2 cup green onions, diced; 1/2 cup celery, diced; 2 cloves garlic, crushed; 1/4 tsp oregano; 1/4 cup olive oil; salt to taste

Sautee veggies in oil until onion is clear, then stir in oregano. Add to cooked, hot quinoa.

Mushroom Stroganoff

I have worked, and worked, and worked to make this recipe great. It’s finally at a state where I am confident enough of it to serve it for company, that’s saying a lot.

1# egg-free pasta; 1/2 cup chopped onion; 1tbsp oil; 1# “burger crumbles” (optional, I use 2 portobella mushrooms instead); 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1/4 tsp pepper; 1/8 tsp salt; 1/2 carton tofuitti “sour cream” and 3/4 cup white wine; 1# button mushrooms, sliced

Cook pasta according to directions. In skillet over medium heat, cook onion until golden. Add all other ingredients save wine and sour cream. Once reduced, add wine, sautee without lid until absorbed. Mix in the sour cream, once warm, serve on top of pasta.

Mmm bread… everyone needs bread when on a vegan mealplan. Something has to make the fruit and veggies stick to your ribs until the next meal!

Besides, there are so many yummy things you can do with bread. Smear fresh garlic and vegan butter on it for garlic toast, or toast it for breakfast, or make French toast out of it. You can pile hot food on toast, or make sandwiches.

I worked a long, long time at coming up with a bread recipe that I really like, is reliable, and makes 3 loaves at a time. You can always freeze one, or give it to a neighbor and spread the yummy goodness around. However, my recipe is not fully vegan. It has honey in it - you may use molasses or sugar instead, though you will have to play around to get the sweetness just right.

When it comes to making bread, the secret is in the rising and kneading. You must, MUST knead the dough for 8-10 minutes. I was lazy for a while and stopped when the dough felt close enough - unfortunately, you can’t get away with that every time. Also  be sure your yeast is fresh. There is nothing more disappointing than taking flat, heavy loaves of bread out of the oven rather than big, poofy yummy goodness.

A word on wheat flour: I grind my own, and I often experiment with what works best. Most of the time I use half Hard Red wheat and half Soft White, but the best is where I have used 3 cups of hard red, 2 1/2 cups Spelt, and 1/4 cup ground flaxseed, with the remainder being all Soft White wheat. For the recipe below, I’ll rely more heavily on Soft White and Hard Red. If you cannot get anything but store-bought, use more whole wheat flour than the white cake flour.

Also, whole wheat dough should be a little sticky - not so sticky that you cannot work it without getting it caked on your hands, but not so dry it doesn’t try to adhere to anything, either.

Whole Wheat Bread (3 loaves)

3c warm water (110 degrees), 4 1/2 tsp yeast, 1/2 cup honey, 5 cups Soft White flour, 3tbs “butter” or olive oil, 1tbs salt, 3 1/2 cups Hard Red, more olive oil or butter for spreading on top after baking

In large bowl, mix water, yeast and honey. Add the 5 cups of Soft White, stir, and set 30 minutes until big and bubbly. Mix in 3 thbs of butter/olive oil, salt, and add 2 cups Hard Red. Keep adding flour until you can work it on a floured surface. Knead 8-10 minutes, adding flour as neccessary.

Place dough ball in a greased bowl, cover with a wet linen towel (warm water) and let rise in a warm place to double (in winter, I set mine in the microwave, since I don’t use it for anything else). This takes 40-60 minutes.

Punch dough down, divide into 3 sections. flatten each section on floured surface to about 9×12″ and roll up tightly. Set into greased 9×5 bread pans and again let rise until the dough has topped the pans by 1″

Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and let cool on racks, brush tops of warm loaves with melted “butter” or olive oil.

Now you have bread - now what?

First, enjoy a warm slice of it smothered with butter about 10 minutes after you took it out of the oven. Warm bread with “butter” is one of the most wonderful pleasures of life.

Breakfast: hot toast, with butter and your favorite jam of course

Lunch: Tomato and “cream cheese” sandwiches

Dinner: Teriaki Tofu Burgers & Sweet Potato Fries

Tomato and Cream Cheese Sandwiches (stolen from www.veganyumyum.com)

2 tomatoes, sliced 1/4″ thick, pinch salt, 1tbs olive oil, splash balsalmic vinegar, tofitti’s “cream cheese” and 4-5 basil leaves

On medium heat, sautee tomato slices in olive oil. Add salt. Once starting to soften, add the vinegar and turn off heat. Spread cream cheese on bread, layer chopped basil on top, and the tomatoes over that. You may grill the sandwiches, but I’m too impatient.

Teriyaki Tofu Burgers

1# grated carrots; 1 medium onion, minced; 4 garlic cloves, minced; 1pkg firm tofu, drained and diced; 2 cups breadcrumbs; 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce, 1# mushrooms, 1/4 tsp pepper, water & oil for shaping

In oiled skillet, add carrots, garlic, onion and sautee about 4 minutes. Add tofu and sautee for about 1 minute. Transfer to a medium bowl, stir in bread crumbs, teriyaki sauce and pepper. Add water/oil as needed to shape into 8 patties.

Fry patties on both sides until crisp and brown, about 3 minutes each side.

Sweet Potato Fries

2 medium sweet potatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt to taste.

Clean and slice potatoes lengthwise about 1/2″ thick. Toss on baking sheet with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, turning once about halfway through.