Your Vegan Mom

Sweet Potato Tots

 

It's Valentine's Day next Tuesday, and that, of course, means that you need to know how to make sweet potato tots.  Can you think of a better way to show your love than with the delicate crunch of fried potato giving way to its sweet and creamy insides as it's dipped into a cool and smoky sauce - each nugget lovingly shaped between your fingers rather than shaken out of the freezer bag? Homemade tater tots?  That's love, man.

Party Snacks for Super Heroes

 

I took an informal poll recently of a few friends and family members gathered around the table.  The results surprised me.  So I'm putting the question to you a bit more guardedly.  My expectations are lowered, but still I have to ask -   

When you were a kid, were you pretty sure you could fly if you just ran fast enough or really, really tried?

Buttermilk Biscuits

Everybody's mama has a recipe for biscuits.  Here's mine.  Like I said on Tuesday, this one adds a bit of light whole wheat flour without making them taste at all good for you, plus there's much less fat than a lot of recipes out there.  So, this is now a semi-weekly treat rather than a semi-yearly one.  There is no better vehicle for good jam than a soft biscuit fresh from the oven.

Super Easy Homemade Baked Applesauce

I am surrounded by apples.  The preschool just completed their fall fundraiser apple sale and shelves and drawers and bowls are now spilling over with fragrant red and yellow fruit.

And I just finished reading The Orchard by Theresa Weir.  Have you read it?  It's both a memoir of her time living on an apple farm in Henderson County, Illinois in the seventies and eighties and a parable of the dangers of conventional farming.  She experiences firsthand the effects that pesticides and other farm chemicals have on the families whose livelihood is raising our food.  The book reads like chick lit - it's a quick, easy read - there's romance - but at the same time, it makes real what for many is just a vague idea - that there is a human cost to that piece of cheap flawless fruit in the grocery store that is far greater than what we are paying.  

And then my weekly produce box showed up, with more apples.  

So when I came across a recipe I wanted to try that called for applesauce, I thought, there is no flipping way that I am buying a jar of flipping applesauce. 

And I love Amelia Saltsman's technique for making it at home.  You cut the apples in half, roast them, and then scrape out the soft flesh.  It could not be easier.  She suggests you roast the apples with thyme and use a smidgen of calvados or cider to deglaze the pan, and that makes me want to throw a Hannukah party for grown-ups.  But my day to day applesauce needs are for the 2 to 5 year old set and their simple palates.  I did throw a few beautiful yellow pears into the mix that had recently fallen prey to a dangerous game of fridge jenga, and they added a nice floral sweetness to the sauce.  Also, it's important to note - if you use a red variety of apple, your sauce will blush a beautiful rosy pink.  That color, and the smell of roasting apples filling your house, just cannot be bought in a jar at Trader Joe's.  

Monster Milkshake

So, this is actually nothing but our current house smoothie - easy, action-packed nutrition all blended up into a creamy cold sweet treat, but that color makes it perfect for a Halloween breakfast or after school snack to fuel up for an evening of Trick or Treating.  Happy Halloween!  

Monster Milkshake
Makes: about 3 cups
Takes: about 5 minutes 

• 1 1/2 cups rice milk
• 1 seedless orange, peeled or 1/2 cup orange juice (depending on your blender)
• 1 tablespoon raw hemp seeds, or 1 teaspoon flax oil
• 2 leaves of kale, stems removed, or 1 big handful baby spinach
• 1 cup frozen pineapple chunks*
• 1 cup frozen mango chunks*

If you are using a high-power blender, blend the milk, orange, seeds and greens until you have a nice smooth brilliant green milk.  Add the frozen fruit and puree again until smooth.

If you are using a regular blender (and if you're not sure, then you're using a regular blender), blend the milk, orange juice, flax oil, greens, and frozen fruit until smooth.  

*Tip: For ease of measurement, 1 cup of fruit chunks will displace 1/2 cup of liquid, so add the pineapple until the smoothie level has increased by 1/2 cup, and then do the same with the mango.