Your Vegan Mom

Pancake Layer Cake

 

You guys, the broccoli we talked about?  It's not ready yet.  It cooks a long time.* 

In the meantime, let's talk about birthdays.  In our house, the special day starts with a pancake layer cake. Ideally the number of pancakes in your layer cake corresponds to your age, but this morning when we made one for Grandma, we rounded down to three.  In addition to the pancakes, you need something to hold them all together.  

In Desmond's cake from last fall (seven layers!), peanut butter syrup holds together oatmeal chocolate chip pancakes.  Excellent choice, son.

And last summer, Felix's pumpkin pancakes were held together by yogurt frosting (soy yogurt + raw cashews + maple syrup -> Blend until smooth.)

For Grandma, we made multigrain pancakes with layers of lightly sweetened yogurt and berries.  She looked like a little girl on her birthday as the teetering tower of pancakes topped with a candle came her way.  

To turn our basic pancake recipe multigrain, I used a cup of whole spelt flour, 1/4 cup of cornmeal, 1/2 cup of all purpose, and 1 cup of oats in place of the 2 cups of flour called for.  Pancakes are the perfect place to use up whatever odds and ends you have.  Leftover rice?  Throw it in the pancakes. Overestimated how many pecans you needed to toast?  You get it. 

I love birthdays and pancakes and watching my boys snuggled up against their grandma at breakfast.

It's been a good day.  Happy Birthday, Mom.

*(Also, I'm not 100% happy with the recipe yet.  It's coming.)  

The Vegan Quesadilla

Tomato, Avocado, and Sweet Onion Quesadilla

A long time ago, before any of us had kids, Paul and I went to Mexico City for twelve hours with our friend, Levi.  He worked for an airline at the time and did extragavagantly spontaneous things like take his friends to Mexico City for twelve hours.

We arrived just before dawn and wandered along the cobblestone streets of the old quarter, stumbling upon churches and coffee and murals and narrow arcades and grand piazzas.  As the day got hot, we stopped in the blue-tarp shade of a quesadilla vendor at an open air market.  She was patting out masa next to a big burnished hot iron grill surrounded by dozens of quesadilla fillings.  I remember squash blossoms and mushrooms and rajas and potatoes and some sort of greens, but there were more.  We pulled up stools and worked our way through every possible vegetable combination.  

Coconut Biscuits

The boys and I have been hunting for signs of spring for the last few weeks.  We've found pink blossoms on trees, irises peeking up in a neighbor's front yard,  the first purple pom poms on the ceanothus we planted two years ago, strawberries (!) at the farmers market, and gaudy advertisements for plastic bunnies and easter dresses.

Let's Start with Breakfast

I have a new vow to care for myself as well as I do my children.  Are you with me?  Let's start with breakfast.

At first I intended to replace my morning cafe au lait with a big ol' green smoothie, the sort that I usually just make for the boys. That plan lasted less than a morning.  A very short hungry and cranky morning.  

My new breakfast plan is:

1. water
2. (guilt-free) cafe au lait* (Heat half a mug of soy milk.  Top with strong coffee.)
3. winter toast** (avocado + sea salt + thinly sliced radishes)
4. green smoothie

* That doesn't mean sugar-free or low-fat or anything like that.  I do like a little sugar in it.  And it is naturally and inadvertently low in fat.  It just means that I am choosing not to allow myself to feel bad about having a little coffee.  

**As opposed to summer toast which is walnut parm smashed into vegenaise and topped with sweet and juicy tomato slices.  Mmm, it's getting close.    

Tropical Green Smoothie

Hey, this recipe is for a super blender.  (I use a vitamix, generously given to me by my in-laws Bud and Cecile.  Cecile has been in and out of the hospital, mostly in, all month, which is what has got me thinking about mom health and also the not writing.  She's really cool. If you have a minute, she could use your thoughts or prayers.)  If you don't have a super blender (or super in-laws) you should sub 1/2 cup juice for the tangerines, a spoonful of nut or seed butter for the chia seeds and a handful of baby spinach for the kale.  All of that will blend up more easily in a less-than-super blender.
 

makes: 4 cups (or enough for 1 grown-up and 2 kid servings)
takes: 5 minutes 

• 2 cups rice milk
• 3 seedless tangerines, peeled
• 1 teaspoon chia seeds
• 3 big leaves of kale, rinsed
• 1 heaping cup of frozen mango
• 1 heaping cup of frozen pineapple or peaches

Blend the milk, tangerines, seeds, and kale until smooth.  Add enough frozen fruit to bring the liquid up to almost 4 cups in the blender and blend again until thick and frosty.

 

Chilaquiles

There are few things better than the smell of corn tortillas toasting.  Now, throw in a sunny day and a few hours of quiet while Paul takes the boys to run errands and I am set.  

Chilaquiles
This might be the easiest thing you ever make.  Throw in a handful of corn kernels and some shredded kale if you want to really flesh this out.  Ooh, and top with some sliced avocado while you're at it.  I, however, tend to make chilaquiles when either provisions, time, or energy are lacking, and so they most often contain these super minimal ingredients.

Makes: 2 large servings
Takes: about 10 minutes

• 4 corn tortillas (all the better if they're slightly stale)
• 1 tablespoon mild cooking oil
• 14 ounces firm tofu 
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (not totally essential, but solidly recommended)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup salsa 

Cut the tortillas in half, stack them and slice into thin strips, about 1/4 inch wide.  Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Toast the tortillas until nicely browned, crunchy, and smelling divine.  Toss them around a couple times to toast somewhat evenly - some still chewy bits are just fine.

Slide them onto a plate, and crumble the tofu into the pan.  Stir in the nutritional yeast, salt, and salsa. Let simmer for about 5 - 10 minutes to absorb the flavor and cook off some of the liquid.

Stir the crunchy tortilla strips into the saucy tofu and serve.