Wow! This week
has flown by ESPECIALLY since we didn’t publish our little Sunday blog until
Tuesday! And now we are even a day behind on this one!! So much to share, so
let’s ‘git all up in it’!
Dishes we
prepared this week that are to DIE for!!
First up, Cauliflower . These little cakes are so good, Big
Solid and The Elf have decided to keep a recipe’s worth in the ‘frig’ all the
time. And, it’s calorie friendly, so there’s little guilt involved. Here’s the
link to the recipe that we used although you can find several on line.
First we steamed
the cauliflower (I never quite understand what is meant by a ‘medium size
cauliflower’ so used the one we had) and processed it as directed. Not too much
because we certainly didn’t want a pile of mush on our hands.
Then we made
our flax egg mixture to ‘gel’ up in the refrigerator, got all our dry
ingredients whisked together in a large bowl. That would be all-purpose flour,
cornmeal, nutritional yeast or vegan Parmesan (we actually used both and split
the measurements equally between the two), garlic/onion powder, salt, pepper,
parsley (we did not have fresh on hand, so used dried flakes) and paprika. The
recipe states chili powder but allows paprika as a substitute. We LOVE
bittersweet smoked paprika, so used that in lieu of the chili. May give the
chili powder a go next time (which will be this week!).The Elf got ahead of her
picture takin’ time and almost forgot to take a picture of the dry
ingredients..so you see a ‘few’ cauliflower pieces as well.
We added the
flax egg mixture and the processed cauliflower and mixed it all up. And, though this recipe does not call for
onion, we added about a half of a white onion that was finely chopped. Got all these ingredients all combined and
then commenced to ‘makin’ cakes. What fun!!
Next up, the
fryin’ part. Now, we put more oil in our pan than we needed and will not make
that mistake again. But we got the oil good and hot so a nice crust would form
on the cakes. The trick is to NOT get too excited and turn them too soon. These
are cooking nicely.
Just one turn
is really all you need, so be patient, peek under one cake from time to time
until you have the crust and color you want, then turn.
Now for those
of you who want to cut as much fat/oil from your diet as possible, you might
try to use an oil spray, get the crusts done and bake in a 400 degree oven
until done. The Elf hasn’t tried that but did see it mentioned on the recipe
comment section. We also did NOT make the dipping sauce (veganaise and vegan
chili sauce…although we would have probably used sriracha).
We served our ‘cauliflower
cakes’ with a pan seared ‘chikun filet’ that was awesome!!
Next up, we
finally got around to making the Pumpkin Bars that we
posted on our page a few weeks ago. Y’all know that The Elf is NOT a fan of
pumpkin but these looked so good and so easy to prepare, we just had to try. We
were thrilled that they turned out so incredibly good…no oil at all and no
sugar. The recipe is called Paleo Pumpkin Bars and though The Elf is not into
the Paleo regimen, these are indeed yummy. We cut the servings a bit smaller
than the recipe called for so the calorie count per bar would be more to our
intake quota. Yes, The Elf counts calories religiously and tries to stay in the
vicinity of 1200. Remember that The Elf is only 5’3” and has a kinda small
frame, so more calories than that would result in The Elf becoming The
Gnomette.
And, we made
‘that monkey bread’ recipe again to take to a dinner party this past weekend.
We’ll post the link one more time since it is SO INCREDIBLY GOOD! And as we
were discussing calories just a bit ago, let it be known that this
dessert/bread is NOT for the calorie faint of heart. So, we make it and maybe
eat ONE ‘ball’ before passing it on. Vegan food like this is known as Vegan
Porn.
Here we have the nuts and bolts of preparation that we forgot the first
time. Flattened half-biscuits
Filled with
Tofutti cream cheese
With some
vegan chocolate chips added
Baked and
un-panned
For those of
you who live elsewhere (meaning OUTSIDE of MS), we’ve been in an extreme
drought situation for quite some time. No burnin’ of anything with over a foot
deficit in rainfall. Well, that’s come to a halt, thanks to Patricia. Today was
absolutely delightful…rain, wind and relief. We wish no one harm (EVER!) from
any severe weather but, boy HOWDY, did we need this! We have had winds in
excess of 40 MPH as well and lost power to some downed limbs this afternoon
BUT, we are back in ‘BIDNESS’.
And, as
promised last week, for our first return to our Julie et Julia wannabe with
Susan Voisin and FatFree Vegan Kitchen, we will be preparing a scrumptious
looking dish called Pasta Fagioli with
Cranberry Beans and Kale.
We also have
some other surprises up our Elfin sleeves for next week! So stay tuned!! We’ll
be on hand Saturday to support the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides
Against Breast Cancer as well as our terrific doc and his awesome wifey (Phillip
Ley and Linda Allen Ley). Maybe even some cool pics.
Til then, breathe
deep, laugh a lot, eat plants, love life and ‘DO EPIC’.
The Elf
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