The Call of the Elf

Well, here it is Tuesday again, and we are rockin’ the blog already. Lots to talk about and more to come! So sit back and enjoy…we sure hope the Powers That Be at Facebook will understand that this is not SPAM!! We aim to provide good information about living the plant-based life and share our own journey. We also love to feature people who are much more talented that we are at developing recipes, providing great information and opportunities for growth in plant-based eating.
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We are making a concerted elf-fort to EAT MORE SALADS! As a result, we prepared two versions of Susan Voisin’s (FatFree Vegan Kitchen) Balsamic Raisin Vinaigrette:  the regular recipe and one of her suggestions to spice it up a bit using spicy mustard. We know we've included the link before, but just in case, here it is:

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2012/03/spicy-apple-walnut-salad-with-fat-free-balsamic-raisin-dressing.html

For our mustard, we used another local talent’s mustard.

Lauren Rhoades has made quite an impact on the fermented foods community with the introduction of her business, “Sweet and Sauer”.

https://sweetandsauer.co/

This  mustard is ‘out of this world’ good and added a great flavor to Susan’s already good salad dressing! In fact, we are meeting Lauren at the local Farmer’s Market Saturday to pick up two quarts of her Preserved Lemons!! We’ll have a great time finding recipes to incorporate them!

In any event, we use a combination of greens and then pile on whatever we can find in the ‘frig that would add substance and nutrients to the salad. We had some green lentils, tomatoes (the great Salad Days hydroponics), topped with the last few slices of our Eggplant Bacon and the Mustardy dressing. It was delicious and didn’t weigh you down.

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So, remember a week or so back, we mentioned getting Kathy Hester’s cookbook, Vegan Cooking in your Air Fryer? Well, this week, we knuckled down and selected a recipe to try. We LOVE fried/crispy tofu, so we found her recipe titled “Crispy Tofu with Broccoli and Carrots”. We had the Tofu, we had the Broccoli, so we dove in. What we did NOT have was the carrots. Well, that’s not entirely true, we DID have some carrots but they were in no shape to be utilized in a recipe, so we tossed them in the compost and forged ahead. We found some Cremini mushrooms and Sweet Onion, so decided to go ahead with the recipe and substitute the ‘shrooms and onion. We prepared her stir-fry sauce (the book has the recipe for that as well and it is WELL WORTH MAKING) and got our tofu pressed. We have the BEST tofu press EVER!!

We, thankfully, had everything else, so got our groove on with cutting the Tofu into cubes and dusting with organic cornstarch. In fact, as is the Elf’s penchant, we read the directions wrong and over-dusted with cornstarch. Not to worry, though we DO know next time to use the instructed amount!

We got all our veggies cut up and ready to go as well,

 

so all we had to do was take a big gulp and fire up the Air Fryer (AF). Gosh! This machine reached the designated temp in like NOTHING FLAT and we tossed the ‘over-dusted’ Tofu cubes in the basket. We also had some Two Brooks Brown Basmati Rice (another great MS find!)

cooking on the stove top. After five minutes, we checked the Tofu and shook the basket to make sure all sides got an equal opportunity at crispiness, returned the basket to the AF, and cooked for another five minutes. Here are our results!

We knew the veggies would not take long to cook, so as soon as the Tofu was done, we started the Stir-Fry. We added the mushrooms and onion first with most of the Stir-Fry Sauce and let that cook a bit.

Then we added the broccoli along with the Tofu and the remainder of the Sauce (to which a bit more cornstarch had been added to thicken with the heat).

IT WAS SO GOOD!! We served it over the Brown Basmati and slurped it right up!!

This will be one of our go-to meals as it’s easy to prepare. All we need do is always have the ingredients on hand (carrots). We almost ALWAYS have fresh broccoli and mushrooms in the frig..so there you go!! What a great meal. Here is the link to Kathy’s website where you’ll find all kinds of great plant-based recipes, including AF specific as well as other cookery stuffs, e.g., Slow Cookers, InstaPots. We contacted Kathy via Facebook to ask a couple of questions; listen up, she is totally responsive to messages and we appreciate that oh so much!

http://healthyslowcooking.com/

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Ever since we made the Plant-based Chicken/Sausage Gumbo a few weeks back, Big Solid has been suggesting we do it again. Well, we whipped up some Andouille Sausages and they are now waiting for the opportunity! The hardest part of making gumbo (to Your Elf anyway) is making the roux. Remember that we do a dry roux to cut down on the amount of fat. Well, we found a recipe for a BAKED dry roux…still takes about the same amount of time but one is not chained to the stove stirring constantly.

http://catholicfoodie.com/how-to-make-a-dry-roux-in-the-oven

We selected this recipe (there are several) because it had a good picture to show the color but most of the ‘baked’ roux recipes say the same thing. We decided to half the recipe so if it DID NOT turn out well, we’d have only wasted a cup or so of flour. So, we preheated out oven to 400 degrees and added one cup of all-purpose (King Arthur) flour to our iron skillet.

After about 30 minutes, we pulled it from the oven, gave it a good stir and returned it.

We then began pulling it every 15 minutes until we got as close to the color pictured as possible. We could have probably gone another 10-15 minutes but we chickened out. If we don’t get the rich color like we did before, we’ll know to let it go a bit longer but for now, this will suffice.

From what we understand, you can put this in a glass jar until needed. THAT’S great too!!

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Last night, we were eager to get back into the AF! So, we grabbed a beautiful head of cauliflower, 'floretted' it, spritzed it with some EVOO, and threw it in the AF basket. Fifteen minutes later, we pulled the basked, shook it up and returned for another ten. And VOILA!! Crispy Cauliflower!

BUT, we didn’t stop there. We whipped out the Fire Walker “Running with the Reaper” Extra HOT Sauce and sprinkled it over the cauliflower. My goodness it was good!!

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While perusing the Farmer's Market after picking up our Preserved Lemons, we ran across THIS!

Fresh and locally grown Turmeric! Isn’t this GRAND!

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And JUST LIKE THAT—another week has come and gone! We hope you’ve enjoyed our little bloggery (and we hope Facebook doesn’t take this one down like last week).

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In the meantime, remember always to LOOK for the GOOD, be an EXAMPLE of the GOOD, and ACT for the GOOD as HARD as you can, in as MANY WAYS as you can, EVERY DAY that you can.

Your Elf

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Elf

Y’all, it seems like EVERY WEEK, we go through the same routine. We promise ours-elfs we will write on our little blog DAILY and we NEVER do. This results in a ‘day of s/elf-ridicule and reckoning’ known as Sunday morning when your Elf realizes another week has gone by and NOT A WORD has been written. Then, it’s gather ye wits while you may and write, write, write. Well, today is TUESDAY and we have gotten off to a start. Yesterday, we unpacked our new Air Fryer; the Phillips Air Fryer XL Avance.

It’s a big sucker so we’ll be cookin’ en masse. We haven’t yet tried it out but, hey, it’s still early. Monday, we got busy in the Kinky Elfery Kitchen..we made a batch of seitan and some ‘Eggplant Bacon. For those of you who may not be familiar with seitan, it’s what Chef Skye Michael Conroy calls a meat analog or a plant-based meat. We actually looked up the word ‘analog/analogue’ to understand the usage. The meaning as a noun is ‘a person or thing that is comparable to another’. So, rather than the term ‘fake meat’, it would seem to be a food stuff that is comparable to another food stuff…not the same but comparable. We don’t hear the nut or plant-based milks such as Almond, Soy, Cashew, Hemp (to name a few) referred to as ‘fake’ milk, so why not plant-based meats/meat analogs. In any event, seitan in a dough that is cooked by various means to evolve as sausages, cutlets, shreds, to name a few. We start with dry ingredients, primarily Vital Wheat Gluten and seasonings

to which is added a liquid mix of water and additional seasonings (we are particularly fond of Liquid Smoke).

The liquid is added to the dry, kneaded to form a dough, allowed to rest for a bit and then cut into smaller sections.

These are simmered in a seasoned broth for 90 minutes, being careful to simmer rather than boil.

The finished product really does resemble meat and, if cooked right, has the texture and smoky flavor of beef.

The ‘Eggplant Bacon’ was a bit of a surprise. We’ve made it before and were not particularly excited about it, primarily because it never did ‘crisp’ up in the oven. BUT, we tried it again with the same results, even though we baked it a bit longer. The real culprit was the lack of consistency in the thickness of the slices…some were really thin and some were thicker, so they did not cook evenly. Here they are ready to go into the oven. We had two pans,  but why show two when they look the same!

Each slice is brushed on both sides by a marinade/sauce of maple syrup, liquid smoke, EVOO, smoked paprika, and soy sauce. Here’s the link to the recipe we used, though there are several available.

http://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a55771/eggplant-bacon-recipe/

Though we were tempted to throw the finished product out, we decided to keep the slices and see what we could do with them. Sure enough, we thought we’d make a “EB’LT and see how it tasted. First we toasted a couple of slices of Flax Ezekiel Bread, spread some Just Mayo and topped with a slice of tomato. Then we added the EB (Eggplant Bacon)

covered with some lettuce,

and topped with another slice of toast. Well, y’all, this was absolutely delicious, as you can see!

Now, y’all, we KNOW full well that there is nothing in the world that tastes EXACTLY like bacon but this had just enough of the smokiness and crunch of bacon that we just broke out in a great big old smile! In fact, we have (we hope) solved the slicing issue when we ran across the long dormant and seldom thought of, slicing blades for our Mandoline. Now, we are ready with some really thin slicing blades to try it again. 

Tonight (Saturday), we are having a veganized version of Italian Sausages with Balsamic Glazed Onions and Red Grapes.

http://www.finecooking.com/recipe/sauteed-sausages-with-grapes-and-balsamic-glazed-onions

We made two batches of plant-based sausages yesterday (Friday) while Big Solid was out playin’ golf. Andouille and Italian, so tonight we are diving into the Italian sausages. We did not prepare the full recipe because we didn’t need that much food. But, here's the 'mise en place' with the red grapes, sliced onions, the WONDERFUL NEW SIGN compliments of of the Elf's Brother Jud and his Sweetie Suzanne, the sausages, and finally the broth/balsamic combo.

First, we browned the sausages in an iron skillet in a wee bit of EVOO

and then transferred them to a plate to rest up.

We then added a little more EVOO, about a cup of thinly sliced onion, and stirred them to a nice light brown.

Next up, we poured in one/fourth cup of The Gentle Chef’s Chikun Bouillon and the Balsamic Vinegar, scraping up any sausage bits and brown bits.

Our flame was reduced to a gentle simmer and we returned the sausages plus the grapes to the skillet,

it with the lid slightly open. This cooked gently until the sausages were thoroughly done. Since there is no animal in the sausages, the cooking time was a lot less, about fifteen minutes. We served it up and dove in. We also chose tonight to make some French Fries in our new Air Fryer.

We used our Mandoline with the quarter inch blades to get an even cut; soaked them in ice water for 30 minutes, then dried them well. We sprayed them with Olive Oil spray (just oil and nothing else) and threw them in the pre-heated machine! They were WAY crispy like Big Solid likes but next time, we’ll cut the ‘fryin’ time a bit. Life is good! Tomorrow will be a very busy day in the Kinky Elfery Kitchen as we are preparing some food to share…which we love to do!

As we leave you with our usual sign-off, we'd like to invite you to the 'new' Elf FB page titled The Movie Elf. We are having fun reviewing movies, especially the Oscar nominees!

We also have Big Solid to thank for today's blog title! Big Solid and the Elf celebrated their 33rd anniversary Friday! Here's a picture of that glorious day 33 years ago. We both squalled like babies and the high temperature was 8 degrees.

So, remember always to LOOK for the GOOD, be an EXAMPLE of the GOOD, and ACT for the GOOD as HARD as you can, in as MANY WAYS as you can, EVERY DAY that you can. Your Elf

Fly By the Seat of Your Elf

This has been another week of lacklusterness in the Kinky Elfery Kitchen; BUT, we have reasons. Remember the saga of the kitchen make-over that went on and on until the original contractor just disappeared, leaving much unfinished. Well, we found a most worthy contractor who has re-energized our contractor beliefs and has brought such expertise as to think of amazing things to make the kitchen even better!! Add that to the bitterly cold weather and SNOW we had for almost the entire week!! Y’all we just aren’t used to such weather…usually, when it snows down South, it’s gone in an hour or two or AT LEAST by the next day. We had snow on the ground for 3 or 4 days! Here’s a picture of Mail Order Annie as it was snowing last Tuesday morning

and the identical view the next day!

So, that calls for cooking stuff that is comfort food and hunkerin’ down with a good book or bingeing on a TV series (such as ‘Vikings’). We did fix two really large batches of comfort soup and chili. You KNOW we have fallen in love with the Spinach and Mushroom Soup with Cinnamon, Coriander, and Cumin as shown in the Blog of 1/7/18.

http://the-elf-in-the-kitchen.blogspot.com/2018/01/happiness-is-warm-elf.html

With each preparation, we’ve tweaked the recipe a little bit, this time adding a bit more Allspice and Coriander and less pureeing with the hand-held blender.

We made enough to share with friends. Next up, we decided to make some chili off the top of our little Elfin head. No recipe, just experimentation. We had cooked a LOT of black lentils to have on hand for a quick rice/lentil lunch. Well, we cooked so many, we HAD to think of another use. So, we sautéed some onion and bell pepper, added some Boca Crumbles

until they were nicely browned and seasoned with Chipotle Chili powder and regular Chili powder. Into that we added our black lentils…probably about two cups. Then we added a couple of cans of Muir Glen Fire-Roasted Tomatoes

along with about a cup and a half of Chikun Bouillon. We let that simmer for a while and tweaked the seasoning with some pink salt and fresh ground black pepper. The final product turned our really quite delicious and with an outside high temperature of 24, hit the spot for warmth and spiciness.

THEN, we finally had to face down our fear of making The Gentle Chef's Chikun Shreds...if you remember, the last couple of times we made them, we almost blew up the house with the exploding dough. So, we only made ONE batch of dough and instead of processing it for 60 seconds to get that taffy-like consistency, we processed for 30 seconds. The texture was still approaching 'taffiness' but not the gooeyesqueness of taffy. Nonetheless, we TRIPLE-WRAPPED in heavy duty foil (like we did before) but were extra careful to leave MORE room for expansion. We also altered our wrapping technique to assure a better seal at each end. THEN, as one more precaution, we TIED IT UP! SEE!

It was the longest two hours of your Elf's life! We watched that oven like a damn hawk and even took the package out of the oven at the 90 minute mark to make sure there was still room for expansion...there was, so it went back in. We actually made the two hours with a great sigh of relief. After cooling for a bit, we unwrapped it to see what it looked like... and we were pleased!

The cooked 'chikun' had to refrigerate overnight to allow it to texturize appropriately. We did lose a bit of the 'chiken-like' texture but the taste is great. We have nerve up now to try it again soon and will press our luck with a longer processing time for the dough. If you recall also from last week, we had purchased an Air Fryer. We tried some potatoes

which we had sliced too thickly and did not really crisp up. Later in the week we 'air-fried' some broccoli and Brussels Sprouts.We added them to some Red Lentil Pasta along with some Gardein chicken. We also sautéed some home made seitan

and threw that in as well. Seasoned with EVOO and some fresh lemon juice, it was a nice little spur of the moment meal.

As for the Air Fryer, it was returned after some additional researching for a different brand. We are waiting for it to arrive Monday (tomorrow). We also bought Kathy Hesters' new AF cookbook and have found several recipes to try.

She also has some great commentary on the use of an AF as well as things to avoid. So you can rest assured that you will be seeing some things from the world of Air Frying! And finally, we always eat Thai at least once a week, usually on the weekend at a local Thai restaurant (Fusion). They are very vegan friendly and are aware of preparing dishes without fish sauce or other 'hidden' animal ingredients or seasonings. Plus the food is delicious! This is your Elf's favorite, crispy Tofu with vegetables.

So, again and for always, LOOK for the GOOD, be an EXAMPLE of the GOOD, and ACT for the GOOD as HARD as you can, in as MANY WAYS as you can, EVERY DAY that you can. Your Elf