Watermelon salad

 2C cubed watermelon

2C heirloom tomatoes

1 medium bulb of fennel with tops

2 green onions

1 cucumber

1 lime, zested and juiced

salt & pepper to taste

Balsamic syrup for topping

Chop watermelon, tomatoes, fennel, onions, cucumber and mix. Add salt & pepper. Chop lemon zest and add with juice. Mix and refrigerate. Serve cold topped with balsamic syrup.

Nashville Hot Chicken sauce

 1T Cayenne

2T Brown sugar

4T Smoked paprika

1T Garlic powder

1t salt

1/2t black pepper

Optional 1t crushed red pepper

Blintzes with Blueberry Compote

Blintzes with Blueberry Compote 

Makes 20-24 blintzes

Filling

2 blocks of tofu

1 - 8 oz container of vegan cream cheese

2 t vanilla

1/2 C sugar

Mix and set aside. It should be sweet like whipped cream. Add sugar more sugar if needed.

Compote Topping

3 lb bag of frozen blueberries

1/2 C sugar

1T cornstarch

2T water

Heat blueberries and sugar on stove until boiling. Mix cornstarch and water and add to blueberries until it thickens. Add more sugar if needed.

Crepes

3C white flour

2T sugar

1t Baking Powder

2C Plant milk

2 C of water to start

1/2 - 1 C of water to add until you get the right consistency

1/2C of melted butter

1t vanilla

Pinch of salt

Whisk or blend so there are no lumps. The batter should be thin. Not thick like pancake batter. It should be like cream. Slightly thicker than soy milk.

Heat nonstick pan on medium heat. Between 3 and 4 on the main stove burner. Lightly oil the pan every 2-3 pancakes. Use a 1/3 measuring cup and scoop a bit less than 1/3 C. Pour into pan and roll and tilt the pan to cover the bottom of the plan completely with a very thin layer. Let cook for a full 90 seconds. The edges of the crepe will pull away from the pan and be slightly crispy. Remove crepe with a rubber spatula. Repeat. This recipe makes about 20 crepes with room for a few mistakes. You'll probably wreck the first two pancakes while the pan heats up.

To assemble, take one pancake and put about 2T of filling on the pancake two inches from the edge closest to you. Fold and tuck the edge of the pancake over the filling. Then fold the sides in. Then roll the pancake and filling forward until you have your blintz. You should be able to roll it over twice. 

Serve blintzes with blueberry compote on top. Enjoy!

Mississippi Hot Tamales

Makes about 36 tamales

 Sauce

• 12 C of veggie broth
• 2 t cayenne
• 3 T paprika
• 1.5T cumin
• 1 T oregano
• 7 T cornstarch
• No salt if using bouillon

Boil on stove to thicken before adding to tamale pot.

Filling

• 2 containers of dry oyster mushrooms or about 12-16 oz of your favorite plant-based meat
• 2T onion powder
• 1T garlice powder
• 1/4 C of chili powder
• 1T cumin
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Masa

• 4 C masa
• 4 t baking powder
• Around 6 cups of veggie broth

Rehydrate corn husks. Spread masa and add filling and roll. Many Mississippi places tie their tamales with string in sets of 3. Fill pot with tamales and the pour sauce over. Boil tamales in sauce for about an hour with the lid on. 

Serve with white bread, sweet coleslaw and Frank's hot sauce. Don't forget to drink the sauce when you are done. 

Vegan Pecan Pralines

 Pecan Pralines

3 C granulated sugar

3 C light brown sugar

1/4 t salt

6 T agave or corn syrup

2 C evaporated soy milk

1/4C butter

2 t vanilla, rum or bourbon

3 C pecans (toasted)

• Butter the sides of a heavy saucepan. Place sugar, salt, agave, milk and butter in the pot at medium heat. Pot needs to be at least 2X as big as the amount of ingredients. Otherwise, it will boil over.
• Boil and whisk constantly until it reaches 236 degrees. It takes about 25 minutes.
• Turn off heat and set aside for 10 minutes.
• Stir in pecans and vanilla.
• Immediately, spoon onto parchment or wax paper while it is still hot. You want it to be shiny and spread out. If it cools too much, it won't have a shine and will look like poop!

Soleil Sourdough Recipe

 Soleil Sourdough Recipe

Starter 100g (fed with equal weight flour and water)

Bread Flour 450g

WW flour 65g

Water 350g

Salt 14g

1. Feed your starter - 10:30am

2. Wait 3.5 hours

3. Mix flour and water in a bowl. Cover. @2:00pm

4. Wait 20 minutes

5. Add starter and fold in. @2:20pm

6. Wait 10 minutes

7. Add salt and fold in. @2:30pm

8. Stretch and fold every 30 minutes. 3:00, 3:30, 4:00, 4:30 

9. Bulk rise for 3 hours - fold at 5:30, 6:30 

10. Shape loaf and bench rest for 30 minutes. 7:30

11. Shape loaf again and place in floured banneton. 8:00pm

12. Wait overnight 12 hours in fridge

13. Pre-heat oven with pizza stone and large pot for 1 hour. 500 degrees.

14. Invert dough onto pan. Score and bake with pot covering the dough. 500 degrees for 20 minutes with pot, 15 minutes with pot removed, 20 minutes door cracked open and oven off.

Techniques

Stretch and Fold

Shaping Your Loaf

Scoring

Ninja-Level Scoring

BBQ Base

Feremented in brine:


2 toasted anchos
2 toasted guajillos
3 cloves of garlic

Peppers are split, de-seeded and toasted in a cast iron skillet. Garlic is toasted with the skins on and de-skinned before fermenting.

All these are chopped rough and placed in the vessel with 10-12 fresh red chilis.

Use instead of tomato paste or ketchup for BBQ sauce.

Marinated tofu

Baked tofu marinated in soy sauce

30 minutes in oven
375 convect

Flip tofu at 20 minutes

Summer Watermelon and tri-ripened tomato Salsa

1 C of watermelon (small cubes)
1 C garden tomatoes chopped (I had one red, one orange and one green tomato)
1T chopped onion
1-2 T cilantro
One lime, juiced
pinch of salt

Optional: 2T of garden peppers. I added a few small garden peppers I had. Add hot ones if you like hot. Add sweet ones if you don't want it hot. Either works great.

Just chop and mix all the ingredients together. No cooking necessary.

Vegan Beyond Beef Tartare

Because there's not a recipe on the internet for this yet.

1 raw Beyond Beef patty
1t dijon mustard
1T shallot
1t cornichon
1t capers
1T parsley
3 shake of Tabasco hot sauce
3 shakes of vegan Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Pepper


Dice the shallot, cornichon, capers and parsely. Mix all the ingredients. Plate and serve with toast points. Serves 2 as an appetizer. 

Vegan Italian Beef Broth

http://www.brandnewvegan.com/recipes/vegan-italian-beef

The Broth

• 1/2 onion chopped
• 8 oz mushrooms white
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 3 cups Vegetable Broth low sodium variety
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup of any Stout Beer
• 4 Tbls Soy Sauce low sodium
• 2 Tbls Tomato Paste
• 2 Tbls Pepperocini Peppers and juice
• 2 tsp Vegan Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 Tbls Nutritional Yeast
• 2 tsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Basil
• 1 tsp Fennel
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Thyme
• 1/2 tsp Ground Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
• 1/4 tsp Ground Ginger

Korean Daikon Pickle (Danmuji)

http://www.marecipes.com/danmuji/

Measurement conversions:

2 daikon radishes
1.5 Cups Water
1.5 Cups Rice vinegar
1 Cup Sugar
1T Salt
1t Turmeric
20 black peppercorns
3 bay leaves

Jackfruit BBQ

You need "Young Green Jackfruit in Brine." Do not buy jackfruit in syrup.

Cut out the core of each piece (the tips of the triangles)
Shred the rest by hand. Get about 1 can per person for sandwiches.

Cook shredded jackfruit in 1/2 C of broth until broth is gone. Put all the jackfruit on an oiled cookie sheet. Cook for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees until it starts to brown.

Mix browned jackfruit with warm sauce and serve with sweet coleslaw on top.

If you have no broth, I use powdered onion, garlic, salt and paprika with water.

Kenny's BBQ Sauce Clone

After some research and testing, here is a pretty darn close replica of the BBQ sauce at the Kenny's Ribs & Chicken restaurants in Chicago.  Kenny's sauce in the store is made from a lot of processed ingredients like corn syrup and preservatives. Here's a more fresh version.

6 oz. can of tomato paste
1 C water
1/2 C distilled vinegar
Juice from 1/2 lemon
3T sugar
3T brown sugar
2 t molasses
1 t salt
1 t mustard powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t garlic powder

To make it hot, add 1/2 t of cayenne.

Mix and simmer on stove for 10 minutes.

Homemade BBQ Sauce

6 dashes of liquid smoke (Hickory)
3 T brown sugar
3T sugar
1/2 T tamarind pulp
1 C water
1 6oz can tomato paste
1/4 C Worcestershire sauce (vegan)
1t salt
1/2 C cider vinegar
1 t garlic powder
2t A1 steak sauce

For hot:
1 t fresh ground black pepper
1/2 t cayenne

Simmer on stove for 15 minutes. Add heat after cooking.

Lice Treatment

It happens with kids. Good info so I don't forget...

Cetaphil treatment to get rid of live lice
Put Cetaphil in dry hair
Blow dry
Wait 8 hours and wash out

Then with wet hair and conditioner, use the Terminator comb on every inch of hair. This will get rid of any nits. Repeat daily until no more nits are found.

Vegan Parmesean Cheese

1 C raw cashews
1/4 C nutritional yeast
1 t salt
1 t garlic powder

Blend in food processor until it has a parm-like consistency.

GF Blintzes Pancakes

This GF recipe worked particularly well. It is adapted from the Joy of Vegan Baking.

3t En-R-G egg replacer
4T water
1C non-dairy milk
3/4 C Bob's Red Mill all-purpose GF flour
1t sugar
pinch of salt

Mix water and egg replacer. Whip for 2 minutes until frothy. Add all other ingredients. Whip until smooth. It should be the consistency of "thin cream." Thicker than soy milk. Thinner than pancake batter. Pour 1/4c onto hot pan and tilt pan to thin out the batter in a large circle shape. Makes 8-10 pancakes.

Fill with blintz filling stuff and top with fruit compote.

DIY Deodorant

http://wellnessmama.com/1523/natural-deodorant/

Soul Sauce

This sauce was developed in the Soul Kitchen at the Hostel in the Forest with Jeff Rieger and Jonah, all three of us "hot heads." Enjoy!  :-)

1 medium tomato, roughly chopped
3/4 t salt
1 T maple syrup
1.5 t cider vinegar
2 fresh jalapenos
2 chipotle peppers, reconstituted
2 japones peppers, reconstituted
2 New Mexico chilis, reconstituted (California peppers work too)
1 large clove of garlic

Reconstitute the peppers in hot water for 15 minutes.  Blend all ingredients together.  Serve.