Showing posts with label hosting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hosting. Show all posts

Monday, January 23, 2012

Pot Pie... made from scratch and vegan, too!

This is an easy pot pie recipe that is almost naturally vegan. I made this last Sunday when we had dinner company. It's a crowd pleaser, and is pretty much fool proof. Use common sense though. I tend not to measure the flour and almond milk ratio, so basically try and make a one pan white sauce and you'll be okay.

First the crust:
2 cups flour
2/3 cups vegetable shortening
6 tablespoons of water
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 325.

Cut the shortening into the flour and salt. Once the dough is the consistency of pea sized crumbs, add the water and mix into a dough ball.

Roll onto a lightly floured surface and with a floured rolling pin flatten till it is wide enough to cover the bottom of your pie pan and lay flat across the top too. Roll up around the rolling pin in order to lay across the pie pan. Cut off excess dough and reform into a ball, lightly coat with olive oil and wrap in plastic. Set the ball aside for now.

Bake the shell for 15 minutes, then set aside.

Filling:

Dice one baking potato, 3 carrots, 2 celery stalks.
1/2 cup frozen peas
4 garlic cloves diced
1 1/2 to 2 cups veggie broth
1 can cannellini beans
Olive oil or vegan margarine
Almond milk
1/2 cup flour approximately
Summer savory herbs (or thyme, sage, marjoram)
Salt and pepper

Sauté fresh diced veggies and garlic in olive oil or vegan margarine with herbs. Add veggie broth, bring to a boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes. Add more broth if needed. Potatoes should be just tender. Add peas.

Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Add flour a bit at a time until the veggies are coated and liquid is absorbed. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let cook in the pan till the flour begins to brown, then add almond milk slowly, stirring to evenly distribute. Keep adding the almond milk until the filling is about the consistency of a thick stew. Add in the cannellini beans and remove from heat.

Pour the filling into the pre-baked pie shell. Roll out the remainder of the dough to cover the top and pinch down with fingers.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until you see the crust turn a golden brown.

Eat and be merry, once it cools, of course!

*Also, we have have eaten this pot pie before taking a photo of the finished product. Oops.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Soliloquy for the Turkeys

Cage free. You pay more for this.
248 million
The number of turkeys raised in the United States in 2011. That’s up 2 percent from the number raised during 2010. The turkeys produced in 2010 together weighed 7.11 billion pounds and were valued at $4.37 billion. (So sayeth the U.S. Census Bureau)

There are 312 million people in America so that means that each person in America gets over 22 pounds of turkey per year, and quite a hearty portion devoured during this one specific holiday.

The typical age of a slaughtered turkey is five months.
(Thank you awkwardfamilyphotos.com!)
Vegan that I am, I neither touched nor purchased a turkey. I did, however, allow two turkeys to be served in my house on two different occasions over the long holiday weekend. Judge as you will, I am not attempting to say what I did is the right thing for fellow vegans to do or not. It was my decision, and it was a decision I chose to make based in part on the idea of hosting all friends and family under one roof.

During the holiday weekend I also refrained from commenting on the abhorrent conditions our fellow feathered earthlings lived in before their mass slaughter. My friends and my family have heard these diatribes before. I made a conscious decision to not be the grumpy hostess. If you want to see the conditions the turkeys lived in for yourself, click here, by all means!


While I frolic in the land of city dwelling urban folk, accustomed to varying degrees of dietary restrictions and preferences, to many of my family "Vegan" is still considered a curse word that must incessantly be mispronounced in a passive-aggressive attempt to lash out against the lifestyle choice their "crazy hippie" neice/grand-daughter/cousin has made. The first few years of being vegan during the holidays were self-righteous attempts to have them see the error on their carnivorous ways. Once I chilled out, I started to notice a difference. No matter how many times I attempted to explain factory farming to members of my family, it took self-discovery for the reality to click. This brings up great conversations from these newly enlightend family memebers, " Did you know store bought chickens are fed antibotics to prevent them from getting sick while they are kept in a one-foot square area!?" (so cute!). I am pretty sure I am not alone when I say my family is stubborn. Perhaps yours is too?

Thanksgiving 2011 went off without a hitch. everyone loved my vegan lentil loaf, mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, green bean casserole, and pumpkin tiramasu. In fact, besides the turkey, everything else that was brought was made vegan! Sweet potato casserole, stuffing, fresh bread, salad... all specially made vegan (Bwahaha! my plan is working!).


seating for twenty-three
 I wish we could make the connection between things like the annual Presedential turkey pardon, and the idea of over 200 million unpardoned lives lost for one holiday. It is not about the turkey, it's about the loved ones we surround ourselves with. It's about sharing, remebering how lucky we all are, making new memories and sending out positive energy to those who we care about and who we don't see often enough. Really, what the hell does a turkey have to do with that?

Thursday, July 28, 2011

How to Host a Vegan Baby Shower for Non-Vegans

VEGAN BABY SHOWER
OMG!!! Have a baby and you too, can have a pile-o-presents!


Apparently having babies is the new hip thing... well, for others. I'm bucking the trend, but it was bound to happen that I would eventually be tasked to throw one of these suckers.

A few things to note:
1. I am on a tight budget
2. 23 ladies not including myself would be in attendance
3. Ladies, while fine with eating lighter fare, will descend like locusts upon said lighter fare!

The Menu:

  • Limeade
  • Cupcakes that resemble Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster
  • Salsa Verde
  • Guacamole and tortilla chips
  • Fruit Salad
  • Israeli Salad
  • Hummus and Fresh toasted pita chips

Teehee!

Total Grocery Store Bill: $70 or about $3 per person

Tips:

I did a do it yourself limeade station. Really this was because I forgot that I didn't have a punch bowl! But also, when you run out of ginger ale, you can fill the limeade pitcher with water and add more lime slices for refreshing lime water... only thing that would be better would be cucumber water!

Pita chips can be pricey. Buy the actual pita bread and bake in the over for 15 minutes at about 275 degrees.
Mutant cupcake!!!! Notice how none of the other cupcakes judge? mutant cupcake is just one of the crew.

I made three types of cupcakes from my new favorite cookbook, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Vanilla, Chocolate and Lemon. Chocolate goes first. Always. i used the recipe for vegan butter cream icing, and added dry food coloring rather than the liquid to keep the texture such that it could be piped properly.
These cupcakes are like lemmings... blindly following each other to their doom...

The mom-to-be's only request was for my guacamole. it is pretty darned amazing. true. So, i figured I'll go ahead and post that recipe here:

Jen's Addictively Good Guacamole:
(Also so easy, it's crazy)
1 avocado
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1 teaspoon salt

smush all ingredients together, till thoroughly mashed up.

I know. So crazy easy!

Last tip: Have someone else do the games. I do the cooking and the hosting... let another person do that part while you are refilling the guac!