Beets me.

Tuesday's challenge: Use at least two of the following: walnuts, beets, and bean sprouts.

Beets. Ugh. It had to be beets. Luckily, this turned out delicious.

With Gardein meatloaf, which is also yum.

Pomegranate Glazed Roasted Vegetables with Walnuts
makes four servings 

1 medium sized golden beet (I used one a little larger than a baseball)
10-15 brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved lengthwise
1-2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp pomegranate glaze (I got mine at Trader Joe's. If not handy, pomegranate molasses or balsamic vinegar would work)
2 tsp dried thyme
1/3 cup  toasted walnuts
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat oven to 400°. Scrub the beet, but don't peel it. Rub a little olive oil on it, sprinkle with some of the thyme, wrap in foil and roast for an hour. Let cool, then peel the beet, and dice it. While the beet is cooling, toss the sprouts with the olive oil until just lightly coated, but not swimming in it. Roast in a shallow pan for 20 minutes, then toss lightly with the garlic, thyme, and the diced beet. Drizzle the glaze over the vegetables. Roast for another 10-15 minutes. Stir in the walnuts (that you just toasted yourself, riiiight?) Salt and pepper to taste.


 P.S. You ought to check out Suzie V. Homemaker's answer to this challenge. I may be a beet fan after all.

As Autumn as it gets

If a perfect summer day includes a beach, ice cream, and hot shirtless dudes, today was the Autumn equivalent. It started off with brunch at a friend's house: pumpkin apple cinnamon muffins, pumpkin pancakes, and tofu scramble with Field Roast apple sage sausages.

After we ate, we headed out to Afton Apple Orchards. It was slim pickings (literally), as most of the apples we found were past their prime. We opted out of jumping the hayride out to the "good" trees, so we picked out pumpkins instead. After that, we headed inside to buy fresh cider.

Tonight I came up with a delicious Autumn side, but I'm eating it for dinner by itself. I've never tried delicata squash before, and I'm now adding it to my favorites. This came together really quickly, and will make an appearance at Thanksgiving.



Roasted Delicata Squash with Cider Cream Sauce
serves 6 as a side

1 cup apple cider
1 cup cashew cream or soy creamer
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp chipotle or cayenne powder
1 delicata squash, washed
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 small onion, sliced into thin half moons
salt & pepper
6 strips tempeh bacon (I used the Turtle Island Smoky Maple ones, because they are the BOMB)
2 tbsp chopped walnuts
1 tbsp maple syrup
dash cayenne

First, make the sauce. In a small saucepan, bring the cider to a boil and reduce by almost half (about 15 minutes). Whisk in the cream, mustard, and chipotle powder. Keep stirring, lowering heat slightly. Keep an eye on it, stirring frequently, until the whole thing is reduced to about a cup.

Preheat oven to 375°

Cut the ends off the squash. Cut in half lengthwise, and scoop out the guts and seeds. Then cut into 1/2 inch slices, widthwise. Toss the squash slices with 1 tbsp of the olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt, and generous twists of pepper. Lay the slices on a baking sheet covered in parchment. Roast for 15 minutes. Flip the slices and roast an additional 15, or until they are tender (you can eat the skin!).

In a medium skillet, heat the other tbsp oil. Cook the onion and tempeh until the onion starts to turn brown. Throw in the walnuts and maple syrup. Toss to coat. Cook for about three more minutes. Serve over squash with the cider cream sauce.

Freakin' at the Freakers Ball

Today I downloaded some old episodes of Grammar Girl*, which much to my amusement included the show: Spoonerisms, Mondegreens, Eggcorns, and Malapropisms. A popular intentional spoonerism is a book by Shel Silverstein entitled Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook. I listened to this at work today, and as I started to watch tonight's dinner come together, I heard my old Dr. Hook CD come on iTunes. The song, Freakin' at the Freakers Ball, was written by Shel Silverstein. Since most people probably don't think about old Shel more than once a year, let alone twice in a day. I smirked and tipped my hat to Jung, my dad, and my best friend Ed who would have said, "There's a little synchro for you."

So, in honor of Shel, I give to you...

Freakers Ball BBQ Beans

This picture sucks so much ass, but my batteries were about to die and I was hungry.

Serves 4-6

First of all, I highly recommend cooking your own beans during these tough economic times (aren't y'all sick of hearing that?). Three cups water, one cup beans, a bouquet garni, and a slow cooker is all you need. I cooked the beans for this recipe on low for over 24 hours, and I wound up with tender beans, and a really nice gravy.

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, diced
1 cup dried pinto or navy beans, cooked or 2 cans of same, drained and rinsed.
1 14 oz can tomato sauce
2 tsp tomato paste
1 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1 tbsp molasses

Sauté onion in oil until it starts to soften. Add garlic. Cook and stir for about a minute, then add beans. In a bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients. Salt to taste. Stir into beans. Heat through. Serve with greens and beers.

* I am calling immunity for any grammatical errors in this post. If I was perfect, I wouldn't have to listen to GG.

Hot on a cold day

A coworker of mine went to the Indian grocer this weekend and picked up a bunch of goodies for me, but today is her birthday, and I probably won't see her at work until Thursday, so I had to figure out what to do on Indian night since I didn't have my sambar and black mustard seeds.

I spent a few minutes flipping through VFaS, and came across the recipe for Curried Mushrooms. The only thing I did differently was use crimini instead of white, but it was so very fantastic that I think I'd make it this way forever.



Another winner from this book. Not too hot, since I seeded the hell out of the chiles. I would suggest throwing in a third pepper if you're into the super spicy stuff. I served this with brown basmati rice, some fried tofu and a simple cucumber salad.