Snarky BBQ Tater Tot Pizza!

It doesn’t get much better than this. Except maybe for those Tater Tot Nachos I posted a few days ago. Yeah, those are good too ;-}

This tater tot pizza is my contribution to the recent tater tot pizza craze that’s been sweeping Twitter of late. More on that later.

Snarky’s SuperEZ BBQ Tater Tot Pizza

• 1.5 cup your favorite BBQ sauce, homemade or bottled
• 1 medium onion, sauteed, I did mine in a dry skillet ala the Engine 2 method (see photo below)
• chipotle vegan sausage, I used a sliced Field Roast link but Upton’s makes an awesome chipotle crumble too, OPTIONAL
• 1 bag of shredded vegan cheddar, Daiya or Teese
• a bunch of pre-roasted tater tots, get them crunchy in the oven beforehand because they take longer than pizza
• your favorite pizza dough, I used Trader Joe’s whole wheat

1. Preheat oven and roast tots in oven until toasty. Use package instructions for temp and time.
2. While roasting tots, saute the sliced onion in a dry pan, or use oil if you want. Set aside. (Dry really is possible if you use a nonstick pan. See my note and photo below.)
3. Set both aside. Raise temp in oven to 500F.
4. Roll out the dough and place in a prepared pan (sprinkle pan with corn meal or rub on some oil to keep the dough from sticking).
5. Slather on that BBQ sauce. You can see from the photos that I didn’t use much. In hindsight, I should’ve used twice as much sauce.
6. Slice or crumble chipotle onto sauce. I might try the next one without any sausage as it kinda overpowered the BBQ sauce flavor.
7. Sprinkle with onions and tots. Top with cheese.
8. Pop the pizza in the oven, lower temp to 425F and bake 15-20 or until cheese melts and crust is browned.

Here are some step-by-step photos:

Dry sautéing onions is indeed possible in a non-stick pan. I used a seasoned cast iron skillet. A few bits get stuck as you can see but just keep it moving over high heat until you get crispy edges and the onions are translucent.

Use twice as much BBQ sauce as you see here. I was too cautious because I didn’t want the crust to get soggy as it easily can with too much regular pizza sauce. For some reason, BBQ sauce cooks differently.

Space out your tots.

Add as much cheese as you want and bake.

Ta Da! Now grab a beer!

Additional vegan tater tot pizzas you should check out:

• Sarah Kramer’s Poutine Pizza with tater tots and mushroom gravy
• Annie of Meet the Shannons and her Mexican Tater Tot Pizza
• And here’s a Cheesy Vegan Tater Tot Garbage Plate Pizza from Kelly at Perfect Pizza Press, this one oozes when sliced
• And if you want a healthier version, the buff fellows over at Engine 2 have their own version (PDF link)

 

Tater Tot Nachos, yeah baby!

Need a last minute nacho platter for the big game? Something to impress the guys? Something to hoard and not share with anyone?

This is perhaps my favorite use of tater tots so far! Yeah, I think this tops the tater tot casserole. Although I’m not sure it could beat the tater tot pizzas that are making the rounds right now. Be sure you check out those too:

• Sarah Kramer’s Poutine Pizza with tater tots and mushroom gravy
• Annie of Meet the Shannons and her Mexican Tater Tot Pizza

Sorry for the crappy shot, I was starving and didn't take time to light properly. Trust me, it's yum!

Snarky Tater Tot Nachos

This is so easy and all it takes are several ready-made items and you don’t really need to measure this:

• tater tots, read the label to ensure they’re vegan
• corn chips (I used Guiltless Gourmet’s® baked chips for the irony)
• salsa (I used Frontera® brand)
• queso sauce (my preferred brand is from Food for Lovers®)
• and shredded vegan cheddar for something really cheesy (Daiya® or Teese®)

There are just a few tricks because tater tots are frozen and if the chips are heated for the same duration as the tots, well, that would be a problem. Also, I was in a hurry and wanted to use the microwave rather than the oven. So, here’s what I did:

1. Spread enough tots on a plate such that they are not touching each other and nuke until partially thawed.
2. Sprinkle on some shredded vegan cheddar, like Daiya, and nuke until each tot is a melty little mess.
3. Plate up some chips, spoon each melty tot onto the chips fairly evenly, drizzle on some vegan queso sauce like Food for Lovers and nuke some more. You’re going to have to eyeball your nukebox because all are different and you’ll need less time if you don’t fill the plate. But don’t nuke too long since you do have chips on the plate. They’ll get weird.
4. When it’s heated, and RIGHT BEFORE SERVING, spoon on some salsa. I used Frontera salsa with corn and used a fork so I didn’t have so much liquid on the chips. Liquid is the enemy of crispy nachos.
5. Serve with beer!

You could probably bake this but I didn’t and therefore don’t have instructions for that. Even so, I’d imagine you’d have to bake the tots before assembling everything since they are frozen.

Alternates I tried that were awesome:

I did replace the vegan cheese with home made guacomole and it was amazing. Hard to go wrong with avocados and queso sauce.

Just remember to do a couple extra laps around the sofa to wear this one off, mk?

 

Making a miniature terrarium from Apple mouse packaging.

You know how some companies, like Apple, tend to over package even the tiniest gizmos? And then you’re left with this package that could withstand a zombie apocalypse? And there’s NO recycle logo anywhere on any of the plastics so you’re basically stuck with keeping it or harboring the guilt of schlepping it off to landfill? I hate that.

Because I didn’t want to throw away a perfectly good box (and I’m a bit of a hoarder), I’ve been hanging onto this little plastic lucite box that my magic mouse came in, hoping to find a use for it. But it was difficult. The little lucite box was too shallow to hold pencils or even a goodly amount of paper clips. Anything within it would be seen since the box is clear so it would look messy no matter what. And the lid doesn’t lock in place making it a poor travel container for my briefcase.

Oh what to do?

Well, it took me a while but I finally made a terrarium out of it! Yep! And I kept the white insert that originally held the mouse in place inside the box and it now acts as a plastic mulch on the soil, both functional and lends a clean and modern appearance.

Here are the materials and steps I used. It’s really not difficult, just tedious more than anything else. If you have large fingers, you may want to use some tweezers and a tiny spoon.

Materials:

• 1 Magic Mouse lucite packaging box with white insert from Apple, remove the mouse yo!
• 1/2 teaspoon teeny tiny activated charcoal
• 2-3 tablespoons terrarium soil mix
• 1 tiny Baby’s Tears plant (Soleirolia soleirolii) or a section of moss (just make sure whatever you use is under 1 inch tall, preferable 3/4 inch) UPDATE: baby’s tears is growing too fast, you should try for something that will stay short.

Steps:

1. Wash the lucite box and white insert with hot soapy water but be careful not to scratch the box. It will scratch easily, as you can see in my photo.
2. Dry with a lint-free cloth.
3. Pre-dampen your soil mix and rinse the charcoal to remove dust (charcoal dust will make this look dingy and dirty and you’ll have to start over, I’ve done this twice now).
4. Set the lid aside and insert the white liner into the lower portion of the box. You’ll be working with the white liner in place because, trust me, there’s no way to insert it after planting because the soil and charcoal will be in the way. And in order for the lid to fit, the insert must be seated all the way down.
5. Carefully scatter the charcoal in the hole of the white insert and push some of it under the lip.
6. Now gently push the damp soil under the lip of the white insert while holding the insert down firmly. As you’re pressing, the insert may want to pop up, that’s why you’re holding it down.
7. Leave room for the root mass of your plant in the hole of the liner. I almost didn’t have any soil in this area because the plant I used had a lot of roots, even after I trimmed away most of them.
8. Dampen the root mass/soil attached to the plant and using tweezers or tiny fingers, place it gently in the hole of the white liner.
9. Trim excess tendrils from the plant so it’s neat and compact. Then wipe the white liner with tissue or Q-tips to remove specs of dirt for an especially Apple-clean appearance.
10. Replace lid and position in non-direct sun. I keep mine on my desk near a window.

Keep in mind, this is a sealed terrarium so choose a plant that will survive. I’m not sure yet how long the Baby’s Tears will last and I’m positive I’ll have to pop the lid to trim it up as it grows. I like to think that Steve Jobs would approve of this reuse of Apple packaging. And that he’d like the zen-like appearance of a simple single green plant with white plastic mulch. Now if only I could find a tiny critter to put inside but it’s hard to locate micro-miniature snakes, bugs and spiders.

 

100% Whole Wheat Bread Using The Blendtec! Yeah Baby!

Ok, game over. Blendtec = magic! Yep, I really think so.

As everyone within tweeting range already knows, I’ve been on a quest for a great, VEGAN, 100% whole wheat, no-knead bread recipe! Well, I think I’ve found it.

My tiny 24″ oven has some hotspots so nothing I ever bake turns out even but this sure was the softest and yummiest 100% whole wheat bread I’ve made so far!

About a week ago I accidentally stumbled upon this Blendtec video showing how to make a whole wheat bread. I was skeptical for several reasons:

1. Is it really vegan or can it be easily made vegan (using a sub for honey)?
2. Does it use a bunch of fancy ingredients I don’t have (like potato water at the ready, honestly, who keeps that around)?
3. I don’t have to knead anything, right?
4. And…in a blender? Fo shizzle? (KitchenAid, eat your artichoke heart out ;-)

So, yeah, this is waaaaay easy. EVEN easier than doing the no-knead route where you sorta just fold over the dough and leave it. This was faster and easier and my Blendtec did all the work. The weirdest ingredients I needed were orange juice in place of the lemon juice the recipe calls for and gluten flour. Both are items this good big vegan has on hand most of the time.

Below are photos of what the dough looks like after it pulls away from the Wildside jar on the Blendtec along with several rising shots. I think it’s important to note that not once did I have to scrape down the sides of the carafe because the Blendtec blade somehow pulled the whole thing together very succinctly. I only used a rubber spatula to help pull the risen dough out of the jar when I needed to dump it.

Here’s a better overhead shot showing the neat little ball of dough just after letting the Blendtec knead it. Compare this shot to the next one after its first rise to see how smooth it started to get.

Looking puffy and smooth!

Just look at the nice dough! Very elastic and well-kneaded all in the Blendtec! At this point, you’re supposed to dump the dough, shape it and put it in a pan. Since I don’t have a nice counter top, I dumped it on a baking sheet for the shaping step.

My shaping skills suck so my loaf was kinda lop-sided to begin with but here you go.

Of course, I can never wait for bread to completely cool before slicing so I always end up tearing at it. In any event, you can see that it don’t suck. If only I had a normal sized oven with more even heat.

Below is the actual Blendtec recipe with my two revisions noted.

And BTW, if you’re in the market for a Blendtec, here’s the model I bought and use daily.

WildSide Whole Wheat Bread (from Blendtec)

• 1¼ cup warm water
• 1 Tbsp dry active yeast
• 2 Tbsp honey (I used Bee-Free Honee which worked great, other liquid sweeteners should also work)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (I only had oranges on hand)
• 1½ Tbsp oil
• 3 Tbsp vital wheat gluten
• 3 cups whole wheat flour, divided (I used King Arthur white whole wheat)

Add water, yeast and honey to pitcher and secure lid. Press “Pulse” 2 times. Allow the yeast to proof (in the jar) for 5-10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Add kosher salt, lemon juice, oil and gluten to pitcher and secure lid. Press “Pulse” 2 times. Add 1/3 of flour to pitcher and secure lid. Press “Pulse” 1 time. Add another 1/3 of flour and secure lid. Press “Pulse” 3-5 times. Add the last 1/3 of flour and secure lid. Press “Pulse” 8-10 times until all flour is incorporated and dough ball forms.

Allow dough to rest in pitcher for 10-15 minutes. Dump dough ball onto oiled surface and shape loaf. Place shaped loaf seam side down into 9″x5″ greased, loaf pan. Cover loaf pan and allow dough to rise for 20 minutes in a warm place or until dough has topped the pan by approximately one inch. Bake for approximately 22-25 minutes or until done. Remove bread from pan and allow it to cool on a wire rack before slicing.

One last note: Blendtec has instructions for grinding your own flour from wheat berries, which I could have done if I had wheat berries. Just sayin’.

Now if only I could stop eating this awesome bread! I think I’ll have to make a second loaf tomorrow. Fo shizzle ;-P

 

EZ cashew alfredo pasta-a work in progress

Ok, folks. This is too early to post but I’m searching for ideas. Below is what I did and I just felt it was a little sweet for an alfredo.

DRAFT: EZ cashew alfredo

• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 2 heaping cups dry cashews
• 3/4 c pine nuts
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1 t salt
• 1/4 t cayenne
• 1/8 t fennel
• 1 T chia seeds, ground
• 3 cups warm water
• 1 T dried basil
• 1 pound dried pasta
• rehydrated and chopped dried tomatoes
• chopped fresh basil

Pasta:

—boil and drain, set aside

Sauce:

—In a high-speed blender (Blendtec is what I use), blend the sauce ingredients on soup mode until hot.

Garnish:

—fresh chopped basil and reconstituted dried and chopped tomatoes

So, what do y’all think? Should I try pine nuts or walnuts instead of cashews? I’m wondering if it’s the cashews that was too sweet.

 

Holiday Spirit: Squirrel Christmas Song and Google’s Let It Snow

Not in the xmas mood yet? I’ve got two tricks under my Santa hat for you:

1. Get your rhythm going with Peter’s 2011 Squirrel Christmas song, The Family Tree.

2. And if you’re the silent type, head over to google.com and type into the search box, let it snow, hit return and sit back with your hot cocoa.

Now go get your Merry on!

 

Holiday Giveaway: amazing chocolate confections and baked goods from Allison’s Gourmet!

Anyone who knows me knows that my favorite confections are from Allison’s Gourmet. Allison has mastered the art of making vegan caramels, brittle, toffee, truffles, cookies, fudge, bark candy and more. And you know how hard it is to find really great confectionary treats that are vegan, fair trade and organic. Yeah, there are a lot of chocolate bars in the stores but not a lot of gift-worthy, high-end goodies that you can be confident sending to loved ones or business associates while still being able to sleep at night.

Her treats are so good they’re our preferred holiday gift for clients 2 years running. And of course, they work for employee bonuses as well, not to mention Valentine’s Day, birthdays, etc. And now you can enter to win a $20 gift certificate toward anything in Allison’s Gourmet Store. Yep, just read further.

The mastermind that is Allison.

If you haven’t heard about Allison’s Gourmet confections before, you may have seen Allison’s recipes in VegNews magazine. Same chic, same dogged dedication to veganizing great classics whether they’re for dinner or treats.

Gena at Choosing Raw wrote a great backgrounder on Allison and yeah, it totally makes me look like a lazy pixel pushing schmuck. But hey, if we don’t have people like Allison to look up to as heroes, we’d all just be a bunch of aimless mouse potatoes and then were would the world be?

Toffee, caramels, truffles, cookies, how will you choose?

My personal favorites always lean toward the caramels, toffees and brittle. She even has salted, salted chocolate, and chipotle caramels along with traditional vanilla. Lots of varieties of toffee and brittle too.

If you lust after chocolate truffles, Allison just launched a new palette of flavors this month! I did order a box for my own personal employee bonus this year and they are indeed silky, flavorful and very decadent.

And let’s not forget the cookies, brownies, fudge and other delectibles. We received a gift box of the cookies yesterday at work and I am totally hooked on the Butterscotch Pecan even though it was a limited edition. So the next time that flavor swings around on the seasonal schedule, be sure to snag some.

We have a winner! Congrats Meryl!

Random Number Generator select Meryl from among the entries submitted prior to 9am today, Chicago time (per the contest rules). Congratulations Meryl!

Is your mouth watering yet? So enter the contest already!

Allison is providing one lucky Snarky Vegan reader a $20 gift certificate for anything from her online store. I will announce the winner on December 23rd so you can choose to give the gift certificate as a stocking stuffer (printable pdf certificate), keep it for yourself or use it for New Years or some future special event.

I’ll make this very simple: you can enter up to 6 times in the pool to win a $20 gift certificate from Allison’s by leaving a separate comment for each of the following:

1. Look through Allison’s Gourmet store and leave a comment with what you’d like to buy from her gourmet shop.
2. Leave a second comment if you care to divulge how you intend to use the giveaway.
3. Tweet about this giveaway using this bit: “Enter @SnarkyVegan’s contest to win a $20 gift certificate @allisonsgourmet for vegan truffles, toffee, caramels! http://wp.me/pdVnX-Dg”
4. Either like Allison’s on Facebook or post about this giveaway on your wall: ”Enter SnarkyVegan’s contest to win a $20 gift certificate @allisonsgourmet for vegan truffles, toffee, caramels! http://wp.me/pdVnX-Dg”
5. Follow Allison’s on Twitter.
6. Follow SnarkyVegan on Twitter.

Deadline for your comments is 9:00 am December 23, 2011. Drawing will be among comments left prior to 9:00 am CST (Chicago Standard Time ;-) I will send out the gift certificate immediately but you MUST ENTER WITH YOUR CORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS when leaving a comment.

US residents only, sorry.

Legal disclaimer: Yes, I know Allison, I order her goodies for our clients at work and no, she’s never given me anything for free or in return for my patronage. I just think she’s an awesome happy person whose groovy vibe rubs off on everyone she meets. And I’m a whore for supreme toffee to go with my single malt.

 

SnarkyXmas list: What to get that vegan gardener on your Christmas list.

[UPDATE: After reading Colleen's excellent post on the relationships between corporations and bloggers, I felt the need to update this post since it is a gift guide that lists products I am recommending. My update is at the end.]

Buying gifts for vegans may be challenging enough but what if your favorite vegan is also an avid gardener? What do you need to know?

First I’ll list some of my favorite groovy gifts that I think are perfect for gardeners, especially vegan gardeners. Then I’ll give you a few pointers to help you stay out of trouble while shopping for your favorite vegan gardener. And BTW, I’ve listed some extremely affordable items and some that well, shall we say, may be so nice you’d get lucky this season ;-P

Snarky’s Top 10 Great Gift Ideas:

1. Ethel Gloves

Click for close up.

Ethel Gloves makes a special vegan gardening glove that I actually own and absolutely love. It’s the Garden 4X, a tough and classy glove that even I can’t wear through. I’m really hard on gardening gloves, typically going through 2 pairs in a season. My fingertips generally poke right through because I like to make holes for seeds with my hands rather than a trowel. But after a full season, my pair of Garden 4X black bamboo gloves are holding up just fine. No sign of letting my middle finger loose in the dirt. These gloves also use vegan latex that does not use casein during manufacturing. A very thoughtful gift for a vegan gardener. (And if black isn’t your vegan’s style, all their other colored bamboo gloves are also vegan, they just don’t have the reinforced fingertips that the 4X does.)

2. Seeds!

Click for close up.

D. Landreth Seed Company is the oldest continuously running seed house in the US and one of the oldest companies. In fact, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were both Landreth customers! Landreth ran into financial hardship this year and most of the gardening world has fretted about it for months. So any gift you buy from them will go towards saving this American institution. I’d recommend the catalog of course, as it’s a work of art and full of gardening information. They also have little “Seeds In A Sack” that make great stocking stuffers. They’re all awesome so there’s no way I can single out just one. Besides, you know your gardener best: would they like the Olde Fashion Zinnias collection, Antique Vines for the Garden or Heirloom Tomatoes?

3. German Design

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Weck canning jars are a totally BPA-free and beautiful option for organic gardeners. Yes, I said BPA-free. You know that white rubbery liner in the lid of traditional canning jars in the USA? Yeah, that—don’t go lick it now—it’s made with BPA. The Weck jars use an old fashioned rubber and reusable gasket instead. How well do they work? I’ve heard stories of German great grandmothers still using their jars from the beginning of the last century and they haven’t killed anyone yet. The only problem with these jars is that I don’t want to use them as gifts. No, I’m kinda selfish that way. Oh, if you’re in the Chicago area, you can buy these at Green Home Experts.

4. Garden Art for the Kitchen

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Vetegabowls makes insanely cool food serving bowls that look exactly like garden fruits and vegetables! They are slip cast and glazed to match the colors and actual textures you’d find in a cantaloupe, tomato, grapefruit, onion, honeydew melon, oranges, etc. I adore these bowls and think a set of these would be an awesome gift. (DH, that’s a hint dood, just in case that wasn’t clear ;-)

5. Gear

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Autonomie Project Inc. has a lot of great products but I’m especially excited about their new fair-trade and vegan rain/gardening boots! The rubber in these boots is certified by the FSC for sustainable forestry and the makers receive a fair trade premium on their wages. When looking for gardening boots, remember these things: they are often labeled “rain” boots, consider the calf fit (if your vegan may have large calves, best to skip this item or buy a gift certificate), and the pattern/color.

Fun gardening socks from Garden Shoes Online come with lady bugs, bees, turtles and sunflowers. The more colorful selections are also vegan because they’re made with nylon, CoolMax® and Lycra® rather than latex. Latex is made with casein from cow’s milk so steer clear of anything with that fiber as well as wool and silk.

6. Books

Veganic Agriculture Network has a nice book list of tomes that would be appropriate for a vegan gardener. If you can’t score an out-of-print copy of Veganic Gardening by Kenneth Dalziel, I’d snag Growing Green which is also a source of info for organic gardening without animal products.

7. Luxury

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Moxie Organix has some really nice soaps and lotions that would help a gardener maintain soft hands after a long day digging in the soil. Lavender or rose petal would be great scents for a gardener.

8. Sprouting Supplies

A brick or two of coir fiber makes a great gift for the gardener who starts seeds indoors for Spring. The bricks are small enough to even fit in a stocking while causing a lot of funny head scratching over what could that be? I get my bricks at Green Home Experts in Oak Park, Illinois. When checking your local source, compare pricing with sizes (big box stores sell smaller bricks for a full brick price) and compare the source of the coir itself.

Chamomile tea, believe it or not, would be a nifty stocking stuffer for a gardener because not only can they drink it when pests are bumming them out, it’s a great fungal deterrent. In fact, many professional growers spray it on the soil’s surface to fight Damping Off in tomato seedlings. A great little crafty gift could be a box of chamomile tea bags and a spray bottle. You could even craft up your own Healthy Seedling or Fight Damping Off label for the bottle.

9. One-of-a-Kind Glass Garden Sculptures

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Barbara Sanderson is a glass artist specializing in hand-blown art glass for gardens. Her Fiddlesticks and Flowers are amazingly beautiful. You can often find Babara at various flower and garden shows around the country as well as art shows. She’ll work with you to combine glass, water, light and gardens to create lovely and stunning outdoor spaces. If you can’t afford her larger works she also creates Christmas ornaments and other holiday glassworks. Her Halloween pumpkins are always groovy and I’d love to have some of her originals in my garden.

10. The Holy Grail of Gifts!

The Holy Grail of Gifts!

And finally, the Holy Grail! Whether you wanna be rewarded with sex from xmas until New Year’s Eve or simply awesome food for the rest of your life, I’d totally recommend giving your vegan the new Blendtec’s Total Blender Designer Series. It’s a super badass blender that can handle anything your organic gardener can grow. Seriously. But check first to make sure your vegan hasn’t already ordered it or that ‘other’ brand of blender. The Designer Series model is so badass, it includes the WildSide jar which is a patented 5-sided jar allowing a better vortex during blending and wider at the base for easier removal of thick nut butters, a nearly 4-inch diameter blade, and a new touch interface like on the iPhone. AND a 7-year warranty! Oh yeah baby, it can handle just about anything including those twigs and leaves you think your vegan eats.

And THAT my fine fiends, is the best of the best, the most unique, and perfectly vegan-friendly gifts for organic gardeners!

Read onward for some tips on what to avoid when shopping. It seems tricky sometimes but it all makes sense, I promise.

Things to watch out for:

• Leather gardening gloves and leather tool pouches: Many gloves have leather palms or are fully constructed from leather, a big no-no for vegan gifts. Also, most tool companies like Felco, Fiskar and Corona sometimes bundle leather pouches with their pruners. Best to just buy the awesome pruner and ignore any bundles that include leather.
• Manure or animal ingredient plant foods: Not that you’d give your gardener crap for xmas, right? But anyway, you’re going to have to read the labels on these. Avoid brands that include manure or feather, fish, bone, and blood meals. Best to stick with plant-derived ingredients like kelp or seed meals like cottonseed. It also goes without saying that most vegans will also be organic so steer clear of chemicals like Miracle-Gro (the cosmic blue stuff).
• Pesticides: This is a tricky area. Some vegans may be ok killing insects while others are not. Safer to just not go there.
• Animal hide journals or notebooks: Garden journals are quite popular these days and are awesome gifts for keeping a diary of what’s been planted. However, I’ve seen a few that are leather bound. Look for a label that says, “man-made materials” or go with canvas or paper coverings.
• Boots or garden shoes: Again, watch out for leather. A gift certificate from a place like Zappos may be safer than actually trying to find a poly boot that fits the foot of your vegan Cinderella, depending of course on how well you know that foot.
• Wool socks: Garden socks can be a really fun gift, many come with ladybugs and flowers woven into them and are quite charming. Just read the label to ensure there’s no wool or silk. Bamboo would be a nice fiber to find and is soft and resilient. Or see the links above for cool and fun socks.
• Vermiculture or ‘Worm bins”: Best to steer clear of this as well. Not all vegans would be happy with worms in captivity although some are. Unless you know your vegan gardener well, safer to look for other gift ideas.
• Homesteading Books: Watch out for homesteading books that include chapters on raising cows for milk, beheading chickens or butchering pigs. Go for books that focus on veggies and such.

So, now that you’re prepared, what are you waiting for? You’ve only got 12 more days until Christmas! Get the compost out!

Snarky’s Product Relationship Disclosure (or rather, more info than you wanted to know)

Below I will note any relationship I have with any of the companies making the products I’ve included in my gift guide for gardeners:

1. Ethel Gloves: Over the years, they have sent me several pairs of gloves either through events or as awards when I entered contests. None of them lasted more than a month or two because I wore through the fingertips. I guess I use that middle finger on my right hand a little too much. When I saw them at the IGC in 2010, I asked about the 4X. They explained that the fingertips are reinforced for people like me (my words, not theirs). I tried to buy a pair but they didn’t have change for a $50 so they gave me a pair to try out. I have now used them through 14 months with none of the middle finger issues I had previously. Yes, these gloves were free to me but when they do eventually wear out, they will also be the only pair I buy.
2. D. Landreth seeds: They have never given me anything for free. I buy their seeds and love them. They don’t even know who I am.
3. Weck Canning: They have never given me anything for free. I bought their jars last season for canning relish (which was awesome BTW), and I love these jars. I feel safer using them over the regular jars with traditional metal lids and they are way prettier.
4. Vegetabowls: They have never sent me anything for free and they didn’t even know I was including their bowls on my list until I emailed them after posting. I just love their bowls. I hope they don’t mind me using their photo.
5. Autonomie and Garden Shoes Online: Neither company has ever given me anything for free. I searched high and low for fun garden things that are vegan-friendly to include in my list. The boots have the added benefit of being FSC certified. But alas, I am a large woman with large calves and have yet to find any boot that fits me but I thought these may be great for other gardeners, who are skinnier.
6. Books: There are not a lot of veganic gardening books in print or out of print. Given the less than stellar options, I’ve listed two that come recommended by another reliable source, Veganic Agriculture Network. Currently, I am on a waiting list for the out of print book.
7. Moxie Organix: Yes, I have used samples of their soap at the Vida Vegan Con in August. They included their samples in our hotel kits so we didn’t have to worry about hotel soaps containing tallow. I loved the soaps enough to wrap the used samples gently and schlepp them home on the airplane.
8. Sprouting supplies: no corporate brands here but I use both of these recommendations when starting seeds indoors for spring.
9. Barbara Sanderson glass sculptures: Barbara has never given me anything for free. I have purchased her glass ornaments as client gifts in the past and they are truly beautiful. I love the quality of her glass.
10. Blendtec: Blendtec has never sent me anything for free. I have borrowed “that other blender” from a friend and it overheated repeatedly when grinding sopping wet cashews. I also have two friends who purchased Blendtecs this past year and they use them, with no problems, for grinding nuts . Therefore I became a Blendtec Affiliate and ordered the newest Designer Series model for myself as soon as it was released to the public. I am anxiously awaiting its arrival right now and will test it immediately to compare it to the older models my friends have.

 

Vegan MoFo 2011: Fettuccine Afraido! A perfect kid dish!

We’re huddled in the house with the lights off because there are toooooo many trick or treaters! And they’re BIG! So I thought I’d make one more of Allison Rivers Samson’s VeganizeIt! dishes from VegNews magazine. Luckily the kitchen is at the back of the house so I sneaked quietly back there and whipped this up in no time. Seriously, this as a fast and easy kid-friendly dinner for a weeknight.

Fettuccine Afraido! (i.e., Fettuccine Alfredo)

If you liked regular cheese Alfredo before going vegan but it was always too rich for you, this is a lighter and much healthier alternative. No oil, no cholesterol, and you can incorporate whatever veggies you want, or not. My only wish is that I had one of those awesome high-speed Blendtec blenders to grind these nuts to the powder per the recipe instructions.

You don't need great knife skills to pull off something fun for the kids, but the more you practice, the better than me you'll be.

Reprinted here with permission by Allison Rivers Samson and VegNews magazine. Any changes on my part are noted.

4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 2 tablespoons raw pine nuts
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice, fresh (although I used jarred)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/16 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
• 4 cups cooked fettuccine (I used linguine)
• 3 tablespoons freshly minced parsley (I made a monster instead of doing an adult dish)

1. In a blender, grind cashews and pine nuts into a fine powder. Add water, lemon juice, garlic, nutmeg and salt. Blend until completely smooth. (I was stuck with a food processor but a nice blender would do a better job.)
2. Transfer sauce to a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk as you bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 7 minutes, whisking regularly. Stir in black pepper.
3. Serve over hot pasta and garnish with parsley and freshly ground pepper to taste. (I tossed it together in a bowl and then arranged my monster.)

That’s really it. The hardest part is figuring out how to make a monster. Now go scare someone tonight before it’s all over for the year!

 

Vegan MoFo 2011: Ghoulish Sheperd’s Pie

Ok, so I’m on a ghost roll. I love Halloween and just couldn’t come up with any other ideas for the mashed potatoes on Allison Rivers Samson’s Shepherd Pie recipe printed in her award-winning VeganizeIt! column in VegNews magazine.

Of course, other folks have created better mashed potato ghosts than mine. My first effort at making mashed potato ghosts is a bit amateurish but I’m sure with practice they could resemble those ghosts by these other masters.

Use a zippered sandwich bag with the corner cutoff to squeeze out easy ghosts made from mashed taters on shepherd's pie. Push in lentils for eyes before baking.

This Shepherd’s Pie is perfect, even DH said so.

You may have read here that my hubby is rather picky about food so if he likes something, it’s got to be good, right? Yep. This is a great Fall/Winter dish that will definitely become a regular around here because it’s healthy and something hubs will eat.

Reprinted here with permission by Allison Rivers Samson and VegNews magazine. Any changes on my part are noted.

6 servings

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups yellow potatoes, dices, cooked and mashed
• 1/4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1/4 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup chopped onions
• 1 cup slices mushrooms
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 1/4 cup diced celery
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons barley flour
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 2 cups cooked French lentils, drained well
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vegan Worcestershire sauce
• 4 teaspoons tamari
• 1/2 cup frozen peas

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine mashed potatoes with margarine, 1 teaspoon salt and non-dairy milk. Set aside.
2. In a large saute pan over medium head, add oil and onions. Saute for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, carrots and celery. Cook for 2 minutes. Add garlic and saute for 1 minutes. Add flour and stir until absorbed. Stir in marjoram, celery seed, thyme, paprika, remaining salt, and pepper. Cook for 1 minute, and then stir in broth. Continue to stir frequently until the mixture comes to a slow boil. Stir in lentils, parsley, Worcestershire, tamari and peas, then remove from heat.
3. Transfer mixture to a deep pie dish or a 9×13-inch casserole. Spread the mashed potatoes on top of the vegetable mixture in the dish. Use the tips of a fork to rake across the top of the mashed potatoes, making a rough surface to facilitate a brown crispy top.* Bake for 40 minutes, or until potatoes are browned. Serve hot.

*I used ramekins to make single portion pies with an individual ghost for each pie. Glad I put them on a baking sheet to bake because they did cook over the sides.

Just look at how yummy the pie is under the ghost!

Tired Wench Tips:

• Make a stash of lentils up to 3 days prior.
• Use frozen carrot and pea mix to cut back on some chopping.
• Buy pre-sliced mushrooms.
• Make both the taters and vegetable mixture in advance and assemble for dinner after work. Not sure I’d put the mashed potatoes on the veggies ahead of time because I don’t know if they’d merge into a goo. You can nuke a side dish of veggies and set the table while this is baking.

Now pardon me while I go determine how many leftovers to eat for lunch. It’s difficult to determine this when you have to share with someone else.

And don’t forget to enter that contest on my other post for a subscription to VegNews magazine! Deadline is noon (Chicago time) tomorrow!