Grandma’s Thanksgiving Corn Relish

2 large red bell peppers (I used one yellow, one red)
1/4 c cider vinegar
3T maple syrup
2 tsp hot pepper sauce (Tabasco)
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
1/3c veg oil
3 cans of corn, drained (frozen corn is good too)
1/2 c sliced green onions (I left these out because my boyfriend is allergic to onions)

Roast peppers until blackened.  Let stand and then peel, seed and chop.
Combine vinegar, syrup, pepper sauce, turmeric and salt in large bowl.
Gradually whisk in oil. Add peppers, corn and onions and toss to coat.
Cover and refrigerate overnight. This makes a lot!

My grandma makes this every Thanksgiving, and it’s one of my favorite things to spread over every vegetable.

Rosemary olive oil bread — the best thing I have made in ages! I used a recipe that called for a little bit of butter and subbed olive oil instead. I’m not sure I’ll ever buy bread again.

• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons rosemary
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Dissolve the sugar in warm water in a medium bowl, and mix in the yeast. When yeast is bubbly, mix in salt, butter, 1 1/2 tablespoons rosemary. Mix in 2 cups flour. Gradually add remaining flour to form a workable dough, and knead 10 to 12 minutes. You may need to add extra flour if the dough is too sticky.
   
2. Coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil. Place dough in bowl, cover, and allow to rise 1 hour in a warm location.
3. Punch down dough, and divide in half. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly grease paper. Shape dough into 2 round loaves, and place on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining rosemary. Cover, and allow to rise 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
5. Bake 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

I made summer rolls for lunch. It was super easy!

Rice paper summer roll wrappers  (like these) - just soak in warm water until they soften
Firm tofu, sliced into pinkie-sized pieces (2 pieces per roll)
Fresh mint (2 or 3 leaves per roll)
Cabbage (or lettuce, I wanted cabbage because it’s easier to include in other recipes)
Cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
Carrots, slicked into matchsticks (I marinated the cucumber and carrots in rice vinegar)

Just sprinkle everything in the center of the wrapper, and fold like a burrito. Serve with hoisin sauce or peanut sauce!

We went to an Asian grocery store this weekend and got TONS of exciting stuff. Fresh and locally made firm tofu, steamed buns (sweet black sesame, vegetable), tofu puffs, faux duck wheat gluten, edamame. We also got all the fixings to make sushi, which I forgot to take a photo of! We have leftover inari and pickled gourd though, so I’ll be making it again and will post photos!

Vegan Sweetzels crumb apple pie

If you don’t know what Sweetzels are, they’re a Philadelphia ginger snap cookie:

My boyfriend is really into them, and we had a bunch of apples left over from our apple picking a couple weeks ago. I’d already made apple crumble a million times, so I decided to tackle pie, but I wanted to put a bit of a twist to it— so I made Sweetzels crumb pie!

Pie Crust
I used the easy piecrust recipe from Vegan Lunch Box:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt3
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
5 -7 tablespoons ice water, as needed
Mix together the flour and salt, then dot the shortening into the flour and mix with your fingers until it’s like cornmeal with no big lumps left. Stir in the ice water a tablespoon at a time until it can form a ball. Roll out so it’ll fit a 9” pie pan.

Filling
3 large apples, sliced very thin
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
I just sort of winged this part- I added some corn starch to thicken the apples a little, and some brown sugar and cinnamon. You could add allspice, ginger, raisins, cranberries, nuts, whatever you like!
I arranged the apples in neat rings around the pie pan to make sure they were distributed evenly in the pie, just to be sure.

Crumb topping
I winged this part too!
10 Sweetzels cookies, smashed to crumbs
2 tablespoons margarine
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
I mixed the flour, margarine and cinnamon together to make crumbs, and then added the cookies and mixed. I added this on top of the apples.
Next time I’m going to try melting margarine and brown sugar to make a caramel- type syrup and add it on top of the apples and then sprinkle the cookies on top.

Bake in an oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

I had a hankering for Chinese food, but didn’t want the deep fried fattiness, so I made sweet and spicy sesame tofu with browned brussels sprouts. Not sure if the sprouts really went with the dish, but I had a hankering for those too, so I figured why not?!

Best Browned Brussels Sprouts
These are the simplest and best things ever! Get a bag of brussels sprouts, pop them in a pan on high, add a tablespoon of water to the pan, and put a lid on the pan. Leave for a couple minutes, then take the lid off, stir until there’s no condensation, add some oil, salt, and pepper, keep stirring and stirring until they’re almost burned. Add a splash or two of balsamic vinegar at the end, stir for another minute, and they’re done! The balsamic vinegar REALLY adds to the bitterness of the sprouts, it’s amazing.

Sweet and Spicy Sesame Tofu
The recipe I had said to coat extra-firm tofu in sesame seeds, and fry with sesame oil until brown, then add sauce. I found that the seeds just came completely undone when I added sauce, and there was no need to painstakingly coat each slice of tofu.
So here’s what to do- fry extra-firm tofu in a pan with sesame oil until brown. Shove all the tofu on one side of the pan, if you’re using a big one, or into another bowl if you don’t have lots of extra room. Add a few tablespoons of sesame seeds to the pan, and stir until they brown. Then add the mixture of the following sauce ingredients and stir it all together and take off the heat. The sauce will thicken after a minute or so.
1/2 cup vegetable stock (or water with salt and pepper is really just fine too)
2 tbsp hoisin sauce (I happen to have some in the fridge- if you don’t have any, you don’t need to add this, but it does add the sweetness. I’d add 1 tbsp maple syrup to replace the hoisin)
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (or bragg’s)
1 tsp cornstarch (this thickens the sauce)
1 tsp hot sauce (I used a squirt of sriracha)

Serve with brown rice and enjoy! Feeds four.

It was almost 80 degrees today, so I made us summer tacos for lunch.

Made with tortillas which were actually made in Brooklyn right down the street from my old apartment, corn and black bean salad, avocado, lettuce, tabasco sauce, and fresh tomato (seasoned with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a tiny sprinkle of sugar).

Corn and Black Bean Salad- just mix all these ingredients, and serve!

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained and rinsed
1 large green pepper, diced
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 or 2 tsp Mrs.Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning (I cheat and use this because the lime flavor is awesome and it’s easy, but you can also DIY it with cumin, paprika, lime, salt, pepper, and garlic)
Optional: some spring onions, cut thin (my boyfriend is allergic to onions, so I didn’t include this, but if I were making it just for myself, I would have)

Total cost: $8 (not including spices and hot sauce). Makes a million tacos. We had three each and only got through a third of the salad and not even a quarter of the tortillas, so the tacos are about fifty cents a pop, even less if you do without the avocado!