Poached Pear Salad with Cranberry Vinigarette & Pecan Brittle

Poached Pear Salad with Cranberry Vinigarette & Pecan Brittle
Equipment:
Blender, small pot

Ingredients
For the Pears:
1 cup Sugar
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup water
6 pears, peeled, halved and cored

For the Cranberry Vinaigrette:
1 cup cranberry juice
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 shallots
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp Fresh thyme
3 Tbs Red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 Tb. Pure maple syrup

For the Pecan Brittle:
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup shelled, raw pecans; rough chopped
1 tsp Lemon juice
Salt

For the Plate:
6 handfuls of mixed Lettuces


Prepare the pears:
1. In a small pot, mix the sugar, water and wine together and bring to a simmer
2. Add the pears and cover with a towel or weight with a smaller plate. (They?ll float to the top if not held down)
3. Simmer for about 10-12 minutes or until the pears are cooked but not mushy.
4. Remove pears and cool.
5. Reduce liquid till slightly syrupy and let cool to room temp.

Prepare the vinagrette:
1. In a small pot add a little oil, shallots and garlic and cook just a minute or so. You don?t want ray onions or raw garlic to Overpower the Cranberry
2. Add the Cranberries, juice and red wine Vinegar and simmer till the cranberries plump up
3. Let cool to room temp and add the cranberry Mix to the blender
4. Add the mustard, thyme, maple syrup and oil with the blender running and season with salt and pepper.

Prepare the Pecan Brittle:
1. In small pot add sugar and lemon juice and heat till very hot. The sugar will start to liquefy after a while. Be careful not to burn it, but it should have a brown (like maple syrup) color to it. When it gets there remove from heat immediately.
2. Add pecans (carefully) and pour onto a cookie sheet while still very hot.
3. Sprinkle with course salt and let cool
4. Break off shards of the brittle for garnish

Prepare the Plate:
1. On the center of the plate lay 1/2 a poached pear. Blow the Pear a Kiss. The pear is now your friend.
2. In a little bowl toss the lettuces with a little of the cranberry vinaigrette and place a nice little mound on the 1/2 pear.
3. Place the other half of the pear on the lettuce to form a "V" with the skinny ends of the pear.
4. Pierce the pears delicate flesh with the pecan brittle so that the pear provides a base for the brittle.
5. Spoon the syrup from the poaching liquid around the plate and add a little cranberry Vinaigrette on there too.
6. Serve

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

Cinnamon Rolls:
3/4 cup soy milk
2 tsp. yeast
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided
1/4 tsp. salt
4 Tbs vegan margarine
1/3 cup brown sugar

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 Tbs soy milk

Directions:

To make Cinnamon Rolls: Preheat oven to 425F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Heat milk in saucepan over medium heat, sprinkle with yeast. Set aside.
Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and salt in bowl. Rub butter into flour mixture with fingers until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in milk until soft dough forms. Transfer to well-floured surface and dust with flour. Press into 12x6-inch rectangle.
Combine brown sugar and remaining cinnamon in small bowl. Sprinkle over dough, and press in lightly with palms of hands. Gently roll dough lengthwise into log. Cut log into 16 3/4-inch-thick slices. Place slices on prepared baking sheet, reshaping into rounds if necessary. Bake 15-18 minutes, or until rolls begin to brown.
To make Glaze: Whisk together confectioners' sugar and soy milk. Glaze will be very thick. Bush glaze on cinnamon rolls right out of the oven.

Avocado soup

Creamy Avocado Soup
2 avocados
2 C soymilk or more (to desired consistency)
sea salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)

ADD INS (according to taste and what you have available)
lemon and/or lime juice and their zest
dried cayenne pepper and/or chopped jalapeno pepper
chopped scallions and/or shallots
chopped cilantro, flat leaf parsley, basil, and/or chives
chopped red bell pepper
chopped zucchinni
shredded or finely chopped baby spinach

Mash avocados in a bowl with a fork until smooth. Slowly add soymilk and mix until desired consistency is reached. If you like it creamier, add less soymilk. If you like it thinner, add more soymilk. Add salt, pepper, and any add ins that suit your tastes.

Homemade Salad Dressing

Make your own salad dressing!
I like experimenting with ingredients and amounts to get the exact taste and consistency of salad dressing I prefer.
Basic recipe guidelines:

something fatty and potentially creamy...avocado, almond butter, tahini, cashews...

mix/blend with some good oil....virgin olive, flax, grape seed...

then add liquid and blend some more....soy milk, apple juice, carrot juice, water, rice milk....

something salty like soya sauce, braggs aminos, miso, celtic sea salt..

add herbs.....any of the above - fresh basil, rosemary, thyme, sage, garlic and/or ginger powder

also consider blending in red star nutritional yeast, kelp or dulse flakes, soaked dates, mustard, horseradish, pepper sauce......

Kale and White Bean Soup

Winter Soups Recipes!
Ah, winter. Don't get me wrong, I'll be cursing it by February, but right now I am enjoying its finer pleasures like curling up under layers of blankets and night and hot bowls of soup for dinner. Try serving it with crusty bread or even use up some stale bread with an old Italian trick - put a slice of stale bread in the bottom of each bowl, then laddel the soup over it. It's add a lovely heartiness to the soup.
<3 shannon

Kale and White Bean Soup
1 lb dried navy beans (any white bean will do)
2 onions, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced (up to 6 if you like it really garlicky)
5 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 qt water
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
8 carrots, cut into half moon slices
1 lb kale (preferably lacinato), stems and center ribs discarded and leaves coarsely chopped

*optional: 1 lb vegan (Tofurkey) or meat sausage, sliced into rounds

Cover the beans with water by 2 inches in a pot and bring them to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand, uncovered, 1 hour. Drain the beans in a colander and rinse.
Then, cook the onions in the oil in an large pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add beans, broth, 1 quart water, salt, pepper, bay leaf, and rosemary and simmer, uncovered, until beans are just tender, about 50 minutes.

While soup is simmering, brown sausage (if using) in batches in a heavy skillet over moderate heat. If you are using meat sausage, then transfer to paper towels to drain.

Stir the carrots into the soup and simmer for 5 minutes or so. Stir in kale, sausage and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until kale is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Season soup with salt 'n'pepper.


* This soup is particularly good if made 1 or 2 days ahead., make it when you have some free time and save it for a busy day when you don't have time to make dinner. Cool completely, uncovered, then refridgerate, covered. Thin with water if necessary.

my mother hates cilantro

.... but i love it!
i'm going to start posting recipes i use so i can keep a log of it! im making this tonight for dinner!


Cilantro Chili Pizza, ala Cafe Pesto

Preheat the oven to 500F, preferable with a pizza stone on the middle shelf. Allow the oven to heat 30 minutes or more.

Meanwhile, prep your favorite pizza dough. If using refrigerated pizza dough, allow it to come to room temperature before shaping. Preparation of the pesto and chili sauces can be accomplished in the time it takes for the pizza dough to rest:


Cilantro Pesto

This recipe makes more pesto than needed for pizza. Use the leftovers as a marinade for grilling, or go crazy making this pizza for all of your friends.

In a food processor or blender combine:

1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves
1 cup of cilantro leaves, stems and roots
1 Tbs of ground pepper
1 tsp of salt
with enough canola or olive oil to help grind the ingredients into a paste
Store in the refrigerator or freezer with a slight film of oil on the pesto surface to help maintain the bright green color.


Sweet Hot Garlic Sauce

This is my number one favorite ingredient, to always be found in my refrigerator. It is excellent paired with fried crispy foods, grilled meats, drizzled on curries, and on top of this pizza. Fortunately this tasty sauce is becoming increasingly common in grocery stores, often called Nahm Jeem Gratiem, or Tuong Ot Ngot.

In a sauce pan combine

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar
2 Tbs minced garlic
1 tsp salt
Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low, simmering to reduce and thicken to a syrupy sauce approximately 20 minutes or more. When thickened, stir in 1 Tbs of chili garlic sauce and allow to cool to room temperture. Store in the refrigerator.


Shape your pizza dough in the size you want, stretching it out thin with your fingers and hands. Place it on a piece of waxed paper, trimmed to match the foot print of the pizza dough shape and transfer the dough to a pizza peel for easy sliding onto the pizza stone.

Spread several tablespoons of the cilantro pesto on the surface of the dough. Sprinkle with a slight pinch of salt. Continue to top the pizza with chopped sundried tomatoes,red onion slices and chopped red bell pepper.

Slide the pizza onto your hot pizza stone and cook until the bottom is crusty brown, approximately 5-8 minutes.

Immediately top the pizza with crumbled goat cheese upon removing it from the oven. And lastly, the most important step, drizzle the pizza with Sweet Hot Garlic Sauce.

The Sun

I was writing an email to my friend, and it just sounds like maybe you all would like to read about, a funny blog post, about my day. Well, I woke up around 7:30, hit the snooze button until 8:00. I went to the kitchen to make tea or something, and I ran into my roommate Robby-bob, and he asked me if we could do some yoga. I said sure! So I got the yoga mats (I have two) and brought them to the common room at the vegetarian cooperative where I live. We did a few "om's" and the sun salutation mantra I learned in yoga class a month ago at the Living Yoga Center in Champaign.

It always feels so nice to do yoga in the morning, I always feel great in general. I feel that yoga helps make me a more compassionate human being, providing me with energy I didn't know I had, and just overall able to live my life fully and accept the challenges I face everyday. but I feel like I don't have enough time to do it, and get enough sleep and get good grades and be a healthy well-balanced human being! anyway, I was facing towards the sun, observing how the sun's rays shine in the morning through the red maple trees, on a cool autumn dawn. I felt a strong appreciation for the sun, feeling a oneness with nature, and how the sun's rays fuel life on Earth. IT makes sense too--the sun's rays are captured by plants, which convert it t a usable form by other life forms, which obtain their energy from that. Even if you eat meat, the animals where your meat comes from ate plants (unless it was a tertiary consumer), which comes ultimately from the sun. All of our substance comes from the sun originally. No wonder why so many indigenous cultures worshipped the sun. If there was no sun, life wouldn't exist on Earth! IF the Earth was a little bit closer or a little far away, life wouldn't be able to exist the way that it does! It's pretty amazing how big and great and totally beyond us the sun is.

I have come to all the aforementioned conclusions before; this was not the first time I experienced this. I just thought I would let whoever happens to be reading this know a little more of where I'm coming from.

I experienced one of the most intense experiences of my whole life when I was at Camp Michigania by myself for two weeks, in the middle of winter. No city lights, no car, no internet in the place I was staying, no humans, no nothing. Just me, the cold, and the woods. The sun set SOOOOO EARLY, up north Michigan, right? i didn't have a clock, and I tried to get my body to swing with the natural rhythms of the sun. I would wake up before the sun would rise, just praying that the sun would rise that morning, because every night was so dark. I don't think people get the opportunities I have been presented in my life. It really made me realize a lot about life, and put things in perspective. I can share more if people are interested.
Peace and love!