First time foraging for Shrooms

Hilarious picture of some mycologist and some morels.

I have been very interested in foraging for wild edibles and today I took my first mushroom walk without any direction from more seasoned mushroom hunters. I checked out the woods behind my house, a state forest that is about 400-600 acres. The forest used to be utilized as a cross country skiing conglomerate of trails, however, it has long since been turned over to daytime hikers, motorsport riders, and to the forest itself.


I went on a super awesome walk with my puppy!

I know this isn't the season for most mushrooms, but in some reading I was doing, I found out it was Morel season, a mushroom that brings in about 40$/lb. at a regular market. They are also very tasty, so I wanted to try my luck.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find any, but I have been encouraged to continue looking. But I did not come back empty handed!



I found two oyster mushrooms! Its really not enough to do much with but I was happy to have been able to identify it even without looking specifically for it. These mushrooms have very few dangerous look alikes and they have a very distinct, but mild anise aroma about them. I am not sure what I will do with them, but I think I am going hunting again tomorrow!

Golden Birthday Cupcakes With Banana Rum Frosting and a Chocolate Chip Center

Made these babies for my brothers 19th birthday. The recipe is from the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World cookbook, but the frosting is all mine...


1 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract or some more vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin pan with paper liners.

Whisk the soy milk and the vinegar together and let sit a few minutes until curdled.

Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and mix.

In a separate large bowl,use a handheld mixer at medium speed to cream the margarine and sugar for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy, but don't beat past 2 minutes.

Beat in the vanilla and other extract, if using, alternate beating in the soy milk mixture and the dry ingredients, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl a few times.

Put equal amounts of batter into the cupcake pan liners and stuff 5-10 chips in the middle of each cupcake, pushing it under the batter.

Cook for about 25 minutes.

Frost it with my Banana Rum Frosting and top it with some banana slices or what floats your fancy.

Almond-coconut Rhubarb Croustade--GF DF V

In anticipation of Miss Danae, aka the Vegan, coming home for the summer and the fact that I must make a chocolate cake for my son's birthday on Sunday, which will NOT be vegan or gluten free, because he is not, I decided that I would make something with my fresh from the garden rhubarb.

Since being gluten free is new to me and I haven't had much experience baking GF let alone GF, dairy free(me) and vegan(Danae) this was a challenge. And one that I was up for! I have been thinking about making this croustade for a few weeks, and finally all the components came into my mind. So without further ado, I give to you, Almond-coconut Rhubarb Croustade.

-------Crust--------

• 1 cup brown rice flour mix
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1/3 c almond meal/flour
• 1/3 c toasted and coarsely ground almonds
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp xantham gum
• 8 Tbsp of coconut oil
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp cold water

-------Filling-------

• 4-5 cups sliced rhubarb
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 Tbsp earth balance "non dairy butter"
• coarsely ground toasted almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. For the crust, mix the dry ingredients. Add the coconut oil and mix with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form. Add the wet ingredients and mix until it forms a ball, adding more water if necessary. Roll dough out on the cookie sheet with a well seasoned rolling pin (meaning, it should be somewhat oiled from rolling pie crusts) Set aside.

Put the sliced rhubarb in a bowl and add the sugar, lemon juice and zest until well combined. Add the earth balance "non dairy butter" and mix well. Place the filling in the middle of the rolled out dough and spread to side leaving around an inch or two. Fold the edges over to cover the side of the filling. Sprinkle with the coarsely ground almonds and a little bit of sugar. Bake for approx. 45 minutes (or until done) The filling should be bubbling the rhubarb will be soft and the crust, nicely browned.

Weekend of Sweet Brooklyn Eden (Eatin')

This weekend Mom and me spent the most beautiful weathered weekend together gallivanting through the city! We spent the first day at the High Line Park and Chelsea Market where we found an unopened bottle of wine left in a store next to a chair and liberated it from being consumed by people who didn't need it as bad as we did! After hitting up the market, we walked to the East Village to try and go to dinner at Souen, a super delicious macrobiotic restaurant, but the 13th st one was closed. We decided the the Alphabet City Souen would be too far to walk to so we went to Sacred Chow on Sullivan St in the West Village.

I didn't have my camera, but we ate delicious collards with sesame seeds, steamed asparagus with Dijon mustard, and absolutely scrumptious eggplant and millet cakes with Dijon mustard. We also ordered a pitcher of Sangria which wasn't that good, but it was such a nice day for it, the idea of delicious Sangria might have been enough!


The next day, we spent the day in Williamsburg, we checked out a bunch of used clothing stores and vintage shops and stopped in the afternoon for a beer. I had a Flower Power IPA from Ithica Brewing Company. It is something that I have been wanting to try for a long time! It was delicious, very robust and full of sensuous flavors of bitter hops and grapefruits! We also snacked on Falafel chips (my mom got me hooked!) and the most amazing vegan cheese I have ever eaten, Dr. Cows Aged Cashew Cheese. It seems like it might be a tad expensive, but once you take your first bite, it is entirely worth every penny.


We stopped at the farmers market and bough a bottle of tart cherry nectar, we decided to make our own Sangria later with the Nectar, the wine we commandeered, some raspberry vodka, and a granny smith apple I had in my apartment. We also decided to do dinner in that night and made a super delicious Coconut Curry with tofu, cauliflower, carrots, kale, and mango over Basmati Rice. we Ate on my roof and watched the sunset with the sangria and a few beers.

The next day we planned to go to the Brooklyn Flea market in Park Slope and then the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. We saw some beautiful roses and an English Weeping Beach Tree and relaxed in the grass. Later we ran into a street fair and then stopped for dinner at The V Spot in Park Slope. After dinner we went to Lula's Apothecary and got a pint of PB+J and Banana Vegan Cashew Ice Cream. Superb!!!!



SE FIN!

Seitan WELLINGTON, who said it couldn't be done???

Vegan seitan wellington is sooooo good. It is my celebratory end-of-semester dish...All out! Improved! So Good you won't want to talk while you eat it! And you will lick your plate!


All together this is a long drawn out process, especially if you are making the seitan. Hello!!! 90 minutes cook time! Yikes! But if you make a bunch of seitan ahead of time and save one for this recipe, it shouldn't be so much extra work. I do recommend making your own seitan and experimenting with the spices you like to make it perfect, because store bought seitan is just not that good, as is any other "home made" V "store bought" thing...and there are a million different types of seitan you can make... this recipe is similar to the seitan Mike has made before, but it eliminates the cinnamon and allspice and replaces that with more cumin and cayenne and adds thyme and oregano. Mike compensated for the re-cooking time a little bit and lowered the oven time by 10 minutes (to 80 minutes).

You will need:
Seitan recipe (as linked to above and reworked a bit)
Filo dough (as it is vegan versus puff pastry)
Earth Balance
Mushroom Sauce ingredients (described below)

This yields 4 good sized Wellingtons.

For the Mushrooom Sauce:
-1/2 yellow onion diced or 2 shallots
-4 large cloves of garlic
-about 2 tbs of vegan margarine (Earth balance)
-12 oz or about 4 cups of mushrooms chopped (I used baby bellas)
-1/4 cup red cooking wine
-1 tsp dried thyme
-1 tsp dried parsley
-salt and pepper to taste

Add the onion and 1 tbs of margarine to a pan and caramelize for about 5 minutes. Then add the mushrooms and the garlic and cook for about 5 minutes as the mushrooms brown up, adding the other tbs of margarine as needed. Add the cooking wine and spices and cook stirring occasionally until the wine has reduced almost completely, just enough so the mushroom mixture is just a little bit saucy.


While the mushrooms are cooking you can set the oven to 400 degrees F and prepare the Filo Dough and seitan.

Make squares/rectangles/triangles... really any shape that gives you enough room to add your sliced seitan and a pile of mushroom sauce and then fold the pastry over the pile so nothing is exposed, be reasonably generous.

Slice the Seitan roll into rounds about 1/4 in thick. If you happen to be too lazy to make your own and buy some from the store which doesnt come in a nice roll, but more like an amorphous blob, just cut up into bite sized pieces. Take the pastry shape and put it onto an un-greased cooking sheet/pan and put the Seitan in the center and pile 1/4 of the mushroom mixture on top. Fold the pastry dough over everything and close as best you can, also rub with about 1/2 tbs melted margarine so that the filo becomes flaky and delicious!

Put the complied pastries in the oven for about 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Now I know they look beautiful, but take a fork and knife to one and tell yourself that's not the best damn thing you've done for yourself in a long time.

Vegan SnickerDoodles

Cookies you can make, without having any "special" ingredients, just ingredients you have in your cabinets. How can this be? Cookies and baked goods always require "special" ingredients, they are goodies after all!

Not True. I proved it. SnickerDoodles, nope, not a single special ingredient, and somehow, they are still fantastic!

• 1 cup vegan margarine ( Earth Balance)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 5 tablespoons dairyfree milk, whipped with
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch or 3 tbs flour
• 3 cups white flour
• 1/2 teaspoonsalt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoonscinnamon
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• I threw in some fresh minced ginger about 3 tbs.
• 

Preheat your oven to 300°F. In a large bowl, cream the margarine and sugar together until smooth. Add the vanilla, and the cornstarch/milk mixture, the ginger, and beat until well-mixed. In a smaller bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and tapioca/corn starch. Stir this into the wet ingredients and combine well.

In a very small bowl stir together the granulated sugar and cinnamon.

Begin rolling the cookie dough into balls of about 3 tbsp each. Roll each ball in the cinnamon/sugar mixture until completely coated and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Continue until all the dough is used up. Using the bottom of a glass, press down on each ball until they are about an inch thick.

Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, and no more. The cookies should still seem very soft when you remove them from the oven. Let cool on the pans for about 10 minutes, and then transfer to a wire baking rack and let cool completely.

If you eat one... you will die and go to heaven or you will slither into the sweet evil that is the Inferno. If your oven was named Inferno, indeed, mine is.

GFDF Banana Bread

What would you do on mother's day if you had the choice? Me, I'd bake. Funny that my daughter also baked....pineapple upside down cake. It's the best way to spend a cold Winter's day, even if it is May (the temperature was in the twenties.)

Since I've been on a gluten free and dairy free diet, I have made some horrid recipes. What I've learned is this; use your old favorites and adapt them, so you know they were good before and they can be good again. I didn't get to the apple tart that I also wanted to make, but the banana bread was awesome. The thing about GF flours is they are very light in taste, so your flavors are more dramatic. You definitely got the taste of banana and coconut with a hint of vanilla.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil

2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup soured almond milk*
1 tsp vanilla

2 cups of brown rice flour mix**
1/2 cup of coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp of salt
3/4 tsp of xanthan gum

1 cup of chopped pecans

Makes 12 muffins and 2 mini loafs. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 mini loaf pans and place muffin papers in your muffin tin.

Cream sugar and coconut oil. Add eggs, soured almond milk, bananas and vanilla. Mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. Add nuts. Spoon into muffin tins and greased loaf pans. Bake until lightly golden on top and tooth pick comes out clean. The muffins will cook quicker than the bread. I did not time it, so I am not sure about the time. So, cook until done!

* To sour milk, add a tsp or so of vinegar to your 1/2 cup and fill the rest with your almond milk. Let sit for 10 minutes so it curdles.

** Brown flour mix-- Taken from Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts
2 parts brown rice flour
2/3 parts potato starch (not potato flour)
1/3 part tapioca flour

Pinapple Upside Down Cake

Feel like throwing a 70's themed party any time soon? I do!

Bad Ass Pineapple Upside Down Cake

-9Tbs earth balance (melted but divided in 4 tbs and 5 tbs)
-3/4 cup packed brown sugar
-3/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice (the juice from a can of pineapple rings is enough)
-1 can of pineapple rings (I would say a pineapple might be better but if you want to stay true to the 1970 theme, the can...)
-1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (not WW, OR ELSE!!!... it will taste like pancakes)
-2 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 cup sugar
-1/4 cup non-dairy milk (Almond is what I like)
-1 container (6 0z) nondairy yogurt vanilla or plain (I used So Delicious Coconut Plain)
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Ok set your conventional oven at 400 degrees and lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan.

Mix 4 Tbs of butter with brown sugar and 1/4 cup of the pineapple juice then put the mixture on the bottom of the pan. Arrange the pineapple rings in the pan, make it fancy! Set it aside.

In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Make a well in the center and add the rest of the pineapple juice, yogurt, milk, vanilla, and remaining butter (4 Tbs). Mix to combine but don't go crazy!

Pour the batter over the pineapple rings in the pan and then bake for 30-35 minutes. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes, then guide a knife around the edges of the pan and then flip onto a plate and serve!



All I need now is the spiked punch bowl!

All Good Things I ate today!

This chocolate is really delicious! I got this Icelandic Chocolate delight at Whole Foods the other day and its almost gone! The company, Noi Sirius is based out of Reykjavik and has been making this chocolate since 1933. I normally like darker chocolate than this, but its about as close to "milk chocolate" that I can manage. It is sweet and creamy and has a really rich vanilla flavor and would also be really good for baking!



I wanted to introduce BIG MAMMA. She has been continuous supplying Mike and I with a delicious Kombucha brew for months and she is getting HUGE!!!! She might be 4" thick! AWESOME. We are using Puerh, a really earthy tea, and it tastes amazing.



See what I mean!?



Oh and breakfast! Todays recipe, though totally simple, is really delicious and nutritious!

Gallo Pinto

-1 yellow onion
-6 cloves garlic
-1 jalapeno pepper
1-2 Tbs olive oil
-1 can of black beans
-1-2 Tbs Chili Powder
-1 cup Brown Rice
-Salt and Pepper

Start by boiling 2 cups of water with 1 cup of rice and a pinch of salt. In a pan, caramelize 1 yellow onion chopped in some olive oil, 5-10 minutes. Add 6 minced cloves of garlic and 1 minced jalapeno pepper and let cook for another 5 minutes or until the garlic starts to brown. Add 1 can of black beans, salt and pepper to taste and 1-2 tablespoons of Chili powder. Let this cook until the beans are hot! When the rice is done (about 20 minutes) add them to the beans and eat up.

Candied Nuts!

What to do with all those nuts that you leave when you finish all the good stuff from a huge bag of trail mix... duhhhhh make them from being unappealing enough that they will never be eaten to be delicious sugary treats!!!

Make Candy out of:

NUTS
CITRUS PEELS
LENTILS
ETC...?

all you need is
-1 cup SUGAR
-1/4 cup WATER
PAN
-2 cups leftover Nuts (item from above)

Put them all in a pan and stir constantly. Water should evaporate and you'll be left with lots of sugary nuts, then keep stirring!!! You need to let the sugar melt, when it does, it will turn a nice caramel color and be super sticky and hot (!!!! really hot, caution! don't pop one in your mouth unless your tongue is made of steel or other non sensitive macho material) POur the contents of the pan out on a large plate or dish and let cool. Enjoy!!! It shouldn't take but 15 minutes total!
(pardon this super goofy picture of me)

WorD to my NYC Street Vendors!! NUTS 4 NUTS 4 LIFE

Seitan!!! (not boiled)

Oh this is pretty delicious and not boiled! No left over broth to waste or not to waste, and no making sure the pot doesn't boil over as is cooks forever! Mike found the recipe on Post Punk Kitchen.

Ingredients:
-1.5 cups vital wheat gluten
-1/4 cup nutritional yeast
-1 tsp salt
-2 tsp paprika
-1/4 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 tsp cumin
-2 tsp pepper
-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
-1/8 tsp allspice
-2 tsp garlic powder or 6 super finely chopped cloves


-3/4 cups water
-4 tbsp tomato paste
-2 tbsp tamari
-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil


Preheat oven to 325°.

In a large mixing bowl mix dry ingredients. Mix the liquid ingredients in a smaller mixing bowl and whisk.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix well, then knead for a minute or two, not too long.

Form into a log (6-8" long), wrap tightly in foil, twisting ends. Bake for 90 minutes. When done baking, unwrap and leave out to cool all the way. Then wrap it and refrigerate.

Slice it up dice it up, eat it!

IT IS AMAZING ON A RUBEN with Rye toast, Sauerkraut, pickles, radish sprouts, arugula, and Hummus or Veganaise and ketchup. This is a must. It is ultimate, way better than tempeh on a ruben... at least I think so!