Pickled Watermelon Rind FAIL

Well, I love a culinary adventure, so I was super eager to make the Citrus and Spice Pickled Watermelon Rind from "Vegan Soul Kitchen." I've heard of pickled watermelon rind before, but I'd never had it ... so it was really a big adventure.

To get started, I followed the instructions to peel and cube the rind, leaving just a slight hint of the pink. Pretty beautiful huh?

Next up, I got the brine going - oranges, lemons, cloves, cinnamon sticks, vinegar, and sugar. Also very beautiful.

Then I soaked overnight, rinsed and cooked the rind cubes. The color was muted now, but I still think they look really pretty.

Next, the brine and the rind are combined, cooked up, and canned. I was so pleased with how beautiful these jars looked!

Pleased, that is, until we tasted it - ICK!! My aunt, my boyfriend, and I all took a bite, and let's just say that not one of those nibbles made it down the hatch. This stuff was seriously nasty. SO overpoweringly CLOVE-y. It's like all you can taste. My aunt described it as "mouth-numbing." Just totally not a success by any definition. Well, the only thing that was great was the texture of the watermelon rind. I loved it. I had no idea what to expect and I loved the texture. So, now I am just all the more determined to find a good recipe and try again one day... ever persistent!

The contents were dumped out, the jars were washed and sterilized and re-purposed. I made berry jam and used them for that instead. The berry jam is delicious, of course... nice to end on a happy note! :)

See you on Thursday for VeganMoFo!!

My Crazy Pine Nut Adventure!

Earlier this week, we had a lovely family dinner to celebrate my Aunt L's birthday. We wanted it to be a special feast, so I took this occasion to finally make the Moussaka with Pine Nut Cream from Veganomicon. I've made the Pine Nut cream many times, for use on lasagnas and manicotti and stuffed shells... but I'd never actually made the whole Moussaka recipe. Since we had 14 wonderful family members in attendance, I made two huge casseroles of Moussaka.

(I also made a successful Soy-Free version of the Pine Nut Cream, if anyone's interested. My brother's girlfriend's daughter can't eat soy products, so I made her a little tiny Moussaka of her own. I subbed out the silken tofu and used a combination of ground up raw cashews, So Delicious Plain Coconut Yogurt, lemon juice, and water instead. Due to the sweetener in the yogurt - boo! - it was a tiny bit sweeter than the tofu version , but not in a way that detracted from the quality of the dish. And it baked up great. I was pretty stoked!)

For dessert I made some super yummy chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. I used the Vegan Chocolate Cake from Joy of Cooking, except I use 8 Tbsp of cocoa instead of 6. It makes the cake even more tender and light, and adds even more chocolately goodness. Obviously, that is an improvement!

*Shout out for the new Soy-Free Earth Balance, which let our little soy-free friend have frosted cuppers AND garlic bread!!

Well, this meal was very delicious, and everyone enjoyed it. Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats and I even had it again for leftovers the next night. Then, the adventure began...

I woke up two days after the birthday dinner and had some cereal for breakfast. Then I had a nectarine, which tasted horribly bitter. It was weird, since all the other nectarines I'd bought at the same time had been great. Then, this bitter taste stayed in my mouth for about an hour. At lunch I made toast and a giant salad. I thought maybe my salad had "gone off" because it was pretty nasty and bitter too. Then I got worried, and started cleaning the heck out of my kitchen. Was something contaminating every thing I was cooking? I scrubbed and sanitized all the knives and cutting boards. I brushed my teeth (and my entire mouth) about ten times. Still, it lasted. And still yet, the next morning, I cut some watermelon for breakfast only to find it gross and bitter. I was getting sad.

Mr. VE&T suggested I do a search online, and in No Time Flat, I had discovered the cause of this horrible curse: PINE NUTS! Crazy! It turns out to be a documented reaction to pine nuts, called Pine Mouth. The weird thing is that it's officially NOT an allergy, and they don't really understand why it happens. Of all the 14 people who ate the Moussaka, I'm the only one this happened to. (thank god! I'd hate for my tasty vegan birthday food to bum out anyone else!). AND, like I said, I've made this recipe many times before. It appears to be a particular defense (like Poison Oak) of a particular species of Pine Trees, probably from China. The pine nuts have been tested and aren't contaminated or sprayed... it's just inherent in the nuts. So, isn't that crazy? Now it's been about 5 days, and I think it's mostly over. I'm so grateful, because for some folks it can last up to 2 weeks. Phew! I got off easy.

It'll take more than this to make me give up on Pine Nuts, but for sure I'll look for pine nuts that aren't from the Far East to rule out this response.

ps. It's almost time for VeganMoFo - a whole month of Vegan Blogging!!! In October, I'll be blogging every day, hoping for a perfect record compared to last year when I was forced to miss a day (forced by totally substandard "wifi" service at a Motel 6 in San Luis Obispo!). Check out Kittee's Blog for a list of all the vegan blogs participating this year. Get your hats on, Round Three's gonna be a wild ride!

More Tomatoey Goodness

Gentle readers, I hope you haven't grown bored with all my tomatoey meals... Hang tight, nothing lasts forever!

This lovely creation is Thomas Keller's Ratatouille recipe, the "official recipe" for the movie Ratatouille. I've made it once or twice before, and we both remembered it quite fondly. I love that it is so beautiful, as well as so extremely delicious. The flavors are delicate and yet long-lasting... quite perfect. We enjoyed it with a side of rice and home-cooked shelling beans. It's a bit of a shame that it's so perfectly yummy, because it's not such an easy dish to prepare.

Well, it's not complicated... just time consuming. Between roasting the peppers and then slicing every thing into 1/16-inch-thick slices... you're already taking up a chunk of your day! Then there's the careful arranging... As per Mr. Keller's instructions, I began with a line down the middle of the skillet...

... then started rotating the slices (alternating veggies) from the middle outward.

Once assembled it's lovely and ready to pop in the oven - for two and half hours!! It's the slow cooking that really allows the gentle flavors to emerge and combine, but it also means that it requires some pre-planning. This time around, I jacked up the heat for the last 30 minutes or so to help evaporate some of the extra juices. It was so yummy -- as Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats said "Hours to prepare, Minutes to devour!" ha ha... sad, but true!

Our Sungold Cherry Tomatoes have been massively prolific this year, so I made the "Pesto Scrambled Tofu" from Vegan Brunch, which calls (mercifully!) for cherry tomatoes. I used more than the 1 cup called for, probably more like 1 1/2 or 2 cups, and it was great. Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats is usually a pesto-hater (boooooo!), but even he really loved this tasty dish.

The sauteed red onion adds a lovely element of sweetness to the earthy pesto and the bright acidity of the tomatoes. I actually used the pesto recipe from Healthy Hedonist, but with drastically reduced oil, because I know I love it. We had a pretty huge basil plant in the garden, so I just ripped that bad boy out, made a huge double batch of pesto, and froze the extra in ice cube trays. Now we can enjoy this dish again in the dark days of winter when the spirit needs a hit of summery basil.

Tonight's dinner was "Tomato Soup with Tarragon, Tomato, and Leek Bisque" from Real Food Daily. (Served with Tofurky Italian sundried tomato sausages and Broccoli). I hadn't ever made this recipe before, but it was really great. I love when a cookbook that I've had for a long time still has hidden gems in it to discover! I made a half-batch, which yielded about 4 servings. Obviously, I used fresh tomatoes from the garden instead of canned tomatoes. The tarragon and nutmeg in the soup are a lovely combination, and the soup has a light, almost citrusy tang to it. Very good, and definitely on the list to make again. It's amazing how many variations there are for good ol' tomato soup - and how different they all are!

happy farmer!

Summery Meals

As you know, I am a loyal farmer's market shopper, and this time of year is just so fantastically abundant. As a result, we've been doing some pretty good eating around here lately...

Tomatoey-Goodness:
Of course, I am still trying to use up lots of tomatoes with each and every meal. Last week I made up a half-batch of "Tomato and Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans" (what a name!) from "Veganomicon." It was great! Hearty and light all at once - rich and flavorful but not excessively complex. So good, and definitely something I'll make again. Especially for Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats who loves Tomato Soup with Rice as much as anything else on this planet.

For dessert, I made a Pear Pie, following an old favorite recipe from "Quick Vegetarian Pleasures." This pie is so darned good! A lovely yoga student gave us a big bag of pears - Mr. VE&T's most favorite fruit, and so I made his most favorite dessert of all time. It was delicious, and it was devoured. Mmmmmm!

Next, I put some more tomatoes to good use and made some great tofu omlettes. I used the "Fresh Tomatoes and Corn Frittata" filling from "Fresh Food Fast" and instead of mixing it up with a bunch of eggs, I used it as the filling for the tofu omlettes from "Vegan Brunch." It was a perfectly delicious and filling summer meal. The omlettes are so fluffy and flavorful, and the fresh veggie-rific filling was a perfect balance.

An Indian-inspired meal:
Nima Sherpa's totally amazing Potato Salad. I love this recipe so much. It's really delicious. Nima Sherpa is from Nepal, and the flavors in this potato salad are surprising and unexpected, but totally harmonious and satisfying.

This was the "Indian Split Pea Soup" from "Olive Trees and Honey." It was good, but there are other Indian soup recipes and other traditional split pea soup recipes that I prefer... so I probably wouldn't make it again.

Of course, there had to be some tomatoes in the meal: a light Indian tomato salad - tomatoes, hot peppers, scallions, cilantro, and a light dash of oil and salt for dressing. Very fresh and refreshing!

A Tennis Party:
Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats' tennis team had a party to celebrate the end of their season, and their especially good results. I brought along a HUGE bowl of "Mexicali Chop" from "Real Food Daily" cookbook - one of my favorite dishes of all time, and a great potluck dish. It was all eaten up by the end of the party!

I also came up with the "great idea" of making a sheet cake and decorating it like a tennis court! The cake came out very yummy, but the tennis court decoration ended up looking a bit drab. Ha ha! Either way, those crazy tennis nuts all appreciated the idea!

Using Up More Cherry Tomatoes:
I love, love, LOVE this recipe: it's the "Fresh Corn Polenta with Cherry Tomatoes" from "Fresh Food Fast" by Peter Berley. It's light, summery, sweet and savory... totally delectable. I also love the way the corn kernels and the whole cherry tomatoes both literally pop their flavors in your mouth.

Family Dinner:
I loved Diann's recommendation for the "sofregit" recipe from one of the recent Daring Chef challenges... So, I made a big double batch of the sofregit, and mixed it up with some cooked farro & pearl barley for a very yummy dish. I cooked it up in the middle of a hot afternoon, thinking that we'd all enjoy a nice room-temperature salady-type dish. Well, by the time I got to my parents' house, the fog had rolled in, and we found out that it was great heated up as well. I really liked this combo, and I'd definitely make it again.

For dessert I made a beautiful and simple peach tart from an old Martha Stewart baking book that my mom and I picked up at the library book sale last year. I didn't have a fancy "flower-shaped tart pan," like Martha suggested, so I just free-formed it and it turned out great. Yummy!

Fruity Delights:
We have been eating SO MUCH WATERMELON. Maybe a 1/2 a melon every day? It's so delicious! Here you see my crazy system of just cubing the melon into big chunks right there in the peel. Then I dump the whole thing out into a bowl and we gobble it up!

We also went through quite a little blackberry phase... when the bushes near our house were abundant with yumminess. I'm always surprised that there aren't more people out there picking all that free and delicious fruit!

:)