Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Quinoa Salad, Lime Tart, and Pot Pie!

Sunday my friend Jocelyn and I put on an "Intro to Vegetarianism" workshop together, something we have done 3-4 times before. It was really fun and we were able to provide people with a lot of resources and good solid information. We always provide some food too, so that people will see how yummy vegan food can be. Jocelyn made some delicious walnut-lentil pate from Angelica's, and I made a delicious "Quinoa Salad with Pine Nuts and Dried Fruits (With Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette)" from "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison. This is one of our favorite meals, so I made a double batch so that Musty and I could have some for dinner too. We had more for lunch, and even still have a bunch left over. I guess I really did make a big batch! It's such a great recipe, I really encourage you to check it out. It's got raisins, dried apricots, cilantro, yellow bell pepper, cilantro, quinoa, onion... yum yum. And, it's so pretty.

For the workshop, I also decided to test out some of my pie experimentation on them! I made the same lemon tart that I made recently, but I also tried the same pie with LIME - which was super delicious!! I think I liked it even better. The only other change that I made in the lime version was to add a bit more soy yogurt, to make it a little creamier. I liked that. Here are the lemon and lime, next to each other. The lime is on the right, which you can barely tell because it's a little less yellow & the zesty zests are green, rather than yellow.

Then, for the final touch, I melted some vegan chocolate chips and piped on a pretty decorative design onto the lime tart. I think this may be the pie that I enter in the contest! I am going to try one or two more recipes just to make sure though. Hopefully my yoga students are ready to eat some pie! :)
For dinner last night, I made Veggie Pot Pie. Yum Yum. I looked at the recipe in the recent issue of "Vegetarian Times" and at the recipe in the "Joy of Cooking"... and then roughly did something in between the two. I cooked up some onions, celery, garlic, mushrooms, sweet potato, butternut squash, potato, zucchini, purple beans, frozen corn, frozen peas, and seitan! Phew! That's a lot of veggies! I also threw in a little veggie broth, some thyme, and splash of white whine. Then I cooked it at 400, while I made some "basic biscuits" from Joy of Cooking, which I used as the topping. I made a few extra biscuits with the leftovers. I used 1/2 Earth balance and half canola oil for the fat in the crust, and also used whole wheat pastry flour. It turned out very savory and very delicious!
Here is the butternut squash (from my very own garden!) and the cool purple beans (from the farmers market) that went into the pie. I only used part of the squash, so I'm sure you'll be seeing more where that came from soon! In fact, this summer I planted one butternut squash plant and got 14 butternut squashes off of it! and they are not small... so you can expect to see plenty of butternuts in the upcoming months.

17 comments:

  1. Such a beautiful pie! I totally wanted to do that kinda thing on a cake once; looked through mehndi books to find nice designs and in the end it just wasn't working with the icing I was using (agar icing can have bits in them and yea... plop!)

    I'd love to grow squash in my own garden! There should be this many squashes available year round! So yummy!

    Lucky yoga students you have!!

    Namaste!

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  2. Anonymous7:03 PM

    Oh wow, Amey. Daiku and I are both sitting in here, slack-jawed, marvelling at your tart design. Please, please, would you come over?

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  3. Anonymous7:08 PM

    I am speechless. Your tart is amazing! I am very curious about your "Intro to Vegetarianism" workshop. I was thinking about doing something like that here at our rec center. I live in a town with 7,000 people - mostly southern deep fried, deer killing people - so I'm not sure what the turnout would be but it's something that I'd like to look into more. Can you give me some ideas as to what you did and how you pulled it all together?

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  4. Anonymous12:20 AM

    Your pie art is beautiful!!!!!! I was shocked!! The design is so pretty and I have no idea how you did it so perfectly!!

    The veggie pot pie makes me want a mid night snack right now. Lol!

    Lucky you, with the squash right from your own garden!!

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  5. Hi Ben,
    thanks for the nice comments! Yes, you definitely need a very smooth substance to make this sort of design... I had to make sure that the chocolate chips were melted just right, with no chunks. :) Yes, my sweet yoga students - they are always happy to eat my vegan treats! (It's my sneaky way of spreading vegan enthusiasm).

    Hi Bazu,
    Yes! I would love to come over! :) And I will make you a lime tart when I do!

    Hi VivV,
    My friend Jocelyn and I have done a few different veggie workshops: "Intro to Vegetarianism" "Vegan 101" and "Workshop for Part Time Vegetarians". The things we cover include: transitioning the diet, major nutritional concerns of a veg*n diet (and easy ways to meet them), recommended brands to buy (of seitan, tofu, beans, soy milk, etc), sources of protein & Omega 3 & vitamins, importance of variety in the diet, favorite recipes & quick meals, favorite cookbooks & resource books, favorite websites, ethics of vegetarianism (health, environmental reasons, and animal rights), tips on eating out and eating with family, and lots of time for questions. We have done some of these workshops that are free (great turnout) and some that are paid ($30... 5-8 people average). We give people loads of handouts and recipes and booklists, and try to be a really good resource for them to leave confident to start making a few veggie meals. We both emphasize going at a rate of transition that is healthy & sustainable & satisfying ... rather than acting in a sudden and uninformed manner. Let me know if you are wanting any more info! I really enjoy doing these workshops, and feel very nourished by spreading the joy that I get from being a committed vegan... I encourage you to try to put something on - maybe someone will be interested!

    Hi Candi!
    Thanks for such encouraging words! I just did the design freehand and made it up as I went along. I did it with melted chocolate chips in a plastic sandwich bag (with just the tiniest little tip of the corner cut off). The tart was fully cooled, so the moment the chocolate hit the tart surface, it re-hardened. Just how I wanted it!

    :) Amey

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  6. Anonymous3:17 AM

    Wow, your piping work on that tart is absolutely stunning! I couldn't even dream of cutting into something that beautiful!

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  7. Anonymous7:35 AM

    you did the design FREEHAND????!!!

    Ok, you are definitely coming over now!

    Oh, and your veggie workshops sound fantastic. It has planted a seed in my mind about teaching one...

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  8. Anonymous9:18 AM

    OMG!! that is the prettiest decorating I've seen, and freehand?!! Awesome!

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  9. Wow, thanks everyone. you're making me blush!

    By the way, I think I'll do a post about teaching a veggie workshop.

    :) Amey

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  10. Anonymous6:50 AM

    All your food looks great, but that tart is gorgeous! Such an inspiration.

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  11. Anonymous7:26 AM

    I took Noble for a long walk yesterday and couldn't get the idea of a veggie workshop out of my mind. The wheels have been turning non-stop. It's definitely something I want to do. I am going to see if I might also be able to do some advertising for the classes on some of the college campuses around here (we have 4 or 5 colleges). I think that college is a great age for teaching about veganism - plus, they're probably far more open than some of the old school, die hard, steak eating farmers around here. I am so excited to persue this!

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  12. Anonymous3:55 PM

    That pie design blows my mind! <3

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  13. Right on, thanks Jess!
    :)

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  14. Anonymous8:50 PM

    Oh. My. Gosh! That is the coolest tart ever! :-)

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  15. Thanks Brooke! It's actually a very easy recipe too - easy & pretty!
    :)

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  16. Anonymous6:21 AM

    Beautiful pie! Namaste.

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  17. wow! that pie is gorgeous!

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