Tiny Sandwiches? Just Eat More Sandwiches!

I appreciate America's new obsession with tiny foods, I really do. It's a wanted departure from the super-sizing phenomenon. However, I'm fascinated by sliders. It's junk food, made tiny. Also, somehow it seems when you order a slider, you don't get less sandwich, you actually get more. Instead of one giant burger, you get 3 small-ish ones. 

I'm not going to dwell on this, because I think I know where America is going and I like it. Moral of the story: If given a tiny sandwich, you may eat multiple sandwiches. No one is counting.

Am I right?

I really hope so because I made an embarrassing number of sliders the other night and ate most of them. They were so cute and tiny! Only three bites a piece! First up was a Grilled Peach, Arugula, Cashew Cheese Spread & Balsamic Syrup Slider. That's a big name for a tiny sandwich.

Grilled Peach, Arugula, Cashew Cheese & Balsamic Syrup Slider

"Hi. This crazy girl put me on a tiny bun..."

Overall, delicious. I love these flavors, but I think I may have gotten "Slider Fever." These items definitely work better as a salad. At times it also seemed as though I was eating a trick sandwich. The peach kept slipping out of the back just as I would go to take a bite in a most dramatic fashion. 

The second of the two was my favorite: Korean BBQ & Kim Chi Slider (a la Chubby Vegetarian).  

Korean Mushroom BBQ, Kim Chi and Cucumber Slider

Even if it does burn my taste buds off and even if I'm still not quite sure of its correct spelling, Kim Chi is just an indescribably good condiment. It can punch anything up to the next level: soups, salads, burgers, stir fry, even pastas...

The kim chi recipe on the CV's site calls for 1/2 cup of Korean Chili Powder, which seemed like an awful lot to me. I tasted the chili powder and it was blazing hot. I seriously just stood there with the mixing cup in my hand shaking for a moment. It all felt too risky. I added 1/4 cup to start and that felt like enough. As the chili paste was blending, the white noise of the food processor triggered some sort of outburst of my innermost bully: "Add it all, you pansy," said the voice in my head.

I've learned not to question the voices in my head.

This Kim Chi is so hot, your face will melt...

Except for the mayo, I arranged these exactly as the Chubby Vegetarian did. Cucumber was a very necessary addition because of the hotness level of the Kim Chi. After eating 2 or 3 sliders, I found myself just chomping into the remains of the peeled English cucumber to cool my mouth off.

The Korean BBQ is made from portobello mushrooms, sliced thinly and sauteed with green onions in  soy, rice vinegar and agave nectar. I added white button mushrooms and shitake mushrooms because I didn't have enough portobello to go around. It tasted great and was a sweet contrast to the kim chi.

The mouth pain was totally worth it. I would make these again in a heartbeat. 

Dinner in the Raw: King Oyster Mushroom & Dried Cherry Tomato Linguine, Peach Tart

Eating raw seems like it should be so simple. Food is already raw when you begin, so no action required, right?

Some people don't think so. In fact, yesterday I learned there are some people who think raw food should be extremely complicated, and a cuisine only for the uber-hipster who is somehow independently wealthy and can devote the majority of his or her day to (not) cooking and becoming a yogi. Raw foodists, please understand that I mean no disrespect, but I'm just going to put this out there: I don't understand you.

Let me walk you through my day of cooking exactly one (1) raw meal.

Around noon I left for the Farmer's Market and Asian Supermarket. I planned to stock up on a few items for two dishes I'd highlighted in my raw cookbooks. Those cookbooks are RAWvolution by Matt Amsden and Raw Food, Real World by Matthew Kenney and Selma Melngailis. I'd put off trying a number of dishes because of the time committment involved, but this was my day.

I started the pasta dish components in the food dehydrator. First, a quart of grape tomatoes, sliced, tossed in olive oil, salt and black pepper and put on the rack cut-side down.

Grape tomatoes

An hour or two later, I added the mushrooms: sliced king oyster and shitake (which the recipe didn't call for) tossed in balsamic, olive oil, nama shoyu, salt/pepper, minced shallot and whole stalks of rosemary and thyme. The recipe called for oregano, but I happen to prefer thyme with mushrooms.

Shitake and King Oyster Mushrooms on the drying rack

The smells of these ingredients filled the house with a very light, savory aroma, not unlike the smells you'd expect if you were roasting vegetables. It was pleasant for the first 3 hours, then irritating and towards the end of the 6-8 hour drying process things were getting downright punchy in the Vegetabull kitchen.

I distracted myself by cutting the squash noodles - a 50/50 combination of butternut and yellow summer squashes, peeled with a regular peeler into wide fettucine "noodles" and tossed in a sprinkling of sea salt to draw out moisture. That took 5 minutes and I went right back to feeling aggravated.

So I tried making dessert.

"Eat a Peach" Tart of the Rawvolution fame.

This is the easiest, best-tasting, healthiest dessert you will ever eat and I think you would be wise to make it as soon as possible. My mother and father created their own version last night using local berries and loved it. There are only three ingredients: agave nectar, peaches and raw almonds.

Peach Tart Crust-shot

The crust is made using 2 1/2 cups raw skinless almonds, run through the food processor until they are very fine or in a "flour-like" consistency. Add 1/2 cup agave nectar (I needed a bit less than this) until it looks like rough sand and can easily be pressed into a tart plate. Here's where I went off the beaten path: I ran out of almonds and used about 1 cup of raw wheat germ instead, then added about 1/2 tsp. sea salt. The result was amazing. It tasted just like real pie crust, but better! Not cloyingly sweet, not overly fatty - just right.

Peach Tart Slice #1

I ate a slice immediately, followed by another. I love this tart recipe. From start to finish (including the consumption) the tart took about 15 minutes. If you add in all the text message pictures I sent to family and friends celebrating my first raw fruit tart, 20 minutes.

I cleaned up my tart-making bowls. Add another 10 minutes.

My dinner still had 3 hours left to finish. I was crawling the walls it was so frustrating! Somehow, I managed to fight the urge to eat drive-thru for the next 3 hours. Here it is: King Oyster Mushroom & Dried Cherry Tomato Linguine (from Raw Food, Real World.)

King Oyster Mushroom & Dried Cherry Tomato Linguine

I started this meal at 3:00 pm. At 10:45 pm, I was eating. That's nearly 8 hours from start to finish for one meal and one individual portion. That's a personal record, for sure.

I added lacinato kale chiffonade tossed in nama shoyu and left to break down for a few minutes. I felt it would add some color and iron. While the completed dish was tasty, I can't help but think it would have been much better 3 hours earlier, when I was actually hungry. By the time it was finished, my stomach had digested a sufficient amount of my own body's fat to reduce the feelings of starvation. I couldn't finish the entire bowl.

Gaze deeply into the vibrant colors of one woman's patience...

I have to admit, it was beautiful food. The colors are the best part about eating raw; every vegetable remains at its height of vibrancy. The cherry tomatoes were the best part. They tasted like candy and I would make them again in a simpler noodle dish. At this time you'll have to excuse me because I am about to say something silly and obvious:  a few specific flavors were a bit too RAW for my taste. Raw squash noodles for instance are delicious, but raw shallots and raw rosemary overwhelmed the palate. I would omit both were I to ever make this meal again.

Which I can promise you, I will not.

Nevertheless... there's always one of these...

The Perfect Bite.

... it took me 8 hours to make this, so I really hope you like it.

Bangers & Mash, Parsley Salad with Fried White Truffle Cashew "Cheese" Balls

I love cooking for other people. I might even love it too much, because sometimes I think I scare people with my need to cook things for others. 

About 9 years back, I invited a flight school classmate over for dinner. I wasn't interested in him at all romantically, I just needed a test dummy for a new recipe I'd dreamed up that afternoon.  Think of it like this: the culinary cousin of cupid had hit me in the butt with a fork and this guy was the first person I crossed paths with. He'd have to do. He would eat, enjoy and give me the praise I craved, after which we would have no business together. It was that simple. For me, at least. 

That week I realized something about the opposite sex. Men seem to think one of two things when you make dinner for them: 1) "She fed me and I now love her" or 2) "She's trying to make me fall in love with her using food as her weapon." All of this is fine if love is on your mind, but in this case it was not. It was also confusing for him I'm sure, given my age at the time; not too many teenagers prepare three-course meals for their friends just for the heck of it. Needless to say, he took it all to mean more than it did and I had to retract my invitation. 

Why was I telling this story? No idea.

Last night I invited my friends Karen and Shawn over for dinner. They're also my neighbors of two houses down, which is convenient for all. They've been over plenty of times for parties and get-togethers, so they already know I go overboard with everything I cook (it's a real disease that I'm trying to have named after me). I don't worry with these two that there will be a moment of awkwardness: "why did you make all of this, Jessica? why would you take the time to cook something so complicated?" (To which I reply: "If it's delicious, why wouldn't I, dimwit?") 

Anyway, that never happens with these two. Just great food, enjoyment and wine. I made Vegan Bangers and Mash, with Leek Jus, Stewed Kale and Crispy Shoestring Onions. These pictures are a bit unsightly, but I have to share anyhow.

Bangers and Mash

Absolutely, yes.

I started with the sausage recipe on Vegan Dad's site, but added some extra seasonings like mace, nutmeg, etc. Making your own vegan sausage is a great idea. It's easy, lets you have absolute control over your seasoning palette, is healthier and much better than anything pre-made you'd find in a store.

The leek jus, potatoes and kale all came out just as I'd imagined. I love them in this configuration. The onions were the perfect contrasting textural component, but they definitely gave me a hard time. I burned two batches of frying oil and scorched the snot out of one batch of onions. Learn from my mistakes: don't drink and deep fry. 

And then there was salad. 

This is a new favorite. Parsley Salad with Fried White Truffle Cashew "Cheese" Balls and Lemon Vinaigrette. Beautiful balance among these components. It's the perfect marriage of refreshing crispness and sinful indulgence. 

For dessert I tried a new product: mochi sheets. I planned to puff the mochi squares in the oven, fill them with sweetened cashew cream and raspberry preserves, then dust with powdered sugar. In my mind, they would be like little stuffed brown rice beignets, yes? I've seen a few people use mochi as desserts and snacks on their blogs, they loved it and I would too, yes? 

No. It's flavorless, gummy and extremely difficult to chew. I felt like a dog with peanut butter stuck to the roof of its mouth, smacking my teeth to unstick the mochi from my molars. Awful! I think it's a good practice to try to only digest foods if I can chew them, so no more mochi for me.

This wasn't the healthiest meal I've made, and I doubt it sets the best example for the family back home who are all doing very well with their 2-month challenge to go whole-foods vegan. That being said, it certainly was delicious and fun to make and nothing had to die for me to have it. :)

Heartwood Forest Council, Part 5: The Final Post

Backing up a little bit to Sunday afternoon: in my previous post I mentioned that due to fatigue we were taking more breaks. That's true. Occasionally, I was even able to get out of the kitchen and enjoy the fresh air during the day time. Sunday was filled with at least a few noteworthy non-cooking-related events:

Beautiful Camp Ahistadi

This picture was taken on a walk about the camp. Most of the campsites were hidden along the pathways, out of sight. Ahistadi offers lots of forest nooks and crannies in which to hide for a while. If I didn't need to be so close to the kitchen, I would have really enjoyed camping here.

Insert Splash.

It was really hot on Sunday. Even with all of the windows open and the fans on high blast, it quickly became muggy in the kitchen. All of the cooks jumped in Laurel Creek that day. If you've ever slaved behind a hot stove, you know the feeling of having oil, food and just general stickiness coating your skin. It's so unpleasant. So relative to that, jumping in the cold water was one of the more refreshing and invigorating experiences I've had in recent memory. I walked back to the kitchen a new woman.

After dinner that night, Heartwood held its world-famous auction. This is where you can pick up a little of everything, from posters and literature, to amazing Kentucky moonshine. (Just don't get in a debate over eastern versus western moonshine - it never goes well.) The items of the auction come from all over, but many of them are unique and rare finds that people bring with them and donate to the auction. Awesome idea!

On several tables in the main lodge, silent auction items were set out for bidding. In the evening, a live auction is led by one of the Heartwood founders (and giver of the tightest bear hugs ever) Mr. Andy Mahler. My sister suggested we add a basket of kitchen items to the live auction. We made one up that contained a big bag of vegan crack dust, vegan tofu ricotta, french breads and rice pasta, some fresh produce and a few other items. In the picture below I'm describing what's in the box - totally making myself hungry again. ...and it sold! To Dr. Steve!

Selling my wears at the Heartwood Auction

Gwen, one of the most on-top-of-it event coordinators ever, suggested that we put one of our recipe books into the auction. Before coming to Heartwood, I spent weeks creating a recipe guide in word, blowing up those recipes to feed the masses and making a list of the items we needed to purchase from it. I printed that enormous document and gave a copy to all of the cooks on our first day. So somewhere in the kitchen were at least four of these things, covered in an artful splattering of sauce, oil and random foodstuffs. Myself, Scott and my Sister signed two copies and put them in the auction - they sold for $41.00 a piece! What-WHAT? That was amazing! I wrote the recipe for the new vegan crack dust flavor I'd invented on the back of each copy sold. It was for "Pizza Crack Dust" and that stuff is amazing. Hold onto those ladies. They might be worth something.

Later that night was Heartwood's "death-defying" talent show. I went and by the second act, was so exhausted I couldn't keep my eyes open. I slithered up to the cabin, barely conscious.

The next morning was leftovers day, so not much in terms of cooking to report. But of note: I had my first encounter with a breakfast/brunch dish that utilizes leftovers and fell in love.

BREAKFAST

Bubbles & Squeak

Berries & Cream Oatmeal

Bubbles and Squeak

Why do they call it Bubbles and Squeak? I have no idea. I've read a few sources that claim it's because of the bubble and squeak noise it makes as it's cooking. If that's true, we were making it incorrectly. Enlighten me please if you have a better explanation.

This is one of my new favorite dishes. It's so simple and I always have greens or leftover vegetables and mashed potatoes in my fridge. In our version, we used kale.

Lunch was comprised of all leftovers. We spent the bulk of our time on Monday afternoon cleaning out the facility, trying to make it nicer than when we arrived and leaving no trace of our event for the camp director to worry about. That's how Heartwood people roll. We also trucked out all of our food waste from the week, so it is comforting to know that is being used somewhere else, either in a garden as compost or in the belly of a pig.

Thanks again to everyone who helped the kitchen that weekend: Dawn, Ernie, Becky, the very many kitchen volunteers, the musicians and talented folks who kept us entertained all week, Andy and Dr. Steve (who only crushed a few of my ribs with their double-sided bear hug flipparoos), Scott Ellis (who I hope I'll cook with again at the October reunion!) and of course, my Sister Jen. She now questions my sanity for enjoying the work behind cooking since this experience.

See you at the Lazy Black Bear!

If you'd like to learn more about Heartwood, you can visit their website. Anyone interested in protecting the beauty and health of the land we inhabit is welcome at Heartwood events. Voracious vegan appetites are encouraged.

Heartwood Forest Council, Part 4: Quiche, Lasagna and the Infamous Creamsicle Rice Pudding

The meal I was most excited about preparing was Sunday breakfast. I wanted to serve a dish that was special (and delicious, of course). So while making 20 tofu quiches was lofty, it seemed to be that pseudo-fancy item that people wouldn't be expecting.

BREAKFAST

Broccoli & Cauliflower Tofu Quiche

Fruited Quinoa

Onion, Pepper and Potato Hash

Broccoli-Cauliflower Tofu Quiche

The broccoli and cauliflower were pulsed into tiny chunks in the food processor then mixed into the tofu quiche batter. That morning I set out all of my pie crusts and filled them one-by-one before baking. Most of the time spent goes into the prep work - it's a much easier recipe than it appears.

Fruited Quinoa (Blackberries, Strawberries, Blueberries, Agave.)

Anything with fruit in it tends to be a hit with these people. We had one more palette of berries than I needed, so I added extra. What a tasty way to get your ancient grains in for the day.

Onion, Pepper and Potato Hash

We learned our lesson at dinner the night before: people love potatoes. Over the course of the weekend, Scott and I had numerous pow-wows in the pantry as we stared at our inventory. The hash was the invention from one such meeting which started with the questions:

"What should we do with all the potatoes?"

"Roasted?"

"No, I need the oven space for quiche."

"Move the hash you planned for Monday to tomorrow, make roasted potatoes on Monday."

"Oh. Smart!"

"Yeah. So, how do you make a hash?"

"I dunno."

I think the conversations sound sillier in my head in retrospect. Nevertheless, those pantry meetings were where the important things went down. We ended up grating the potatoes and served them in hash-form for breakfast. I think from this point on, we put potatoes on every meal.

LUNCH

Jalapeno (and non-jalapeno) Cornbread

Stewed Collards

Slow-cooked Pinto Beans

Cumin-Spiced Roasted Potatoes

Watermelon Gazpacho

Baby Greens Salad with Maple Syrup-Mustard Vinaigrette

Jalapeno Cornbread, Stewed Collards, Slow-cooked Pinto Beans, Roasted Cumin Potatoes, Watermelon Gazpacho

This was the lunch to show up for. Mmmm.... just look at all of that goodness. So comforting, such thematic continuity... and Watermelon Gazpacho - who does that? We do! WE do that! To be honest, it was my sister's creation the evening prior. We had a palette of tomatoes left, a box of cucumbers, onions, jalapenos and she saw the opportunity. She also makes great gazpacho, which is good to know in case she owes you a favor. The watermelon was a donated item from a happy camper. It was a perfectly sweet, seedless melon and we just tossed its flesh into the food processor to round out the acidity. If you haven't tried Watermelon Gazpacho, you are definitely missing out.

Sunday was the hottest day that weekend and a real whirlwind. By this point, everyone working in the kitchen was exhausted and needing more breaks throughout the day. I would be wrong to not send a big thank you to the beautiful young woman (whose name I can't remember - I'm so sorry! Tanya maybe?) responsible for the cornbread. She told me she loved to bake and I asked her if she'd be interested in making the cornbread so I could take a 20 minute power nap. She happily agreed. The cornbread was perfectly tender and moist on the inside, caramelized and crunchy on the sides. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

DINNER

Romaine, Tomato and Chickpea Salad with Lemon-Herb Vinaigrette

Butternut Squash and Tofu Ricotta Lasagna

Toasted Garlic Bread

"Tyler's" Creamsicle Rice Pudding

I can now proudly say that I've hand-crumbled, food processed and mixed more than 30 lbs of extra firm tofu into faux ricotta filling. Sign of a fulfilling life? I think so.

Gooey-delicious Butternut Squash Lasagna

Oozey, savory-sweet vegan lasagna is also a good indicator that your life does not suck.

Altogether this made for one very filling meal. Although my original recipe called for just butternut squash in the dish, we ended up incorporating crumbled broccoli into one layer and it tasted fabulous. The garlic bread was my favorite part. I'm such a huge fan of zesty garlic bread dipped in sweet tomato sauce. I ate so many slices, by the end of the night I had to drink just to escape my own stink. (Just kidding, Mom)

My dinner plate. Not enough garlic bread.

It wasn't until we got on the road to Heartwood that I realized I hadn't planned for a dessert on Sunday night. I didn't think of this again until Sunday afternoon and at that point, I was borderline panicky. A very sweet person named Tyler had been volunteering in the kitchen for fun all weekend. Tyler had great knife skills and appreciated the zen of chopping. He also had a great dessert idea: rice pudding. I had 20 leftover pounds of rice. Bingo. I mean, I'd never made a rice pudding, but at the time it made total sense and I love requests.

"Tyler's Creamsicle Rice Pudding"

I cooked the rice in soymilk with cinnamon sticks. Meanwhile in a large pot I combined 2 quarts of freshly squeezed orange juice, vanilla, sugar, soymilk and heated until steaming, but not quite boiling. In a separate bowl, I whisked egg replacer into water and added it slowly while stirring int the orange mixture. Slowly but surely (and with a TON of stirring) it set up into a thick eggnog-like consistency. I mixed that into the cooked rice and garnished with orange zest. I gambled and I won. Yum!

After dinner, we took a final inventory of our leftovers, made crack-dusted popcorn and got ready for the Heartwood Auction. More to come on the non-cooking-related events in the next and final post.

Heartwood Forest Council, Part 3: Biscuits and Bonfires

Day three of Heartwood and day two of cooking. We pulled away from the Asian/Indian theme meals and went straight for the stick-to-your-ribs comfort food. I met Scott in the kitchen at the torturous hour of 5:45 am. From the looks of it, he'd already been there a while. I was far too tired to hang my head in shame. By 6:15 am a few of our helpers had arrived and they began making coffee, stamping out biscuits and cleaning dishes. Breakfast was served at 7:30 am.

BREAKFAST

Fluffy Country Biscuits (with a gluten-free version available)

Creamy Mushroom Gravy

Fried Apples

Apple Pie-Spiced Oatmeal

Fluffy Country Biscuits

I pre-made the biscuit dough the night before. I had no idea how that would work out since I'd only ever mixed biscuits up fresh, but it was fine. Just look at those billowy things - they were awesome! I even had time to mix up a batch of gluten-free biscuits (upper-right) with brown rice flour. To be honest, I have no idea where those stood in terms of eatability. I've never made a gluten-free bread prior to this and I literally was just substituting rice flour for regular flour in my recipe. They seemed extremely dry and crumbly to me. If you have a gluten-free bread, biscuit, cake, etc. recipe that you think is good, please email that to me so I can use it at future events!

From bottom to top: Apple Pie Spiced Oatmeal, Fried Apples, Mushroom Gravy, Biscuits

Here's the entire spread, complete with gravy action shot. I must now give a special thanks to Sherman who came in to volunteer early that morning. His job was to heat the Apple Pie Spiced Oatmeal, but there was something wrong with the air/gas ratio on the stove burner he was using. He spent at least half an hour watching the pot of soy milk barely raise a degree before we moved it to another burner. Oops!

 LUNCH

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Chili with Chive-Cornmeal Dumplings

Kale and Cabbage "Coleslaw" Salad

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Chili with Cornmeal-Chive Dumplings

Close-up: Butternut Squash and Black Bean Chili with Cornmeal-Chive Dumplings

I've made this chili numerous times, usually in a crock pot. When I first put it on the menu, my thought was one of utility: "OMG, I have no idea what kind of oven space we'll have - I should conserve!" I'm glad I did. Although on paper we had two commericial and one convential oven, the commerical ones only had one rack each. Magic was made in the area of baking that weekend.

I put the chili in several seperate deep hotel pans and used a tablespoon to dolop tiny mounds of the cornmeal-chive batter on top. It was then finished in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the dumplings were cooked through. We worked it out so that everyone got a giant dumpling in their bowl, swimming in the chunky, slow-cooked chili.

Scott used Bok Choy and Kale in the Coleslaw salad since our shipment of vegetables didn't include head cabbage. No problems there and the dressing was awesome. He incorporated a batch of vegan sour cream I made from silken tofu into it. Seperately, the sour cream was sort of bland and tofu-y, but in the dressing it was creamy-awesomeness.

DINNER

Baby Greens in Agave-Cider Vinaigrette

Biscuit-topped Kale and Pinto Bean Pot Pie

Roasted Garlic Potatoes

Rhubarb and Apple Crisp

Biscuit-topped Kale and Pinto Bean Pot Pie, Roasted Potatoes, Apple/Rhubarb Crisp

I've made biscuit-topped pot pie a number of times. I developed my recipe when I needed a new configuration for the New Year's Eve staples collards and black-eyed peas. In this version, we made a last minute decision to use the leftover mushroom gravy from breakfast in the filling and substituted kale and pinto beans. I loved the creaminess the gravy added. Although you cannot see it, there is a biscuit under the gravy somewhere soaking up all the goodness.

I think this was my favorite dinner of the week, and seeing as we ran out of everything on the plate, it might have been everyone else's too! Leftovers saved us - we set out the extra items from previous meals when everything began running out. I kicked myself when I realized the roasted potatoes were such a crowd-pleaser. Of all the items we had that were cheapest and most abundant... potatoes! Duh!

The kitchen crew (myself, Scott and Sister Jen) prepped food for the next day until 11:30 pm. Satuday night is usually when the Heartwood dance takes place and unfortuantely, we missed it this year. Belle Star came out from Charlottsville, VA and I heard they were awesome and everyone had fun tearing it up in the pavilion. Likewise, I had fun squishing 30 pounds of extra firm tofu between my fingers - so there!

Big thanks to Will who stayed to help me mix a 15 gallon vat of tofu quiche filling for breakfast the next morning. You have no idea how helpful that was.

By the time we were through prepping, my legs felt like pudding. Very. Sore. Pudding. I usually have pathetically boney bird legs, but throughout the day a lot of blood had rushed to my feet. I kid you not, my toes were like tubers and I had cankles. One of the most generous and beautiful people I've ever met swooped in to my rescue when she realized I was in pain. Helen, a council member who loves blueberry panckes and also studies Reiki Technique, had asked me a few times if she could rub my feet. Until this moment, I had declined (I'm embarrassed of my toes... I know that's lame). She gave me an incredible knee, calf, foot and toe rub with our nearest resources: olive oil and steamed kitchen towels. I felt all of the tension in my legs release, my fat little toes subside, my cankles un-cankle...

... then she gave my sister the same treatment, which was smart because sisters are very sensitive to inequity. :) I'm just kidding, Jen totally deserved it - she was up since 6:00 am cooking with me! And she's the most anti-morning person I know. That was hard for you, Sister. You did good. <3

Music at the Heartwood Bonfire

Our late-night kitchen crew went outside to share some wine and had a delightful conversation about the practical uses of methane-producing toilets, resulting in a brand new causality dilemma for ya'll to ponder: "What came first: the coffee or the poop?" We think it was the poop. (This probably isn't very funny if you weren't there...)

Jen and I ended the night at the Heartwood bonfire and stayed for a few songs before heading to bed at a very unreasonable hour. I spent barely four hours in my bunk with another full day of cooking ahead... but when at Heartwood...

Heartwood Forest Council, Part 2: First Day of Cooking!

Day one of cooking finally arrived! Even after an exhausting day of food shopping and travel, I was ready to start cooking and especially ready for people to show up! My morning started at 7:30 am, a rather humane time for a cook to wake up, but since I wasn't scheduled to cook breakfast that morning the extra hours were greatly appreciated. I fought briefly with my sister about an appropriate time for her to arrive for kitchen duty before making my way over. Several council members were already awake and meandering about, so I made them a small batch of blueberry pancakes and began prepping. I'd started a huge mess of dried beans soaking overnight and spent most of the morning cooking those off and putting them in freezing containers.

The first meal I prepared was lunch for about 25 of the Forest Council Members. Between lunch and dinner most of the other participants would arrive and their first meal would be dinner.

LUNCH

Kale Salad with Miso Vinaigrette

Tofu and Vegetable Stew in Miso-Ginger Broth

Scallion Pancakes

Batter for scallion pancakes.

Miso/Ginger/Tofu Stew, Kale Salad with Miso Vinaigrette, Scallion Pancakes

DINNER

Cucumber, Radish and Fresh Mint Salad

Channa Masala

Aloo Gobi
Cumin and Garlic Rubbed Pita

Macerated Fruit Salad with Fresh Mint

Front to back: Aloo Gobi, Channa Masala, Basamati Rice, Cumin and Garlic Rubbed Pita

Cucumber, Radish and Mesclun Salad in Lemon-Mint-Cumin Vinaigrette

Fresh Berry Fruit Salad w/ Mint, Agave and Lemon

The fresh berry salad was eaten quickly. It was tossed in an agave-lemon dressing with fresh mint and was easily the most popular thing on the menu that night. One of my favorite cooking moments of the week was watching two council members (Jerry and Michael) decipher my recipe for the fruit salad and talk about best practices for coating the berries in the agave dressing. They had deep discussion about politics and foraging while passing the fruit back-and-forth between two bowls to coat. I'm convinced of all of that made it taste better.

We had leftovers of the Aloo Gobi and rice, which proved very helpful when travel-weary eaters arrived outside of dinner hours. Pretty much if someone is hungry and they show up in the kitchen, I'm going to feed them. It's not just my job, it's also my purpose in life.

After dinner we prepped furiously for the next two days of meals: cooking off all of the beans, chopping onions/carrots/celery and freezing them (we'd run out of fridge space on the first day!), chopping kale for stews, soups and gravies and mixing a few giant batches of country biscuits. Throughout this whole time, a small army of volunteers would trot in and out of the kitchen offering their services as needed. Their help is of critical importance to everything that takes place at Heartwood. It's a lucky thing for me too, because I might not get to meet people if they weren't showing up in the kitchen offering their free time.

Later than evening, my sister and I retreated to rocking chairs on the front porch of the main lodge with two mugs of our "special grape drink." There we reflected on the day, talked through the next morning and watched people arrive.

Heartwood Coordinator Becky stands at the check-in table as folks arrive.

Around 11:00 pm, another full-time cook made it to camp and I gave him a tour of the kitchen. Scott Ellis spent the week prior cooking at the Mountain Justice Training Camp and came directly to Heartwood to help  prepare our menu. Unlike me, Scott has considerable experience cooking in a commercial kitchen (thank God!) so he not only brought a lot of knowledge to the table, but balanced my seat-of-the-pants cooking style. He also showed up with great knives and gear, which cut back on a lot of expletives over the ensuing days... sort of.

My sister and I stayed on the porch until midnight drinking drink and listening to people pass the guitar, sing folk songs, protest songs, Radiohead songs... all of which was very nice. Around midnight I realized I had to be back to the kitchen at 5:30 am and dragged myself to bed. I fell asleep after briefly fighting with Jen about an appropriate time for her to arrive for kitchen duty.

More to come...

Heartwood Forest Council, Part 1: Getting There

Over Memorial Day weekend, the annual Heartwood Forest Council met at Camp Ahistadi in southwestern VA.  In their own words, Heartwood is "a regional network that protects forests and supports community activism in the eastern United States through education, advocacy and citizen empowerment."  I've assisted at their reunions in the past, but was thrilled when I was asked to be the head cook at this year's forest council. Oh, and my big sister Jen was along for the ride.

My challenge was: write recipes for 10 vegan meals that would feed up to 150 people using as many local/non-processed foods as possible. Provide gluten free options at every meal as well as one raw vegetable dish. Order the food and facilitate its arrival to the camp, 4.5 hours away from my home. Purchase food items wholesale from a reputable source and ensure everything (or at least close to everything) is organic. Cook it all up in a kitchen I've never seen. Cake walk. Right? 

Well, did I mention that I was working with a "Jesus" budget? Like... loaves and fishes, people.

I placed the order at the Weaver Street Market in Carrboro, NC less than three days before our pick-up. There was a logistical problem with the co-op we'd planned to use and when I found myself in a pinch less than a week prior, Weaver Street (which is only 30 minutes from where I live) became the obvious choice.

Of course, I had no idea that the amount of food we needed would take up at least 2 palettes, much less that I'd need to do 2-3 carts worth of shopping when I arrived! I honestly believed for weeks I could just haul it in my Toyota Highlander. (Go on, laugh...)

Love. <3

The Weaver Street people hooked us up with that amazing kind of customer service you hear of only in fables or stories about the 1950's. Thank you so much to John and Catherine, who placed the original orders and didn't flinch when I told them I needed 70 lbs of tofu in 2 days. Thank you to the staff who checked us out and helped us find everything we needed in the stores the day of. Thank you to the kale farmer who showed up to meet the weirdos who bought 8 boxes of kale (wait until you see what we did to it!). And the biggest thank you of all to Paul, who got "real" with me on our way to Carrboro, convinced us to rent a U-haul (thank goodness!), then stayed with us all afternoon to make sure we found everything we needed. You're the best, Paul!

Sister lunch at Weaver Street Market Cafe

After all we'd been through that morning, Jen and I sat down for a great lunch of vegan sushi, kale and tabouli at the Weaver Street Cafe. Our friends Becky and Devin joined us at Weaver Street to carpool to Heartwood and we began to pack up the trucks. At least three of the Weaver Street staff members took time to help us pack the truck so food wouldn't slide or spoil. They even packed the delicate produce, like berries, broccoli and mesclun greens in enough ice to last us the entire trip! Like I said, it was a mass food order fairytale. :)

Heartwood Food on the U-haul

This is only about two-thirds of what we brought. What you can't see is that this wall of boxes goes about 8 feet back! About 65+ pounds of tofu went into my car along with soymilk, earthbalance and other perishable items. Becky and I rode an entire leg of the trip wrapped in her sleeping bag with the A/C blasting to keep the fresh foods cold. I could barely feel my fingers.

As we drove west there were threats of tornadoes, missed turns and winding treacherous roads that Google sent us and our U-haul down. Eventually we made it to camp and a group that was already settled in helped us unload.

Camp Ahistadi from the road.

Of course, this is not what it looks like when you pull up at 11:30 pm in the pouring rain driving a U-haul full of vegan food. This picture was taken the next afternoon when life was much, much more serene.

Cooking and food porn posts are coming up next!