College

This semester, I'm in a class called Child Health, Safety and Nutrition. I'm lucky to have a teacher who is also on a plant-based, non-dairy, whole foods diet. After being diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer, she decided to radically change her diet! It's been four years now and she says that she would never go back to the diet she once had. She was careful not to say that she was vegan in class even saying as much.  I don't understand the distinction, the way she defines her diet is veganism. Oh well, some people are scared of scaring people. Vegans are super scary, dontcha know?  B O O !

My research paper is covering vegan diets and while I was researching the subject, I discovered that a poet I admire was pretty much the first vegan celebrity! Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Love's Philosophy

The fountains mingle with the river   
And the rivers with the ocean,   
The winds of heaven mix for ever   
With a sweet emotion;   
Nothing in the world is single, 
All things by a law divine   
In one another's being mingle—   
Why not I with thine?   
   
See the mountains kiss high heaven,   
And the waves clasp one another; 
No sister-flower would be forgiven   
If it disdain'd its brother;   
And the sunlight clasps the earth,   
And the moonbeams kiss the sea—   
What is all this sweet work worth 
If thou kiss not me? 

Read more poems here.

In the vein of 'Love Week,' here is a decidedly morbid tale. Mr. Shelley drowned before the age of thirty while sailing home from Livorno, Italy. His vessel, dubbed Don Juan, was caught in a storm and he did not survive. His body was identified by the book, Lamia by Keats, which he always kept in his pocket. When Mr. Shelley's body was cremated, his heart did not burn due to a condition that caused his heart to calcify. The heart was instead given to his wife, Mary Shelley who legend has it, kept the heart in her desk drawer. The heart was later buried with their son.  Source.

Vegan Shepherds Pie

What can I say? This is a hearty meal for the continuing (but not forever!) wintertime.
It may seem complicated but it is totally worth the effort.

Filling

3 1/2 cups water or vegetable broth
1 cup frozen peas
1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1" pieces, set the tops aside!
3 carrots, cubed
3 celery, large dice
1/2 package Daiya cheddar style cheese
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red onion, diced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
3 Tbs flour
1/2 C mushrooms, sliced

Potato topping 

5 medium Russet potatoes
1 clove garlic
2 Tbs margarine or coconut oil
1/2 cup almond milk
pinch of salt

Crust  (optional)

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup olive oil  (works best if chilled in freezer  for 1 hour)
3 Tbs cold water
2 sheets of wax paper
a rolling pin

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

FILLING: Coat the bottom of your large stock pot with oil. When the oil is heated up, add onion and garlic. Cook for about 10 min. or until onion is translucent. Add carrots, asparagus, and celery. Saute for about 5 minutes or more. Add the water and the flour and stir until the flour dissolve. Bring to a boil and then let simmer until the veggies are al dente. Periodically stir the pot. Add the mushrooms and peas and continue to let it simmer for about 10 more minutes or until the mushrooms are done. Stir in the Daiya cheese and leave on at a very low temp. 

For the TOPPING: make mashed potatoes, basically.  Cover cubed potatoes with water and let boil for 15 minutes. Drain the water and add the garlic, margarine, almond milk and salt and about a 1/4th of what is left of the Daiya cheese. Mash together.  

CRUST: While the potatoes are boiling, prepare the crust. Use a medium sized bowl and mix both flours and the salt. Then add the chilled olive oil. Roughly fork the mixture and do not over work it if you want a flaky crust! Add a tablespoon of the cold water at a time and mix it with a fork. Roll the dough into a ball, if it doesn't stick together then add more water. Lay the ball of dough on the waxed paper and knead it a couple of times.  Place the other sheet of waxed paper on top and roll the dough into a very thin crust. Make it large enough to cover the bottom and sides of your baking dish. I used a round Pyrex casserole dish. Remove the top piece of waxed paper and turn your bowl upside down and lift up the waxed paper and carefully guide the dough into the bowl. 

Once the crust is in place, fill it with the veggies. Not all of the filling will fit and so I ended up using another smaller casserole dish and poured the remainder into it sans crust. Spoon up some potatoes and flatten them between your palms. Carefully lay the potato topping onto both of the shepherds pies. Decorate the top with the asparagus heads. 

Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.

Servings: 6-8 (depending on how generous the portions are!)

This recipe was adapted from: http://thekindlife.com/blog/2013/03/vegan-shepard-pie/

A good soak.

Do you own a bathtub? I haven't had a bathtub in almost a decade which is a CRYING SHAME! Every time I go on vacation, our lodging must supply a bathtub. Now that I know how to make my own bath salts, I crave a bathtub even more! Bath salts are also great for dry skin.  Pour about a tablespoon into your hand and add a little water to form a paste, then massage into areas of dry skin. Rinse.

   

BATH SALTS

3 cups Epsom salt

1 cup Sea salt

10-20 drops of essential oil 

2 Tbs. jojoba oil

2 bowls 

waxed paper

cookie sheet

glass jars

Alternative additions:

1/2 cup baking soda 

dried herbs

Combine the salts in a metal bowl.

Mix in the jojoba oil and then if you want to do two types of scents,

separate the salts into two bowls and add your essential oils to each one.  

Slowly mix the ingredients together making sure to break up the clumps.  

Spread the salts out onto a cookie sheet that's covered with waxed paper

and let dry for 24 hours before bottling.  

...that's all there is to it! 

Sweet bark without a bite.

I've been making nut clusters this winter but this week, I decided to just pour all of the chocolate directly onto the nuts and then break them apart, like when you make brittle. The clusters looked prettier but the bark has more nuts! I used the Enjoy Life chocolate chips which I melted down with my macgyvered double boiler. I used a pyrex, oven safe bowl and a glass pot that I filled with about an inch or two of water.

Nuts aren't cheap so this time around, I bought the student trail mix from the bulk section at our local health food store (New Pioneer Co-op).It has peanuts, raisins, sunflower seeds, cashews and almonds in it.

My rigged up double boiler in action. 

Stirring helps the chocolate melt faster!

        Cover cookie sheet with waxed paper and spread nuts over top.

             

       

     Spreading the chocolate wasn't as easy as I was hoping for.

         

      Break the bark apart after the chocolate hardens.

Nutty Chocolate Bark

Ingredients

3-4 cups Trail Mix (or any kind of nuts that you desire)

1 bag Enjoy LIfe chocolate chips 

small cookie sheet 

Waxed paper

Directions

Cover cookie sheet with waxed paper. Spread trail mix evenly across the cookie sheet. Set your double boiler up. I make my double boiler out of a small glass pot and a medium sized pyrex oven-safe bowl. First, fill the pot with about 2 inches of water then place the bowl on top of it. The bowl does not need to be submerged into the water. Bring water to a bowl and stir the chocolate occasionally. When the chocolate is completely melted, remove it from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Spread chocolate over the nuts using a spoon to guide it. Place the pan in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardens. Lastly, break the bark apart into as many pieces as you see fit. As always, ENJOY! 

P.S.

Nut clusters are prettier!

Melt the chocolate as stated above.  

Spoon it onto the waxed paper and 

add the nuts and dried fruit any 

which way.