Vegan Baklava & Squash Puff Pastry

Want to impress your family and friends with a special treat...then go get some Filo dough and put together some yummy goodies. Fast and easy! 
Made without sugar, honey, butter or cheese. Yes...they do taste great! No kidding...you will be surprised how easy it is to prepare. 

Walnut/Apple Baklava 

Plated with agave for extra sweet richness.

Basic recipe:

Use three sheets of organic filo.

Brush each sheet with natural oil or margarine.

Carefully turn all the filos sheets over and wipe with 

the oil or margarine.

Slice the filo into 2 inch strips.

Place about a tsp. of the walnut apple mixture* on the short end and fold up into a triangle shape.

Wipe a little more oil/marg. on top.

Bake for 15 minutes of until light golden brown.

Bake at 350 degrees.

*walnut apple mixture: 

1/2 cup of raw organic walnuts

1 peeled organic apple

Raw agave to sweeten

process in a food processor until chunky.

Squash Puff Pastry

Lay out one filo sheet.  Brush on oil or melted natural margarine.  Repeat. I used three sheets total.

Place the roasted squash* that has been sauteed** and seasoned on the long end and roll up.

Make slits on the top every 2 inches.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown on top.

Bake at 350 degrees. 

* peel the squash (any kind, acorn, butternut or pumpkin) 

and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes.

Roast in the oven until soft...be careful not to burn them.

**Saute the squash in natural oil or margarine...add salt and pepper to taste. Cool before making the filo Puff Pastry.

Important!!!...Keep the filo dough from drying out. Lay the open filo dough on a piece of plastic wrap or to be eco ,use a damp towel and then lay a damp towel on top. 

The Sensual Vegetable FaceBook page

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sensual-Vegetable/196875967084981

4 Squash Shepard's Pie (or dairy/eggless quiche) made with Cashew Cream.

Acorn, Butternut, Kabocha, Pumpkin

Ingredients:

4 squashes

5 potatoes

Raw Cashews

fresh sage

nutmeg

salt

pepper

olive oil

Pie crust

(I used organic ready made pie crusts)

 Peeled and cut into cubes and ready to roast.

Roast at 400 degrees until soft.

I also roasted potatoes (not shown)

Saute fresh sage in olive oil. Be careful not to burn it.

Add the roasted squash and potatoes. 

Salt and pepper to taste.

Fill the pie crust half way with the Cashew Cream sauce.

Cashew cream: Blend one cup of raw cashew with enough water to make a thick cream sauce. Add 2 tsp's of olive oil, salt, pepper and a bit of nutmeg.

Then place the squash mixture on top...it will sink in a little.

Cover with tin foil and pop some holes in the top.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes then remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes.

For this one I sauteed another patch of squash but added the cashew cream directly into the squash.

Food Day - October 24th

http://www.foodday.org/about

Food Day is a nationwide celebration and a movement toward more healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. Food Day, created by CSPI, is powered by a diverse coalition of food movement leaders, organizations, and people from all walks of life. Food Day takes place annually on October 24 to address issues as varied as health and nutrition, hunger, agricultural policy, animal welfare, and farm worker justice. The ultimate goal of Food Day is to strengthen and unify the food movement in order to improve our nation’s food policies. Join this push for a stronger, more united food movement by signing up to organize or attend Food Day events in your community.

The foods we eat should bolster our health, but the contemporary American diet is actually contributing to several hundred thousand premature deaths from heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and cancer each year. What's more, the way our food is produced is all too often harmful to farm and food workers, the environment, and farm animals. The American food system has created a diet of cheap, salty, overly processed packaged foods, high-calorie sugary drinks, and fast-food made of white bread, fatty grain-fed factory-farmed meat, and French fries.

Food Day aims to transform the American diet. It’s time for America to Eat Real! All Americans—regardless of their age or race or income or geographic location—should be able to select healthy diets and avoid obesity, heart disease, and other diet related conditions.

Our priorities:

• Promote safer, healthier diets
• Support sustainable and organic farms
• Reduce hunger
• Reform factory farms to protect the environment
• Support fair working conditions for food and farm workers

A Pair

Raw Apple crumb pie

Oops...Cut a piece before taking a photo.  

Yummy...and it's only apples, nuts and dates.

2 cups of mixed nuts - I used pecans, walnuts and macadamias
5 apples - any kind you like
6-7 pitted dates
1/4 cup of almond meal or flour

Prep: 

Dehydrate 2 apples - Cut into slices and dehydrate overnight on medium. 

Prepare the nuts: place raw nuts in a dehydrator for 6-8 hours to "roast" them. It really brings out the crispiness without really roasting them.


Preparing:

Pie crust: In a food processor pulse together 2 cups of mixed nuts. I used pecans, walnuts and macadamias. Add 3-4 pitted dates. Process until it sticks together when you pinch it.
Press the crust mixture into a glass pie pan.


Apple filling: Use a mandoline to slice 3 apples or slice very thin - optional - remove skin.
Process one apple with 2 dates. Makes a applesauce mixture.
Mix the sliced apples with the apple sauce and place over the pie crust.


Crumb topping:

Place the rest of the nuts in a processor add 2 dates, almond flour and the dehydrated apples. Pulse to until it make a grainy mixture...not too small.
Crumble on top of the pie and pinch some into bigger crumbs.

Optional :

"Bake" in a dehydrator for 3 or more hours on middle.  This will meld the flavors and crisp the topping.

Vegetarian - Thailand

Check out Vegetarian - Thailand 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vegetarian-Thaiand/485929018085443

Hilltop Hanover Farm

http://www.hilltophanoverfarm.org/

Hilltop Hanover Farm and Environmental Center is a working crop farm and environmental educational center located in Yorktown Heights, NY. The farm was a former dairy farm dating back to the 1600’s. Today the farm is a regional education center that offers programs on healthy and sustainable food production and teaches skills for small-scale suburban and urban farming techniques, illustrating sustainable living practices for the region and local communities.

The farm features demonstration models for backyard farming, rainwater harvesting, composting, and greenroof technology. Visitors can hike the farm’s 3.5 miles of woodland trails, picnic on the farm grounds, purchase a CSA share, or produce from our farm stand or at U-Pick during the growing season, or attend any of our numerous classes and lectures. Hilltop Hanover Farm offers tours, classes and field trips to school groups, garden clubs, and scout troops.

The center is committed to donating 10% of annual vegetable production to local food pantries and warmly welcomes volunteers.

  NYC is due south and only a little more than an hour away.

The leaves are just starting to change.

Not sure what this is.

Fresh from the farm

Will become:

Cauliflower soup

Leeks for the Mac and "Cheese" (Cashew)

Kale chips

Fresh corn tortillas

Creamed carrots

Roasted eggplant

Dehydrated Kale chips with cashew cheese...Yum!

Kale

Fresh from the Farm

Hilltop Hanover Farm on Yorktown Heights, NY

Washed and Spun

Dry and ready to be tossed with the 

Cashew Cheese sauce.

Break the leaves in half...leaving big pieces.

I like to remove the lower leaves from the stem.

The three key ingredients.

Nutritional yeast - 1/2 cup.

Raw Cashews  - 2 cups

Pepperdews (or red peppers can be used) - 1 cup

For 2 bunches of kale use

1 cup of cashew cheese sauce.

 Add the cashews and cover with water, add the pepperdews, nutritional yeast, sea salt and a pinch of cayenne. Blend until creamy...adjust to your taste.

Pour over the raw kale and mix with your hands...it needs to get in the folds of the leaves.

Racked and ready to dry.

3 trays with Cashew Cheese.

The bottom rack is just olive oil, salt, pepper 

and garlic powder.

I start out with the dehyrator on high for the first 2 two hours

Then adjust it to mid way for the rest of the time.

This batch seemed to take longer than previous

batches...with any drying, you need to keep

checking. The chips are done when they are crunchy.

Questions about dehydrating?  Just ask.

Kale chips can be done in a oven...but be careful not to burn them.  Turn the oven on high and get it real hot...then turn it off...when it get to about 200 degrees...place the tray of kale in the oven and put the oven back on to the lowest temp. possible...Keep checking...you might have to turn the oven on and off...so as to not over bake the chips.

Tofu Shirataki noodles...quick and easy dinner

Dinner in 30 minutes.

Red pepper/walnut puree, creamed carrots with agave, braised tofu with crispy ginger and sesame seeds, tofu noodles with roasted almond oil and scallions.  Side of arugula salad with a sweet/tangy dressing.

All prepared from what I happened to have had in the frig.

Red Pepper: Sautee the red peppers, when almost soft ...add the walnuts, sautee for a few minutes...let cool.  In a food processor...puree with some olive oil, fresh garlic and some sea salt. I also added some cayenne.

Carrots: Simmer carrots or steam until soft. 

In a food process...puree until creamy...add some veggie

margarine, salt and a bit on un-sweetened soy milk...add a little agave to pump up the sweetness.

Tofu: Braise the tofu in olive oil..but first cut into 1/2" think slices and let sit on a towel or paper towel 

to draw out the excess water.

Add some tamari ...as it is cooking and let the tofu brown.

Remove the tofu and add the ginger...which has been chopped up ...fry up until crispy...add the tofu back in.

Noodles: Drain the noodles from the package and rinse well with cold water. Cook as directed...15 seconds before draining add the cut up scallions. After draining...place back in the pot, add the roasted almond oil to taste, tamari and sesame seeds.  Saute for a minute...this really helps separate the noodles and makes them less rubbery.

Fresh Herbs...picked and dried in a dehydrator.

Tomatoes...racked and ready to dry.

Sliced thin and will be ready in only 8 hours.

Amazing taste...fresh tomatoes only.

Red on red.

Fruit or Vegetable....What do you think?

Botanically, a tomato is a fruit the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant. However, the tomato has a much lower sugar content than other edible fruits, and is therefore not as sweet. Typically served as part of a salad or main dish of a meal, rather than at dessert, it is considered a vegetable for most culinary uses. Tomatoes are not the only food source with this ambiguity: avocados, eggplants, cucumbers and squash of all kinds (such as zucchini and pumpkins are all botanically fruits, yet cooked as vegetables.

This dispute has led to legal speculation in the United States. In 1887, U.S. tariff laws that imposed a duty on vegetables, but not on fruits, caused the tomato's status to become a matter of legal importance. The U.S. Supreme court settled this controversy on May 10, 1893, by declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, based on the popular definition that classifies vegetables by use, that they are generally served with dinner and not dessert .The holding of this case applies only to the interpretation of the Tariff act of March 3, 1883, and the court did not purport to reclassify the tomato for botanical or other purposes.