Gluten Free Vegan Enchalidas and Loss

 Before I start anything tonight, I need to give a huge acknowledgement to a beautiful woman. Sarah Geer revamped my blog page... JUST LOOK HOW TALENTED SHE IS!! I am eternally grateful for the fresh, vibrant life that her talent has breathed on this site. She is available to do yours, I think her work speaks for itself, but since I am a huge fan of her work, I will speak for her, as well! Thank you, Sarah.

Grandpa's kids and grand kids singing hymns at his memorial

 I am not sure that death is ever really going to be understood with the dimmed vision that we have.  My husband's grandfather, and really one of the only men I have ever called "grandpa." passed away on February 10th. He was 89, and in these last few years of his life, we all watched as life left his eyes, before his body. It was painful. He left behind a rich legacy, and it will live on. He was imperfect but he was a kind man, and those are rare. Grandpa farmed. I believe our love of growing food trickled down from him, to mom, to us. It pretty much runs through the whole family, this ability to grow food. In fact all of Grandpa's kids do it, and most of us, grand kids. We spent over a week gathered together, as a family, having dinner together. It was a comforting thing, to be surrounded by family after a loss.

I am not a fan of loss, in fact, it is pretty overwhelming to me. My grandmother, whom has lived next to us since we both built our homes, around 7 years ago, is going to sell that home. that my kids continue to sneak over to. That loss is heartbreaking to me. But life changes and so it is until we will no longer have to deal with death of any sort, ever again! Until then, I simply honor the tears that flow, as I think that there will come a time when my kids will no longer stray over to the gigantic yellow house, next door.

In the next couple of days, I will start seedlings!!! I am very excited! Last year I started them around this time, and it worked out pretty well. I want pumpkins, kale, collards, carrots, onions, broccoli, beets, cabbages, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, lettuce, peas, spinach, chard, and radishes!! Food!!! yet again!! FOOD!!! I'll post some pictures of my indoor set up. We are also going to have chicks and a few turkeys. They come in on march 8th. The house will be up and busy with kids wanting to bother the chicks...it will also prove to be a learning experience for our dog, Lexi. Lexi loves birds, this is not so good. She will have to learn that she cannot bite them.

This leads me to discuss my home's diet more candidly. In the past I have eaten exclusively vegan and even ate raw for a few months, last year. The way my family eats in not any one way, now, though. So though this blog is going to be exclusively vegan and gluten free, that doesn't reflect how we eat all the time. My whole house does not eat dairy (there are extremely rare instances when this is compromised on) and besides my oldest son and I, the rest of the house eats gluten. We make healthier choices about our food, but that does not mean you cannot find an example of an exception. Toby dip net fishes at Chitna for salmon, in the summer. We have chickens that we get eggs from. I will raise turkeys and prepare them for thanksgiving. I eat pretty much gluten free, and vegan, but that is not always the case.

I am pretty confident that you will not ever find us in line at a fast food restaurant, or grabbing some ready made meal from the grocery store (or even bread products). In the summer, you won't really see me at any grocery store. I am in my garden or at the farmers market. I buy my bulk from azurestandard and my favorite local health food store, both are amazing.

Back to my reason for this post, Enchiladas! I have tried making this dish with quinoa instead of rice, and I have added and taken away ingredients from the sauce. but I loved the way this came out!!! The secret is in the rice and most importantly, the homemade sauce!!! YUMMO!

here is what you will need to impress anyone who likes enchiladas!

Gluten Free Vegan Enchiladas

1/2 medium onion diced
2c of chopped spinach (optional)
1-2 diced zuchinni (optional)
2c of cooked bhutan red rice (I believe this was my secret pizazz ingredient)
2 cans of black beans (I use my pressure cooker to make my beans, it is awesome)
how ever generous you want to be with daiya cheese
and one package of these tortillas

this is what you will need to make the amazing enchilada sauce that will make, or break your tasty dish

5c of broth or water
2c of tomato sauce
1/2c of chili powder
2T of cumin powder
1T of garlic powder
1T of salt
1/2t of cinnamon powder
1/4 and 2T of buckwheat flour
1/3c of coconut oil
----in a pan put oil over medium heat, whisk flour and oil, constantly add flour and rest of dry ingredients....followed by the broth/water..... bring to a boil, stirring constantly (about 3-5 minutes)....add tomato sauce and let sit... the sauce will thicken, I have found that if the sauce is too thick, it won't soak through the enchilada layers properly....and nobody wants dry enchiladas!! so you can add more water, if needed.

in a 9x13 oiled casserole dish begin to layer....tortillas layed down, followed by rice, onions, beans, zucchini , chopped spinach, and daiya cheese (organic corn would be good too). Pour a generous amount of sauce...make sure it's saturated.  Repeat the layers again...making sure that there's enough sauce to almost bubble over....top with tortillas and some daiya sprinkled....

baking in 350 oven for 1 hour.... Enjoy!!



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Change and Vegan Hungarian Mushroom Soup!!

I have a few moments! The house is quiet, I have errands to run, but not quite now. I have this hour all to myself. It's morning, the sun is finally coming back to the north! That is a cause to celebrate, no matter what!!! Sickness made a rude appearance in our home, but is finally begrudgingly leaving. So there is much much hope in the air. Regardless of what circumstances may look like in your life, if you live in the north, when the hint of spring comes your way, hope comes with the sun. You may just have to live here to truly understand.

I was reading over the past several entries....Wow! A whole lot of change has occurred in my life since November. I am not sure where to begin. First, our Xmas was a refreshing time with God and family. My relationship with the Lord has simply grown, and continues to change everything about me...what I thought was important, who He is, my utter dependency on Him...for...everything!, and so as a chasm forms between what I believed and was is true...change takes place all around my life, beginning with the inside.

We came home from our vacation and had the opportunity to take in a teenager with her then 4 month old. We jumped at the chance, and prayed through the whole experience (and continue to). It has been a choice that has brought about much more noise, patience, laughter, and joy in our home. The transition is still happening, but it has been smoother than I could have ever imagined. Our family of 5 jumped up to  7. And technically I have become a "nana". I feel very cool! Parenting a teenager is a whole different ball game. I know I am in over my head, so I pray, a lot.

I am officially a Romanian citizen. I was elated to get the paperwork. Unfortunately, it seems when one door opens, all that is on the other side is 7 more bolted doors, and all I have is a feather to try to open them with. In order to get my Romanian passport I must make an appointment and fly out, in person, to the embassy in Washington DC, but I cannot got there without a current greencard. So what should be extremely simple...getting my green-card renewed, apparently is not.  I won't bother you with my rants, but it should be as simple as turning it the paperwork, them sending me to a place to get fingerprinted and have a new photo taken....then voila. The max time that they said they take is 90 days.  I applied on Oct. 1st of 2012, I still have not heard back. Until then, I cannot go to the Romanian embassy. After I get the Romanian paperwork settled and done, I will have to get the American paperwork done, as well.  I am not discouraged, but it is daunting and seems impossible. I must have a current Romanian AND American passport before I can start the actual adoption paperwork. sigh. So I pray, and wait.

One of the biggest changes about having a teenager and infant in my life is the unending hours of driving them around. I have a new route for dropping and picking up kids from school (none of my kids ride the bus) and top it off with doctor's appointments, glasses appointments, and everything else, and you have a mom, very motivated to teach her teen how to drive!

So when I have a moment to finally be in the kitchen, I feel grateful! I came up with this recipe out of a need. Thursday mornings are my favorite mornings. I have a bible study that I go to, and afterwards, I go to a local bookstore and get a salad. The problem is I want their Hungarian mushroom soup!! They have the soup in containers to buy. I stare at them, trying not to hear their taunts "Eat me, Eat me" it calls. Alas, with all the diary, there is no way I ever eat it. Surely there must be a better way. So I set out to make one of my favorite soups, and I was not dissapointed!

Here's what you need:

a medium onion chopped
2T of soy free earth balance (you can use olive oil, but for the buttery taste, I really recommend this!)
2 12 ozs of mushrooms (if you can do a variety of kinds, it's better, more textures)
2T of paprika (the fresher, the better)
1T of dried dill
3T of flour (I used buckwheat)
1 can of coconut milk (I prefer native forrests brand)
3-4 c of broth or water
salt and pepper to taste

super simple....set pot on medium heat, put diced up onions and earth balance, still till onions are translucent....add paprika, dill, flour, and stir......add broth and mushroom.....let heat on high till a slight boil comes on, then let simmer....gently pour the coconut milk, stir...and enjoy!!!

My teenager, who doesn't like mushrooms, gobbled it up, which equals great success in my world!



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Gluten Free Vegan Blondies

It's one of those mornings. I am procrastinating the chores that I have to do outside. It's -8 out, and for us, up in the hills, that is soooo cold! I will have to put on my carhart overalls, a brand name I'd never heard of till I met my husband, and brave the cold to feed the chickens and haul in some fire wood.  I'm by our warm fire, my two younger children, who don't have school, are bothering me to entertain them. The sun is lazily making it's rising appearance (it's 9:30) and I am content to just sit and type.

This year I am making all the presents that we are going to give for Xmas. It's a first. I have completed 2 of the 7 blankets that I am gifting to only close family. I have made various cowls, mittens, and hats for the few outskirts of friends that I feel to give to. In the past I have gotten carried away with trying to buy the perfect gift.....for everyone. I no longer feel that fits me. It's strange to look back and see how much one can change. In the past name brand gifts made me squeal...now, not so much. I'm content to watch my kids open a few gifts, while I sip some warm tea by the fire, with my husband.

This year we are also blessed enough to get to spend the Xmas and New Year holiday season with my bother in law and sister in law, and their mob! My mother in law and father in law will fly down with us and the kids and we will all be together. That is the extent of our Xmas spending. We are all super excited to leave the dark cold and spend it with people we really like, who happen to also be family. There will be 12 children, and I can't help but wonder where our two little girls are. I am praying a lot, as I wait on two countries to answer my paperwork. And it also makes me wonder what next year will be like. Sigh.

On to some recipes

Ever since I first discovered blondies, I became a huge fan! You can bake them in a glass dish, spread the dough, layer with jelly, chocolate chips and then add a little bit of the batter on top....but,  I prefer them in bite size mini muffin tins. It's much easier to ration your portion, or tell yourself..."it's just a little bite".... Oh, but what a bite! (be careful those bites do add up and before you know it....someone ate them all!!)


The batter will harden the more time that it is exposed, so you want to try to add the jelly as quickly as you can. Finding some really good organic jam/jelly and mini chocolate chips is important to this treat. I was using the cascadian farm raspberry jam, but learned that they spent money supporting the fight for Americans to not have Gmo's labelled (proposition 37 in California), so I am promptly moving on to another source. I'll let you know what I find.

Blondies!

Preheat oven to 340 and prepare your pan of mini muffin tray with liners
first your dry ingredients....

1/2c of garbanzo/fava bean mixture (I grind my own and mix 3/4 c fava/1c garb) you can use bob's
1/3c buckwheat flour
1/3c quinoa flour (If you wanted to make this grainless, you could simply mix 1/2c of buckwheat and quinoa, instead of the 1/3c ratios)...ahh! I just saw how expensive this is!! it costs about what I pay for a 25lb bag of quinoa! read below!
1/3c millet flour (again, I buy all these grains, and grind in my vita mix, saves LOTS of money!)
2/3c of coconut palm sugar
1/2t salt
2t of baking powder
1/2t baking soda
1/4c of ground flax or chia (chia is much kinder to the digestive tract)
 --mix all--

add your wet ingredients...
1/3c of applesauce
2T of vanilla extract
1/3c oil (coconut, or whatever you prefer)

 Once you have your batter, you will scoop to the 2/3 of the tins with batter and using a butter knife I put dabs of jam on top followed by a few chocolate chips (4?) and then I add another touch of the batter to top it off and sprinkle a few more chocolate chips

If you're using a baking glass dish, the same would apply...spread the batter on the bottom of the dish, saving some of the batter to plop on top....layer with jam, and chocolate chips...followed by remaining batter and more chocolate chips...bake in the over about 15 minutes..... depending on your oven....when they come out, they will be mushy, so let them cool down before attempting your bite, or cutting into the dish......mmmm!


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Thankfulness and Raw Pumpkin Cheesecake!!!

Happy Day of Thankfulness!!!!

I hosted Thanksgiving for the very first time this year! I completely enjoyed myself and the whole process. We set up the living room all opened up, and realized how wonderful it was to have all this space! Our kitchen/living room area is all open, and I love it. It is now still left open.

We had my mother and father in law over, whom I absolutely adore. We also had my mother in laws brother and their two children whom are married, with their families. It was perfect. The children played nicely and we were able to connect and have rich conversation. We talked about God, and what ever else was going on in our lives. They are all people that can relax and make you laugh. So we laughed, and we ate.

I prepared the turkey (this is a turkey that was loved and I took care of in every step of the way). I also made some amazing stuffing (yep, I was even surprised how well it came out!). I made some gluten free cornbread (sooo good!) and spelt rolls. I also made a couple of raw cheesecakes.

I really like making the raw cheesecakes. They are extremely easy, you can substitute sweeteners. I love how simple raw treats usually are. So I am posting this recipe because it was requested by a few of my dear family members.

Pumpkin/Vanilla Cheesecake

soak 2c of cashews for at least 2 hours.
I make two layers of flavors. In a spring foam pan sprinkle the bottom with unsweetened coconut flakes. I crush (you can use a food processor) walnuts and add a pinch of salt and some raisins and spread them as the crust. 

split the cashews 1 1/2 cups of the cashews and set aside the other 1/2 c ... in a high powered blender add to make your vanilla layer

1 1/2c soaked cashews
pinch of salt
half a fresh lemon juice squeezed
1/2 c agave
1T vanilla extract..........Blend........
slowly add 1/2c of melted extra virgin coconut oil

mix for a minute, until a smooth puree....
pour into the prepared spring foam pan.

with the rest of the cashews, pour in the blender
*I love to buy an organic pumpkin, or grow one, in early fall at the farmers market, and prepare it for this...very simple, just cut in half, poke holes with fork, set on cookie sheet, bake on 350 for a half hour, check to see if it's done*

1/2c of cashews
2c of pumpkin pulp or puree
1T of ground cinnamon
1t of ground nutmeg
1/2 c of agave

pour on top and let set in the freezer........

This year, I am doing something different. Instead of buying gifts, I will be making all the gifts that I give. I am kinda finding it freeing to not have to try soooo hard to find some "perfect gift", instead, out of love, I will make something that I hope the recipient likes. I have a few more things to make, then I will be done.

May we all discover how much richer it is to give than to receive. How much joy there is in finding gratitude, no matter where we are, or what we have. How great this short life can be. Pin It Now!