Vegan, Gluten-Free, Flavorful and Nutrient-Packed! SWEET POTATO BISCUITS AND BEAN GRAVY!

I AM SO STOKED OVER THIS, CAN'T YOU TELL BY MY CAPS LOCK?!

Pictures and precise measurements coming soon!

This recipe is one of my favorite brunch recipes, though it's not one that I'll make for just anyone, as it's not as easy to throw together as tofu scramble. I guess when 'baking' is involved, I automatically think 'strenuous labor' or something of that manner. It also uses a blender, which means I might as well sign the rest of the day away for dishes, right? Nah, it's really not that bad at all, and ugh it's so worth it.

This recipe (or really, combination of recipes) came about because I had been trying to find a vegan biscuits and gravy recipe that's not only delicious, but also was not just gluten + gluten + gluten. Most tend to be biscuits + flour-based roux + gluten-based veggie sausage. I do not need all'a that stuff.

First, we start with the Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits, which are ripped straight from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. (Whom I fawned over in this other blog post already.) The only thing I do differently is use Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour rather than 'regular' flour. It works very well for these biscuits, as the sweet potatoes already give them a different texture.

Isa's Sweet Potato Drop Biscuit Recipe
1 cup mashed cooked sweet potato
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour, all purpose flour, or in this case- Bob's Red Mill GF Flour (plus 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2-3 tablespoons of cold water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper (you can skip the paper, the biscuits will just have dark bottoms).

In a medium-size bowl, mix together the mashed sweet potatoes, oil, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, and salt. Use a sifter to sift in the flour, baking powder, and nutmeg.

Fold the flour into the sweet potato mixture with a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened and crumbly; be careful not to over mix! Add 2 tablespoons of water and knead 5-6 times until the dough holds together, adding the extra water if needed. Don’t knead too much or it will toughen the biscuits. 

Drop the dough in golf ball size pieces onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the tops are lightly brown and firm to the touch.

Okay, now here comes the fun part- I get to try to transcribe a recipe I don't measure! This will all be approximations. Let's give it a shot. This gravy recipe came about because I'd tried making bean gravies that ended up too thick and grainy, and I'd also tried flour-based gravies that lacked substance. So, let's do a bit of both!

Panda's Bean Gravy
2-4 cloves minced garlic
1/2-1 diced onion
a good amount of oil/butter/Earth Balance
a few tablespoons to 1/4 cup of your choice of flour
1 can beans (I prefer white beans, but any soft beans will do.)
1/2 cup water or veggie stock
herbs
salt and pepper to taste

In a blender or food processor, blend the can of beans with about 1/2 cup water until smooth. Sometimes I add fresh herbs to this mixture for easy chopping. 

Then, make a roux. In a saucepan, sauté the onions and garlic until browned in about 4-5 tablespoons of oil/butter. There should be some extra oil in the pan for the roux- add more if needed. Whisk in the flour slowly. I often use enough flour that it turns into a paste, because this ensures a thick gravy. Slowly whisk in the blended bean mixture to make the gravy. Water down if needed for desired consistency.

Season to taste with salt, pepper, and herbs. Nutritional yeast works well, too! Oh, and I usually add a squirt or two of Bragg's Liquid Aminos.

Serve the biscuits and gravy on a bed of greens. Top with diced fresh tomato! Or maybe sun-dried tomatoes. That's a good idea. I'll have to try that next time.

-Panda

Pumpkin Goodness!

.Why I love fall, besides Halloween, is mother fuckin' pumpkins! Pumpkin bread is one of my classics and this time it was a twofer. Here at the Green Tortoise Hostel, we have two lovely gluten-intolerant ladies, who deserve to eat just as many yummy things. I've never worked with gluten-free flour before, this was definitely an experiment. But I has success! Along with two gluten-free loafs, there was a regular loaf, and a variety of pumpkin seeds. So lets get going...

Bubble seed!
It was a very peculiar white pumpkin.

The whole pumpkin bread began when I found out that Chelsey, one of the hostel's concierge, usually received a loaf for her birthday. It also being around Halloween, I wanted a pumpkin, and last year I discovered that the white one are unique in taste and texture (great for pumpkin butter!). (No picture for Chelsey's bread)

This is Otter and this is her gluten-free loaf.
She's awesome circus folk.

This is Colleen's loaf, she's my awesome manager, unfortunately not present for picture. She supplied the gluten-free flour, Red Mills brand.
That decimated plate in the background was the unbleached flour loaf for everyone else.

Totally not a vegan loaf. Melted butter, eggs, brown sugar, sugar, ginger, nutmeg, paprika, and a bit of baking powder.

And the pumpkin seeds! Three kinds (L to R): Cayenne pepper/paprika/salt/garlic powder/nutmeg, brown sugar/paprika/salt/nutmeg/pepper, turmeric/curry/garlic powder/paprika. Slightly dry roasted then, lightly drizzled with olive oil.

Now I want more. I shall see what Pike's Market has in store for me.
Enjoy!

Comfort and Discovery

New favorite thing: GOLDEN BEETS! Sooo tastey. Also Uwajimaya supermarket in the international district is magnificent. This together, well, noms are bound to happen.

First Round:
At Lexy and Mike's abode, after running around Pike's Market, with Fullsail's Wassail and Nikasi's Sleigher intow. Lamb had been rolling around in the back of my mind and palate for awhile, along with and good ol' stand by of marinated squash. Then mac n cheese popped up out of no where, so a mini feast began!

So this was a bit of a mac n cheese cheat, but the thing about the powder they provide, it can be used for the base of a roux. (But some prefer no roux! Hahaha!) And don't for get the garlic!

Yellow squash and zucchini marianted in a zesty Thai dressing: lemon, tanini, dill, tiny bit of thai chili, garlic, lemon grass. The saute if you can't grill it on an open flame.

LAMB! With heirloom tomatoes, garlic, red onion, paprika. Sooo delicious! Lamb was seared quickly on each side, then steamed through with the tomatoes.

Round Two:
At the Green Tortoise Hostel, again with a veggie kick accompanied by vegetarians.Maybe more beets? Korean rice noodles are served with this, just for got to take a photo.

Golden beets (suprise), red onion, garlic, thai eggplants, chantrelle mushrooms. Sauted with turkish olive oil.

Kobe beef slightly seared with a little bacon grease.

As usual, very tasty. Go to your local shops, more countries more varieties.
Enjoy!

Ready for an eye candy explosion?

...cuz I've got a month's worth of photos just waiting to be oogled!

Now, this may be a bit overwhelming, so I'm just going to caption the photos and elaborate where needed.

curried cous cous with tomatoes and chickpeas + braised red cabbage with red wine vinegar, onions and apples + acorn squash with brown sugar

I just found out that Blogger has a "jump break" feature, which I have now dubbed the "not as awesome as lj-cut" feature. So, to avoid having this photo-laden post clog up the homepage, I'm hiding it behind the following link that says "Read More...". Please click it! That is, unless you clicked a link directly to this post. In that case, you're good.

Beer O'Clock

Here is a recap of some of the fine hops and malts I've been privy to here in Seattle. Some local to the west coast, some east, and of course from across the pond.

A lovely winter beer, not to heavy and rather drinkable. 7.0%

Less than two bucks! A bit sweet, but has that nice Belgian tang. 8%

One of my favorites at Pike's Brewery, tad expensive but wonderful to get in a growler. 9%

Samuel Adams decide to try their hand at specialties. I did appreciate this one, very straight forward, no frills.

Nikasi strikes again! A rather metal brew being a dark double alt. 7.2%

 Music: Nails - Unsilent Death
            Bisc 1 - Electric Falls

Food: Mac n cheese, lamb, squash, beats, greens, kobe beef, and more!


Always more to come! Enjoy!

Finally... meet my scramble!

I'm surprised it took me this long after starting the blog to make my tofu scramble. It is a staple for me, and if you've ever had Sunday brunch with me, you've probably had it!

The ingredients of my scramble vary depending on the veggies I have, but this version included many of the common ones: Twin Oaks herbed tofu, zucchini, kale, onion, sweet pepper, carrot, garlic, and tomato on top. The spices are based off of the PPK version of tofu scramble: cumin, turmeric, thyme, and nutritional yeast. I just realized that turmeric has two Rs when spellcheck corrected me just now... how have I not noticed that?

By the way, yes, that is a jack-o-lantern plate. It's not just a seasonal plate, either. We eat off of it all year!

Speaking of seasonal- next, we have my first soup of the season. I make some stews here and there, but vegetable soup doesn't really rear its head until the cold air starts filtering in through the cracks in the doors and windows. Thank you, Fan apartment. It's almost time to tape up some plastic...

You may notice that this isn't a very soupy soup. I have a habit of filling my soup pot with so much veggies that there's hardly any room for broth. Oh well, I guess I really do just make stews. This one has split peas, barley, gold potatoes, collard greens, carrots, and corn, as well as a box of that Imagine brand portabello mushroom soup, mixed with the bouillon-laden broth. It was awesome, and a hell of a hearty soup. I killed the huge container of leftover soup in two days, and I still want more! The barley was new to me- I've never cooked with it before. I really enjoyed the texture of it, though. Wonder what else I can do with it...

There were two nights in the past week where I made essentially the same thing two nights in a row. It was a really fast stir fry that I had to whip up in a jiffy, and I only ended up using half of the veggies and tofu the first night. It was so tasty, I just made it again the next night. The only difference was I used quinoa the first night and brown rice the second night.

I pan fried some Twin Oaks tofu, broccoli, Japanese eggplant, kale, and onion in sesame oil and liquid aminos, and then I poured a touch of teriyaki sauce on the whole thing.

I swear, I don't usually eat this much tofu. This blog must have jinxed my cooking tendencies. And that last block came in my farm share veggie box. But I really do love that Twin Oaks stuff.

My most recent veggie box came last Thursday, and I also got a huge bag full of veggies from my co-worker/boss/she-wolf, Rachel's, garden. When I laid my jackpot out on my counter, this is what I had:

Holy. Cats. Red cabbage, acorn squash, kale, portabello mushrooms, onions, Roma tomatoes, and Fuji apples from the farm share. Tomatoes, sweet potatoes, green tomatoes, and green onions from Rachel's garden. My first mission was to make a big bowl of salsa. I think there may be a touch left in my fridge, but for the most part, it's been demolished already. 

Later, I was thinking of making soup with more of the veggies. But I just made soup! I know, I could have made a totally different soup, but I went with a chili instead.

This one is a little on the untraditional side, because I used sweet potatoes and kale. Now I don't know if I ever want to make it without them! There was also a whole bag of kidney beans, a can of black beans, onion, green bell pepper, and tomatoes. I think the sauce/spices included tomato paste, bouillon cubes, cumin, chili powder, a touch of molasses, and a bit of cayenne.

So, you recall that awesome breakfast sandwich I made the other weekend? I still had some Daiya and Tofurky slices left over, as well as those tomatoes, and that sounds like an awesome grilled "cheese" to me... NOM!

And last, we have this morning's breakfast. If you didn't notice in that photo of all the veggies, I have a boatload of sweet potatoes. Not a bad thing, mind you, but I gotta switch up my preparation of them now.

I fried them up in some Chinese five spice (which I don't actually have, I just have the five spices individually... easy 'nuff), along with some liquid aminos and kale. The bread in the background has a few slices of tomato that were left over from the grilled sandwich... with a bit of balsamic vinegar and pepper on it. The apple came from my parents, who brought me a big bag of apples from a local orchard. There might be some kind of pie or cobbler in my future.

Now that's a future I can get down with.

-panda-

Currently playing: Elliot Smith- Son of Sam, Mister Heavenly, Deer Tick- War Elephant, Jawbreaker- Dear You

Fancy Pants Affair

I decided to bring a little east coast thing to the west. Fancy Pants Dinners started out of wanting to get all the most amazing people under one roof, and be the pimps that we are: fine food, drinks, shenanigans, and of course fancy pants.

This evenings menu:

-Spaghetti Squash cooked with clove and sage, served with sauteed leeks and garlic.
-Arugula salad with baked cinnamon pears and broiled beets accompanied by herded goat cheese, pomegranates and a lemon tarragon vinegar honey dressing.



-Paella involving mussels cooked in pork fat and beef leek broth, sauteed pork, shrimp, rice cooked in beef leek broth, with onions, tomatoes, and peppers sauteed in grape seed oil and parsley.
-Brownie cupcakes layered with raspberry filling.
-Mimosas with mango juice, Hop Czar Beer, Rainer Beer, PBR Beer, and Black Box Wine.

All about that prep work.

Prebaked spaghetti squash with cloves, sage and butter. Along side the cinnamon pears.
This dish was orchestrated by Sophie.

Lucie's Mini Raspberry Filled Chocolate Cakes. Sooo Tasty!

Pork Cracklin'! Used the pork juice to saute the leeks.

So, all the food went to quickly for any pictures to really be captured. Sign of a good meal, one could say...

GO GRAB YOUR FRIENDS AND SHARE!