Vegtastic: May 2012

What this blog is and what it isn't

This is a food blog with recipes and ideas for using the seasonal vegetables from your garden, friend's gardens and community supported agriculture shares (CSA). If you haven't checked out a CSA in your area, it is worth your time to check out what is available to you, and LOCAL HARVEST is a great place to start.

I am trying oh so hard to become a Forks over Knives type vegan, with no animal products of any kind and no added oil. I have given up meat, fish, dairy, eggs and most processed foods and am moving toward the goal of no oil. While you will find eggs, dairy and oil in my earlier recipes, the goal is not to use them anymore.

Some of my earlier recipes include dairy and eggs, but I am moving away from that, I am endeavoring to create delicious all vegan no fat added recipes.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Using Swiss Chard

Using the Swiss chard we get in our CSA share can be challenging. I am not crazy about bitter greens so eating them raw in a salad or just steaming or sauteing them doesn't work well for us either. Last year I made a delicious potato dish with rosemary and baby potatoes. I was looking for inspiration for something new this year and came across this recipe from FatFreeVegan.com Swiss chard with white beans and jobs tears I made a few changes. I sauteed the chard stems and onion in red wine and used barley instead of Job's tears and cooked the barley in vegetable broth. It was really quite good and used the entire share of rainbow chard we got this week!
I also made Hasselback potatoes, yum!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Vegan Potato Salad

Yummy vegan version of the classic!

Serves 8

8 Potatoes (your choice they should be medium to smallish)
6 Green onions
2 stalks celery
2 Tbsps. sweet relish
2 Tbsps. Balsamic vinegar
1/4 C veganaise or naysoya
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper

Place potatoes in salted water on stove and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium and cook potatoes for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile chop green onion white parts and about three inches of the greens. Mince celery. Place both in bowl and set aside.
Once potatoes are soft when pricked with a fork, remove from heat and shock with cold water. Allow to cool slightly, then peel. Place warm potatoes ontop of veg mix and add balsamic vinegar. Stir. Add salt pepper and relish, stir. Add veganaise or naysoya. Stir. Allow to come together in the fridge for about 1 hour. Enjoy!