I'm vegan and happen to have only ever dated meat-eaters. I'm living with a meat eater now and the grill is our best friend. Both BF & I love to cook, but we basically don't prepare meat in the house. BF eats meat off the grill all the time & when guests come over we often serve them grilled meat if they want it. I'd recommend exploring the grill!

Good luck! It sounds like you two are respectful of each others choices -- what a great foundation for a relationship!!

hulu.com has a food show, Diary of a Foodie, that Gourmet was making. It's excellent. Though I doubt there will be any more, there are 10 episodes for free on Hulu, now.

It's the cayenne that *makes* it. I used pomegranate/cranberry juice. The cranberry makes it taste like fancy cranberry sauce, which actually works just fine.

1/2 onion (very finely diced) sauted in olive oil
Pom/Cran juice (10 oz?)
1 glug malbec that's been opened a little too long (= wine & vinegar)
S&P&cayenne

Reduced.
Thickened with a little corn starch, 'cause I'm impatient.

It's waiting in a creamer to drizzle over the puffs.
YUM!
....
I think peach would be lovely for the summer.

Oh my goodness! That sounds delicious. Pomegranate is both pretty, "in", and has just the right sassiness to zip up these vegan hors d'oeuvres. Perfect for New Years. Thanks! I'll let you know how it turns out.

I made a bunch appetizers for New Year's Eve. Basically, they're veggie burgery stuff (chickpea/mushroom/brown-rice) inside a puff pastry shell. The dominant flavors are sage, thyme & soy sauce.

I baked a couple tonight to test them and they're very pretty but pretty bland. I have 30 more assembled in the fridge waiting for Thursday to bake. I'm hoping to think of a dipping sauce to serve with them to give them something extra. I feel like they need an acid, but maybe something sweet too. Maybe hoisin? Or something with balsamic vinegar? Any ideas?

Thanks!

-Jessica

I just checked at my local nothin-fancy grocery store and they carried smoked salt! (Maybe not as good as Welsh stuff, but...still...)

Update on the algae:
I wrestled with algae blooms all summer. It's a small pond with lots of nitrogen-hungry plants and fish that I do not feed. Their job is to eat mosquito larvae and algae. They've doubled in size and yet, still the algae problem...
But that's another story...

I've stopped using the algae as top dressing because my dogs have developed a taste for it and steal it from the garden. :) Instead I just throw it in with my regular compost. I bet it's helping keep things moist and nitrogeny in there.
@ Bulavinaka: it is hair-like. Thanks for the tip of not letting it mat up. I've been conscious of "sprinkling" it evenly into the compost bin.

With no business replying:

If the dough for the flatbread will hold it's own shape, just press it out to 12-in roundish, and leave some space in the corners of the pan. Voila!

@ Pikawicca:
Interesting idea! A few questions:
-What is a stovetop smoker and is there a way to smoke without one?
-Do you notice that the flavor of homesmoked tomatoes is significantly better than the canned ones (I think I've used some smoked, canned tomatoes from, maybe Muir Glen)?

I'm vegan and until they invent a pig made of vegetables, I'm constantly on the lookout for something that'll sufficiently sub for pancetta/bacon. The best I've come up with is garlic & smoked salt. I bought the smoked salt somewhere in Berkeley (which is completely unhelpful, I know, but I imagine a search online would turn some up). It really adds depth and you don't need very much at all. The little bag I bought has lasted 2 years and I'm about 1/8th through it.

p.s. I think it's awesome that you're on this culinary hunt for the pleasure of others!

No kidding. I guess there's no substitution for schmaltz. I miss her.

I have a pond that's a prolific algae farm. I'm always tempted to plop the algae around my veg garden plants. Can anyone think of a reason not to? Also, I often water with pond water. I figure it has all those bits of organic junk that might be enriching. But maybe I'm missing something. (This is my first season with a back yard or garden).
Thanks! Jessica

Wow! These are great suggestions. I love the idea of taking photos (especially because that doesn't rely on a dubious "artists" rendering of what was planted where. I also think an expandable notebook is a great idea. It might just be a 3 ring binder in my case. Month by month notes? Genius! Any bits of info you WISH you'd remembered to put down...or that I might not think to record but will wish I had next spring?

I'm enjoying a relatively successful first year garden. It's small and conservatively planted, but I'm pretty darn happy with it! As we move into the exciting part of the season (several baby tomatoes have come to roost! and teeny tiny green beans! and carrot tops! and....) I'm already looking ahead.

Is anyone willing to share their Time Tested Garden Planning System for keeping track of what was planted where and what did well? Other factors I should consider/record? My planning this year mostly boiled down to what had the prettiest pictures at the local nursery. I'm guessing there's a better way.

My Grandma Helen, who just passed away, used to make me Heavenly Rice. It was cooked rice + cool whip + mini marshmallows + crushed pineapple. Delish! I continued to eat this by the pile even after I became vegan. You can't hardly tell grandma that you're no longer into Heavenly Rice, now can you?

Incidentally, my Grandma Sylvia used to make me special vegan matzah ball soup. One time I asked her for the recipe (I was doing my own seder and hadn't figured out a vegan version as good as hers). She told me "oh, honey, when I'm done I just take the regular matzah balls out and put them in a special container for you. I didn't figure you'd mind if you didn't know." That always cracks me up when I think of it.

TeaNY in the Lower East Side!!!!

-----
Teany
90 Rivington St, New York, NY 10002

I just raved about this cookbook on another board so I'll do it here too:

I strongly recommend the New Farm Cookbook for family oriented, inexpensive, tastly-but-not-too-fancy vegan recipes. I go to this cookbook a few times a week. I take it with me when I travel far away. The brownies are to die for. The recipes are all forgiving, flexible and reliable. I've never made something from this cookbook that didn't come out good.

I also recently picked up a copy of Better than Peanut Butter & Jelly (Mattare & Muldawer) that's got some nice, kid-friendly and packable ideas, but it might be aimed at a younger age group. What do 10 year olds like?

You might also have him think through his philosophy and figure out if certain kinds of eggs meet his criteria. Though I'm vegan, I'm perfectly happy to eat eggs that come from "pet" chickens, when I can find them. Is there someone in your area who has very humanely treated chickens who would sell you some eggs? This might make things easier. Milk is easy to replace (soy, etc), but eggs can be tricky. You could even arrange for your son help out with the chickens on occation. That could be a really cool learning opportunity! A farmer in my area let's me clean coops in exchange for eggs. It makes you really appreciate those eggs!

Here's my big recommendation, though: Teach him how to cook! Being vegan if you don't know how to cook is a serious pain in the butt and can slide into french-fries and potato chip territory really quickly. If he has a few go-to snack things that he can make himself he'll be healthier and really owning this vegan thing. That's what my mom made me do a million years ago and now I can cook! Thanks mom! (My mom's other strategy: veggie burgers. Lots of veggie burgers).

The New Farm Cookbook is my very favorite vegan cookbook (favorite overall cookbook, in fact). All of the recipes are thrifty and homey and really reliably good. Nothing fancy. I've have lots of luck with their desserts. The brownies are worth the book, alone. Seriously! Add chocolate chips and you'll win over everyone in the room. They don't scrimp on fat so the vegan desserts don't come out all dry, health-foody, and inedible like many vegan desserts. This cookbook has gone with me to many countries and is the first one I recommend to new vegans (and vegetarians, too).

Also the awesome Zine called Raggedy Anarchy's Guide to Vegan Baking is a classic. She's also pro-fat and pro-delicious. I think you can find it on the net for a few dollars. Lot's of tips here for substitutions which make every recipe vegan-ize-able.

Last, but not least, I adore this website for it's dinner and dessert recipes and non-confrontational philosophy. The beet-icing is fun. It's bright pink! BRIGHT Pink!
http://www.pakupaku.info/

A note on Vegan with a Vengance: I haven't had good luck with her recipes. They either come out bland or just wrong. I'll be cooking along and I know that all that tomato paste is a bad idea, but I stick to the recipe and, sure enough, it comes out tasting like tomato paste. For example. And I find the recipes uninspired. I'm all for another bad-ass vegan cookbook, but this one doesn't do it for me. Has anyone else had this problem? Check out Post Punk Kitchen (http://www.theppk.com/) for most of the recipes for free, anyway.

This artical was in the NYTimes this past Wed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/din...
I hope the link works.
------------------------------------
DINING & WINE | October 11, 2006
Seduced by Snacks? No, Not You
By KIM SEVERSON
According to Prof. Brian Wansink’s research, people make over 200 food decisions a day — and are outwitted at every turn.
------------------------------------
This guy does good research and I think his findings are really easily applied.
His findings show that our "I'm full" mechanism is very very sensitive to context. So pay attention to how your arrange your context and you may find yourself eating less without noticing it and without feeling less full.

Basically:
-Use smaller bowls/dishes/spoons/etc
-Have fewer options at the table
-Keep things in smaller packages (don't have a giant bag of chips laying around
)-Don't eat in front of the tv (but we all knew that already)

One word: SOUP! Soup is a cheap way to use up all kinds of leftovers. If you get sick of vegetable soup, try whizzing it up in the blender and adding a little milk/cream/soymilk/etc. Now you've got cream-of-whatever soup. Or add some pasta. Or some rice. When things get tight around my house it's all-soup-all-the-time. And with a little homemade bread this is a delicious meal. Add a veggie on the side and you've got a feast.
Another advantage of soup, if you're buying whole carcasses or big cuts of meat, is that you can make really tasty stocks with stuff that'd otherwise end up in the trash.
Another spare-times-fallback for us is risotto. It's like rice with soup inside. Delicious. And again, endlessly flexible.
Sometimes we also go on a "spending fast" and see how long we can go just eating out of the pantry and freezer. I'm always shocked by how much stuff we've got.

Another idea: breakfast for dinner. Breakfast foods are often cheap (pancakes, sausage patties, eggs) and because you're calling it breakfast-for-dinner it sounds festive. This was my mom's trick when we were growing up. Incidentally, makes twice as many pancakes as you need. They freeze beautifully (with wax paper between each) and perk right back up in the toaster. It's like pop-tarts, but better.