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| Betty&Franc and family with Lindsay Nixon |
Showing posts with label Betty and Franc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Betty and Franc. Show all posts
~ Betty and Franc meet the author of The Happy Herbivore Cookbook!
Lindsay Nixon, the Author of The Happy Herbivore did a book signing in Pittsburgh this past weekend. Franc, myself, and the small fries, were able to get our copy signed and say hello! Yeah we were SO excited! Here is our pic:
Caramelized Onion, Walnut and Pear Salad. Franc
I made Betty a tasty salad for lunch today and it turned out great. I actually learned this recipe from my cousin who is the executive chef at Grouse Mountain Lodge - which happens to be a great resort and a fabulous restaurant in Whitefish, MT.I made just a couple of small modifications to be sure it was Vegan. Enjoy!
Francs - Caramelized Onion and Pear Salad with Walnuts. (Makes 2 large dinner salads)
Slice up 1 cup of Red onion and saute in a pan with about 2 table spoons of Veggie oil. Your going for long skinny pieces of onion, not diced bits.You want the onions to cook over medium heat until the sugars come out and they begin to caramelize and get soft and sweet. It will take a good 10 min till they get to the right point. Stir often and be sure they don't burn. You want a nice golden brown color on them but not a burnt, black color.
Next dice up one ripe pear and add to the cooked onions. You want these to soften up just a bit and start to release some of their juice. You still want the pears to have a little firmness to them, so don't cook them so long they turn to mush. This step should take just a couple of minutes. If your pears are not very ripe (like mine were today) you can sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over them as they cook.
Once you have your onions and pears ready. Plate up a large dinner plate with some spring mix. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of walnuts over each salad. Next put half of the pear and onion mixture over each salad. I dress the salads with Balsamic vinegar (a heavy drizzle to taste) and just a little extra virgin olive oil (about 2-3 teaspoons per salad).
You'll really love the different textures in this salad. The crunch and richness of the walnuts, the softness of the onions, the sweetness of the caramelized onion and the pears plus the sourness of the balsamic vinegar. Enjoy with a little crusty Italian bread, if you've got it!
-Franc
Francs - Caramelized Onion and Pear Salad with Walnuts. (Makes 2 large dinner salads)
Slice up 1 cup of Red onion and saute in a pan with about 2 table spoons of Veggie oil. Your going for long skinny pieces of onion, not diced bits.You want the onions to cook over medium heat until the sugars come out and they begin to caramelize and get soft and sweet. It will take a good 10 min till they get to the right point. Stir often and be sure they don't burn. You want a nice golden brown color on them but not a burnt, black color.
Next dice up one ripe pear and add to the cooked onions. You want these to soften up just a bit and start to release some of their juice. You still want the pears to have a little firmness to them, so don't cook them so long they turn to mush. This step should take just a couple of minutes. If your pears are not very ripe (like mine were today) you can sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over them as they cook.
Once you have your onions and pears ready. Plate up a large dinner plate with some spring mix. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of walnuts over each salad. Next put half of the pear and onion mixture over each salad. I dress the salads with Balsamic vinegar (a heavy drizzle to taste) and just a little extra virgin olive oil (about 2-3 teaspoons per salad).
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| Francs carmelized Onion and Pear salad |
You'll really love the different textures in this salad. The crunch and richness of the walnuts, the softness of the onions, the sweetness of the caramelized onion and the pears plus the sourness of the balsamic vinegar. Enjoy with a little crusty Italian bread, if you've got it!
-Franc
Here's an easy alternative to Pancakes and it's Vegan! - Franc
As a certified big "American Breakfast" lover, one of the things I had to adjust to when going vegan was no more bacon, eggs, and fatty pancakes. While my waistline thanks me, it took a little while for my tastebuds to adjust to more lighter fare. So here's one small alternative to Pancakes that I've actually been eating since I was a kid... Corn Meal Mush Cakes. My dad and uncle made these ever so often in my Italian American home. Oh memories.... Here's what you do -
Buy one package of Corn Meal Mush. Mush is very similar in taste to Polenta. You usually find mush in the dairy section near the eggs. It comes in a tube shaped package. Slice up the mush into 1/8 inch thick rounds. You want all the slices to be as uniform as possible so that they cook evenly. In a large fry pan melt about 2-3 table spoons of Vegan Butter (we like the Earth Balance brand), then add the mush rounds in a single layer. Flip as needed. Simply cook till the mush is soft and cooks through. I personally like it when the edges get just a little tiny bit crispy. Serve on a plate with a little extra vegan butter and natural maple syrup. They are yummy and a nice alternative to pancakes. Yes, I fatten them up a bit with the butter, but you can use less if you like ;-) I also like to serve this dish with a little fried potatoes on the side. Makes a great meal on the weekend when you have the time to do a big breakfast for the family.
- Franc
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| Corn Meal "Pancakes" - Vegan Baby! |
- Franc
Franc does Italian food
Hi All -
I decided to make some yummy Italian food for Betty and I tonight. I love to cook it up when I have the time and this meal was really tasty. Plus I was able to make it with some items I needed to use up in my fridge. Try it out!
Cherry Tomato and Garlic Sauce over Fettuccine:
Boil some water and add a heavy pinch of Sea Salt. Add 1/2 pound of fettuccini or your favorite pasta and cook till it's aldente. Drain and keep back about a 1/2 cup of the pasta water to add to the sauce at the end.
Here's the sauce: Add about a cup of whole cherry tomatoes, 1-2 table spoons of minced fresh garlic, 4 table spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 2 teaspoons of Italian Seasoning, and 1/2 cup of green scallions finely chopped to a large frying pan and simmer till the garlic and scallions start to soften. Take a fork and smash each cherry tomato. Be careful because the tomatoes will want to squirt everywhere! The juice from the tomatoes will add to the mixture and start to form a light sauce with the oil. Once you have a basic sauce, toss in the cooked pasta with the extra pasta water and mix well. At this point you can add some garlic salt to taste, if you like. Plate up and serve. I also like to drizzle a little extra EVOO on top just to make it extra rich.
Here's a great and simple Vegan Bruchetta that goes well with this dish...
Take 4 slices of some fresh Italian bread, place on a baking sheet and drizzle liberally with olive oil. Bake at 375 for about 5-10 minutes until golden and very crispy. When the bread is toasted take 1-2 cloves of garlic and rub it into one side of the bread - this will give it a really fresh garlicy taste. For the topping I took 1/2 cup of diced tomatoes, 1/4 cup of mild onion or scallions, 2 cloves of fresh garlic minced, a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and about a teaspoon of Italian seasoning and combined well. Top the toasted bread with this fresh tomato mixture and enjoy some awesome, home made Bruchetta. You'll love it!
Both of these dishes only took about a 1/2 hour to prep and cook, making this a pretty quick dish to prepare from start to finish.
Bon Appetito!
Franc
I decided to make some yummy Italian food for Betty and I tonight. I love to cook it up when I have the time and this meal was really tasty. Plus I was able to make it with some items I needed to use up in my fridge. Try it out!
Cherry Tomato and Garlic Sauce over Fettuccine:
Boil some water and add a heavy pinch of Sea Salt. Add 1/2 pound of fettuccini or your favorite pasta and cook till it's aldente. Drain and keep back about a 1/2 cup of the pasta water to add to the sauce at the end.
Here's the sauce: Add about a cup of whole cherry tomatoes, 1-2 table spoons of minced fresh garlic, 4 table spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 2 teaspoons of Italian Seasoning, and 1/2 cup of green scallions finely chopped to a large frying pan and simmer till the garlic and scallions start to soften. Take a fork and smash each cherry tomato. Be careful because the tomatoes will want to squirt everywhere! The juice from the tomatoes will add to the mixture and start to form a light sauce with the oil. Once you have a basic sauce, toss in the cooked pasta with the extra pasta water and mix well. At this point you can add some garlic salt to taste, if you like. Plate up and serve. I also like to drizzle a little extra EVOO on top just to make it extra rich.
Here's a great and simple Vegan Bruchetta that goes well with this dish...
Take 4 slices of some fresh Italian bread, place on a baking sheet and drizzle liberally with olive oil. Bake at 375 for about 5-10 minutes until golden and very crispy. When the bread is toasted take 1-2 cloves of garlic and rub it into one side of the bread - this will give it a really fresh garlicy taste. For the topping I took 1/2 cup of diced tomatoes, 1/4 cup of mild onion or scallions, 2 cloves of fresh garlic minced, a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and about a teaspoon of Italian seasoning and combined well. Top the toasted bread with this fresh tomato mixture and enjoy some awesome, home made Bruchetta. You'll love it!
Both of these dishes only took about a 1/2 hour to prep and cook, making this a pretty quick dish to prepare from start to finish.
Bon Appetito!
Franc
Francs No-Brainer 5 min peach cobbler
HI Everyone. I want to share my super fast and oh-so delicious Vegan Peach Cobbler recipe. One thing that I found being vegan, is that when it comes to sweets and deserts it's usually easier to make your own than to try and find something at the store. This recipe will only take you about 5min prep time and about 30-35min to bake. Anyone can do it and you will love the results!
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons vegan butter
1 1/2 cup Bisquick mix (i used the "light" version, but you can use the regular if you like)
2/3 cups soy milk (again, I used the vanilla variety since that's what I had on hand, but I assume you can use non-flavored soy too)
7 table spoons sugar
2 - 8oz cans of sliced peaches in their juice
Take a 9x9 baking dish and melt the 3 tablespoons of butter in the bottom if the dish. Next mix the Bisquick, soy milk and 6 tablespoons of sugar together, then pour the mixture into the baking dish on top of the butter. Now add the two cans of peaches with the juice to the top of the dish. Make sure you spread out the peaches to that they are covering the pan evenly. You do not need to mix anything together in the baking dish, just layer it as described. Preheat your oven to 375 and bake for 30-35min until the top gets golden brown. FYI - It will smell great while you are baking! While the dish is baking the peaches will settle to the bottom and the batter will rise to to the top to create a nice crust for the cobbler. As soon as you pull out the cobbler, and while it's still hot, sprinkle the last tablespoon of sugar on top of the crust. This will create a little extra sweetness and provide a little sugary crunchy texture to the dish. Serve while warm and with a little soy non-dairy vanilla ice cream. You'll really love this and it's one of the fastest home made deserts you can make. Enjoy!
- Franc
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons vegan butter
1 1/2 cup Bisquick mix (i used the "light" version, but you can use the regular if you like)
2/3 cups soy milk (again, I used the vanilla variety since that's what I had on hand, but I assume you can use non-flavored soy too)
7 table spoons sugar
2 - 8oz cans of sliced peaches in their juice
Take a 9x9 baking dish and melt the 3 tablespoons of butter in the bottom if the dish. Next mix the Bisquick, soy milk and 6 tablespoons of sugar together, then pour the mixture into the baking dish on top of the butter. Now add the two cans of peaches with the juice to the top of the dish. Make sure you spread out the peaches to that they are covering the pan evenly. You do not need to mix anything together in the baking dish, just layer it as described. Preheat your oven to 375 and bake for 30-35min until the top gets golden brown. FYI - It will smell great while you are baking! While the dish is baking the peaches will settle to the bottom and the batter will rise to to the top to create a nice crust for the cobbler. As soon as you pull out the cobbler, and while it's still hot, sprinkle the last tablespoon of sugar on top of the crust. This will create a little extra sweetness and provide a little sugary crunchy texture to the dish. Serve while warm and with a little soy non-dairy vanilla ice cream. You'll really love this and it's one of the fastest home made deserts you can make. Enjoy!
- Franc
27th Day Betty and Franc
We found some quick easy, ready to eat Indian food we wanted to share with everyone. We tried Kitchens of India - Red Beans with Curry for a quick ready made dinner option tonight. These meals are all fully prepared and all you need to do is heat and eat. Best of all they are Vegan and seem to be all natural without a bunch of preservatives! The curry sauce is just perfect, not too spicy. At first the package doesn't seem like a lot of food, but the beans are really filling and the package is perfect for two people. We paired it with some fresh made jasmine rice, steamed cauliflower and a little flat bread. It was an awesome meal and it only took about 4 minutes to cook! We highly recommend the Kitchen's of India products for quick, easy and tasty meals.
- Franc and Betty
- Franc and Betty
Day 13 - Franc makes homemade bread
Hi All -
I made some quick homemade bread yesterday that really went great with Betty's veggie soup. I'm a dunker so taking a hot slice of bread with some soy butter and dunking it into the soup broth put me in heaven. If you've never made bread before it's actually pretty simple and a lot less time consuming that you would think. Here's a basic bread recipe. I encourage you to try it. Your family will really love smelling it baking and enjoying it hot out of the oven.
Basic homemade bread (makes two small loafs)
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups warm water
Start by taking one cup of warm water and dissolving 1 table spoon of active bread yeast into the water along with the sugar. Just sprinkle the yeast into the water and let it hang out for about 4-5 min. I think what keeps people away from baking bread is that they get freaked out by using yeast and not knowing what to do. Basically all you need to look for is that the yeast water starts to get milky in color and a little bubbly. Be sure to use warm tap water. If the water is cool to the touch it will be hard to get the yeast going. As long as your yeast gets milky and frothy, it's alive and your bread will rise and be great. If your yeast looks exactly the same as when you dumped it into the water, then your yeast is dead and you need to get some new yeast. Chances are your yeast will be fine. Next add the cup of water with your yeast to your bowl with all the flour and salt in it. The slowly start adding the second cup of warm water to the bowl and begin stirring the whole ting with a wooden spoon. You may need to add a little more water or possibly use a little less. Your looking for a nice ball of dough not too dry but not pancake batter either. Once your dough has come together you want to cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise for about 2-3 hours. The dough will at least double in size. After the dough has risen you want to put the dough on a floured surface and kneed it. Here's where you can add additional flour if the dough is really sticky and wet. You want to kneed the dough for a few minutes until you fell that it's silky to the touch and no longer sticks to the surface your working on. At this point cut the dough in half and shape into two round balls. Place the two loaves on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with a little cooking spray. You can slice a couple of notches in the top of the bread if you like at this point. Cover both loves with a kitchen towel and let hang out and rise a little more for at least another hour. Preheat your over to 350 and bake the bread for 35-45 minutes. That's it! Other than waiting for the bread to rise your actual working time on this is really small and the results will be worth it.
I'm also trying out a no-kneed bread recipe I found online and will let you know how that goes. I'm hoping that this bread will take even less prep time so that it will be even easier to have bread more often - even with a busy schedule. I'll keep you posted on that one.
Take care - Franc
Here's a link to the best type of bread yeast to use and a really good value compared with the small containers at the store.
I made some quick homemade bread yesterday that really went great with Betty's veggie soup. I'm a dunker so taking a hot slice of bread with some soy butter and dunking it into the soup broth put me in heaven. If you've never made bread before it's actually pretty simple and a lot less time consuming that you would think. Here's a basic bread recipe. I encourage you to try it. Your family will really love smelling it baking and enjoying it hot out of the oven.
Basic homemade bread (makes two small loafs)
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups warm water
Start by taking one cup of warm water and dissolving 1 table spoon of active bread yeast into the water along with the sugar. Just sprinkle the yeast into the water and let it hang out for about 4-5 min. I think what keeps people away from baking bread is that they get freaked out by using yeast and not knowing what to do. Basically all you need to look for is that the yeast water starts to get milky in color and a little bubbly. Be sure to use warm tap water. If the water is cool to the touch it will be hard to get the yeast going. As long as your yeast gets milky and frothy, it's alive and your bread will rise and be great. If your yeast looks exactly the same as when you dumped it into the water, then your yeast is dead and you need to get some new yeast. Chances are your yeast will be fine. Next add the cup of water with your yeast to your bowl with all the flour and salt in it. The slowly start adding the second cup of warm water to the bowl and begin stirring the whole ting with a wooden spoon. You may need to add a little more water or possibly use a little less. Your looking for a nice ball of dough not too dry but not pancake batter either. Once your dough has come together you want to cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise for about 2-3 hours. The dough will at least double in size. After the dough has risen you want to put the dough on a floured surface and kneed it. Here's where you can add additional flour if the dough is really sticky and wet. You want to kneed the dough for a few minutes until you fell that it's silky to the touch and no longer sticks to the surface your working on. At this point cut the dough in half and shape into two round balls. Place the two loaves on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with a little cooking spray. You can slice a couple of notches in the top of the bread if you like at this point. Cover both loves with a kitchen towel and let hang out and rise a little more for at least another hour. Preheat your over to 350 and bake the bread for 35-45 minutes. That's it! Other than waiting for the bread to rise your actual working time on this is really small and the results will be worth it.
I'm also trying out a no-kneed bread recipe I found online and will let you know how that goes. I'm hoping that this bread will take even less prep time so that it will be even easier to have bread more often - even with a busy schedule. I'll keep you posted on that one.
Take care - Franc
Here's a link to the best type of bread yeast to use and a really good value compared with the small containers at the store.
Franc - Day 12 Vegan Sausage
Yes, I've been out searching for more sausage again. Picked up a pack of the TraderJoes brand chorizo sausage and it was really tasty. An important note... you definitely need to remove the casing before cooking! I made this silly mistake and wondered why the casing was so plastic like and inedible - the reality was it is plastic and inedible, and the package plainly states that you should remove the casing before cooking. Opps ;-)
I also had another realization last night. I like to have a few pints with my buddys now and again. I'm a pretty big guy so I could put a few down easily without getting too tipsy. It seems that since I've gone vegan I don't seem to have much of a tolerance for alcohol any more. I wonder why that is? Perhaps I'm just imagining things. Weird. If anyone else has experienced this sort of thing I'd love to hear your feedback.
-Franc
I also had another realization last night. I like to have a few pints with my buddys now and again. I'm a pretty big guy so I could put a few down easily without getting too tipsy. It seems that since I've gone vegan I don't seem to have much of a tolerance for alcohol any more. I wonder why that is? Perhaps I'm just imagining things. Weird. If anyone else has experienced this sort of thing I'd love to hear your feedback.
-Franc
11th Day Franc Vegan Pizza
It was our first attempt trying Vegan Pizza today. And I can thoroughly say, it was great. I wouldn't think that having a pizza without cheese would be very appetizing, but it was totally fine. I would say that if you blindfolded the average person and gave them a pizza with lots of good veggie toppings, but no cheese, they would barely notice that the cheese was missing. I realized that the taste of the pizza comes mainly from the sauce and the toppings. Yes cheese does add some creamy, melty texture, but I don't think it adds a huge amount of extra flavor. Just try it and see for yourself. *I think I ate like five pieces it was so good!
Here's our simple Vegan Pizza we whipped up in just a few minutes...
We stared off with some 12" pre-baked pizza shells we picked up at the store.
We added about a half of a can of pizza sauce. I think when not using cheese you should always have extra sauce, so be generous here.
Earlier we sauteed about a cup of red onion and a cup of portabella mushrooms in EVOO to soften them up a bit. I think this is important since we were working with pre-baked crusts and the pizza will not have to cook as long as a raw dough crust would. I also crumbled up and sauteed in EVOO one Italian Tofurkey sausage, and cooked till a little crisp.
We then took all the sauteed ingredients and added to our sauced up crust.
The last couple things we added were some minced garlic (about 1 teaspoon or to your taste), some mild pepper rings, about a teaspoon of Italian seasonings and about a teaspoon of garlic salt.
We popped the whole thing in the over for about 8 minutes (follow the cooking instructions on the pizza shell package) and it was done. Super Easy!
One extra note. I'm sure the hard core veteran Vegans will see some of our recipes and note that we are using some packaged or prepared items and not doing everything from scratch or organically. While we strive to do the best we can with all the ingredients we use, please understand that this is a big change for us and that with our busy schedules and a family we are doing our best to make this work. We hope that over time we can perfect our technique, but I also hope that newbies to this lifestyle will also see that there are some easy recipes that taste good and are simple to make, and you don't have to feel like your just eating beans and rice every day. I think that the reason that most people are afraid to go vegan is they feel that they will have to give up all of their comfort foods like pizza and burgers and just eat a bunch of spinach and tofu, or that the food will be so difficult and time consuming to prepare that they couldn't possibly make the change. We're here to show that you can have alternative items that give you that same comfort, simply by approaching the ingredients in a new way. Also by keeping things simple you may not be a "perfect" Vegan (if there even is such a thing), but you will gain a huge benefit of eating healthier with really a very small effort and sacrifice.
- Franc
Here's our simple Vegan Pizza we whipped up in just a few minutes...
We stared off with some 12" pre-baked pizza shells we picked up at the store.
We added about a half of a can of pizza sauce. I think when not using cheese you should always have extra sauce, so be generous here.
Earlier we sauteed about a cup of red onion and a cup of portabella mushrooms in EVOO to soften them up a bit. I think this is important since we were working with pre-baked crusts and the pizza will not have to cook as long as a raw dough crust would. I also crumbled up and sauteed in EVOO one Italian Tofurkey sausage, and cooked till a little crisp.
We then took all the sauteed ingredients and added to our sauced up crust.
The last couple things we added were some minced garlic (about 1 teaspoon or to your taste), some mild pepper rings, about a teaspoon of Italian seasonings and about a teaspoon of garlic salt.
One extra note. I'm sure the hard core veteran Vegans will see some of our recipes and note that we are using some packaged or prepared items and not doing everything from scratch or organically. While we strive to do the best we can with all the ingredients we use, please understand that this is a big change for us and that with our busy schedules and a family we are doing our best to make this work. We hope that over time we can perfect our technique, but I also hope that newbies to this lifestyle will also see that there are some easy recipes that taste good and are simple to make, and you don't have to feel like your just eating beans and rice every day. I think that the reason that most people are afraid to go vegan is they feel that they will have to give up all of their comfort foods like pizza and burgers and just eat a bunch of spinach and tofu, or that the food will be so difficult and time consuming to prepare that they couldn't possibly make the change. We're here to show that you can have alternative items that give you that same comfort, simply by approaching the ingredients in a new way. Also by keeping things simple you may not be a "perfect" Vegan (if there even is such a thing), but you will gain a huge benefit of eating healthier with really a very small effort and sacrifice.
- Franc
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