My first attempt at a vegan loaf. Not bad overall. Tasted good and had a good texture, but didn’t form into a loaf after baking. It was more like a loose casserole. I think I’ll have to experiment with the baking times, and also how much I cooked the veggies before putting into the loaf pan. I made them a little more al dente than the recipe called for — my bad because I often don’t taste as I cook and just hope for the best!

Our Christmas dinner guests, Judy and Ed, seemed to like it though. And I served it with extra sauce, plus smashed potatoes and roasted broccoli and brussels sprouts. Overall, a good comfort food meal to have again, with a lighter touch on the oregano!

www.eatliverun.com/vegan-lentil-walnut-loaf/ 

Vegan Lentil Walnut Loaf

makes 1 loaf to serve 6 people

Print this recipe!

Ingredients:

1 cup green lentils

3 cups vegetable stock or broth

1 large yellow onion

1 large carrot

1 stalk celery

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp minced garlic

1 cup breadcrumbs

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

3 tbsp ground flax mixed with 1/2 cup water OR 1 egg white

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

for topping—

2 tbsp ketchup

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the ground flax and 1/2 cup water. Set aside.

Simmer together the lentils, broth and a pinch of salt for about 25 minutes or until the lentils are tender and have absorbed all the broth.

Meanwhile, prepare your veggies. Chop the onion, grate the carrot and dice the celery. Saute the onion and celery in the olive oil over medium high heat for six minutes, or until

tender, not caramelized. Add the garlic and carrot and cook for about another four minutes.

Toast the walnuts in the oven for six to seven minutes. Add them to the onion/carrot/garlic mixture on the stove and stir well.

Add the oregano, salt and pepper as well and then take the mixture off the stove and transfer to a large bowl.

Add the breadcrumbs, flax/water (or egg white) and cooked lentils and toss well. Press mixture into a greased loaf pan and set aside while you make the topping.

In another small bowl combine the ketchup, maple syrup and vinegar. Spread on top of loaf. Bake for 40 minutes and then out on a plate.

Leftovers make great sandwich stuffers!

Originally from: A Cowboy’s Wife, adapted to replace eggs, dairy and refined sugar.
INGREDIENTS:

• 2-3 heaping Tablespoons apple sauce
• 2 Tablespoons oil (plus oil for the griddle)
• 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 cup non-dairy milk (or more–I like a thin batter)
• 1 cup flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For more flavor, add a bit of vanilla!

Mix wet ingredients into a pourable bowl (I use a large Pyrex measuring cup). In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients. Pour dry into wet, then stir with a whisk until blended. Let batter rest for 2-5 minutes. Pour onto hot griddle, flip when bubbly.

9:46 pm on Friday night

Jemma: Oma! Baby fell off her bed!

Me: Jemma, we don’t worry about baby falling off her bed right now because she is not real and it is way past your bedtime.

J: But she IS real…because…we were pretending that our babies came out of our bellies.

I was all dressed to leave for work today, coat, scarf, hat, boots, when Jemma whispered in my ear as she gave me a goodbye hug. “Oma, I want to tell you a story.”

Uh-oh. I was going to be late for work! This better not be a long one.
Jemma continued, “Once upon a time — The End!”

haha! Has two of the most important elements of a solid story, a beginning and an end.

Jemma had a fever and stomach ills today. Several times, she looked at me with weepy eyes and asked, Oma, what should I do?

At dinner tonight, Chiara gave me a thumbs up sign and declared that she wanted the leftovers for her lunch at school tomorrow. That is definitely an endorsement! I edited and improvised upon Bon Appetit’s Vegan Tortilla soup:

www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Vegetarian-Tortilla-Soup-4421

Vegan Tortilla Soup

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon chili powder >> omitted for the children, but I used pepper sauce on my serving at dinner.
• 4 cups canned vegetable broth >> I used bouillion
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

• 4 6-inch-diameter corn tortillas, cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips
• 1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
• 2/3 cup canned black beans, rinsed, drained
• 2/3 cup chopped zucchini
• >> I added about a cup of frozen sweet corn
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced seeded jalapeño chili >> I omitted

I came home at 10:20 pm tonight, after seeing In the Footprint: The Battle Over the Atlantic Yards in Fort Greene. My mom was babysitting. Guess who was still awake? Chiara! She was lying in the dark, waiting and waiting to tell me something.

Oma! She called out.

When I entered her room she sat up in bed. Oma! I was a superstar today!

Chiara’s kindergarten teachers declare students superstars when they do something particularly well. They get to wear a medallion on a ribbon for the rest of the day.

So, what did you do to get named superstar?

At quiet time, Mrs. Wagner said, If you were at Table 2, please push your seats in. And I was at table 2 with (she names her tablemates, I think 4 of them). I was the only one who got up! I pushed in all the chairs!
I’m so proud.
So I encouraged her to go to bed. It was nearly 11 pm after all. And she said, But Oma, I can only go to sleep if I’m sleepy. I’m not sleepy. Then she asked where Apa was and made me promise that I would tell Apa that Chiara was a superstar today and all the details.

I promised it would be the first thing I said to Luke when he got home. But Chiara said, Say hi first. So, I promised I would say hi first.
Only then would she go to sleep.

from the December 2003 Gourmet (RIP)

Makes 6 main-course servings

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 large onions (2 pounds total), thinly sliced (7 cups)
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
• 1 cup French green lentils
• 1 pound orecchiette, fusilli, or penne
• 2 (5-ounce) bags baby spinach
• 1 1/2 ounces finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)

print a shopping list for this recipe

Preparation

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then stir in onions, garlic, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Reduce heat to moderately low and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until onions are very tender and golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Discard bay leaf.

While onions cook, cover lentils with water by 1 inch in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan and boil over moderate heat, covered, until lentils are just tender and most of water is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and let stand, covered, until ready to use.

Cook pasta in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup cooking water, then drain pasta in a colander and return pasta to pot.

Add onions, lentils, and spinach to pasta, then toss with just enough reserved cooking water to wilt spinach and moisten pasta. Add cheese and salt and pepper to taste, tossing to combine.

www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Orecchiette-with-Lentils-Onions-and-Spinach-108885

I just realized it’s my birthday already because I’m up past midnight, again!

I feel totally and truly blessed to have my family, the whole lot of them. Chiara asked me today what do I call my family that is my parents and brothers if I call my husband and children my immediate family. I don’t know the answer! Are we all immediate family?

In any case, my husband and kids are healthy, seemingly happy, and they make me smile and laugh a million times a day. And the rest of my family and extended family are supportive and loving. I can’t complain!

So, on this, my birthday, I just want to say that I already have everything I could want.

On a summer afternoon when the girls insisted on doing 

their own hair.

At a family dinner this weekend, I was telling the grandmothers how Jemma comes up with every excuse not to go to sleep. She keeps coming out of her room and asking for things, or complaining about things. Lately, her most frequent complaint is, “Oma, I’m hot and I’m cold.” (it sounds like: Oma, I’m hhhhot and I’m code.)

Then Luke said, “Chiara, what do Oma and Apa say to Jemma?”

Chiara replied, “‘OK, Jemma, go be hot and cold in your bed and I’ll come in a second.’ But then you never come.”

Busted!

Chiara with Halmoni’s blush dabbed on her cheeks.