Poesy and Plate
Vegan Month of Food 2014
(check out the hundreds of VeganMoFo blogs HERE)
My goal: cook and blog about vegan food 20 times
during the month of September.
My theme: words and food
Vegan Month of Food 2014
My goal: cook and blog about vegan food 20 times
during the month of September.
My theme: words and food
Night is My Sister,
and How Deep in Love, by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Night is my sister, and how deep in love,
How drowned in love and weedily washed ashore,
There to be fretted by the drag and shove
At the tide's edge, I lie—these things and more:
Whose arm alone between me and the sand,
Whose voice alone, whose pitiful breath brought near,
Could thaw these nostrils and unlock this hand,
She could advise you, should you care to hear.
Small chance, however, in a storm so black,
A man will leave his friendly fire and snug
For a drowned woman's sake, and bring her back
To drip and scatter shells upon the rug.
No one but Night, with tears on her dark face,
Watches beside me in this windy place.
How drowned in love and weedily washed ashore,
There to be fretted by the drag and shove
At the tide's edge, I lie—these things and more:
Whose arm alone between me and the sand,
Whose voice alone, whose pitiful breath brought near,
Could thaw these nostrils and unlock this hand,
She could advise you, should you care to hear.
Small chance, however, in a storm so black,
A man will leave his friendly fire and snug
For a drowned woman's sake, and bring her back
To drip and scatter shells upon the rug.
No one but Night, with tears on her dark face,
Watches beside me in this windy place.
Day One - Delicious! |
I’m pulling out the big vegan guns today with a nut loaf. This
is the type of recipe I usually tip-toe around for about a year, glancing at
the recipe from time to time, wondering when my husband will be out of town so
I can try it – alone, in the privacy of a plate hovering over the garbage
disposal in case of a gastronomic disaster. For an entire year, I ask myself,
“Too vegan? Too many nuts? Where are the beans? Will I gag? Just plain old too
weird?”
Well, first let me say that there is no such thing as ‘too
vegan’ cuz ‘vegan’ just means ‘real food in its natural state’. I mean, for example, an apple is vegan. Let me also
say, there’s truly no thing as ‘too many nuts’ is there? Besides, these are
pulverized so much that it’s not like eating a mouthful of walunts….crunch,
crunch, crunch….no, not at all.
Next I want to say that I did not gag and I did not hover
over the garbage disposal. Just the opposite. I ate the entire 3 nut
loaves all by myself. Mr. Living Cookbook never ate a bite. (Maybe I secretly
DO harbor a smidge of ‘too vegan’ deep inside? Gotta get over that…..)
Leftovers the next day - still delicious! |
I include the touching poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay
because the owner of this delicious recipe is one of three sisters – all three
vegetarians their entire lives. I believe this was their mother’s recipe,
originally called ‘Mother Eastlund’s Nut Roast.” I was fortunate enough to be
given a copy by her son in law. He told me that the sisters were raised near a
slaughter house and therefore became vegetarian. (I pause here to wonder what
might happen if we all had a glimpse into a slaughter house….hmmmm.)
This nut loaf was frozen, uncooked. It turned out great! Just the tiniest bit soggy in the middle, as you might see in the photo. |
Mother
Eastlund’s Nut Roast
(note: This make an incredible amount! Cut this recipe in half and it’s enough for 1 ½ loaf pans, or one loaf pan and one smaller casserole for the freezer. This freezes great!)
(note: This make an incredible amount! Cut this recipe in half and it’s enough for 1 ½ loaf pans, or one loaf pan and one smaller casserole for the freezer. This freezes great!)
2 lbs
English walnuts (Diamond brand is best)
½ pkg. herb
croutons (such as Pepperidge Farm seasoned)
1 ½ green
peppers
4 stalks
celery
1 ½ medium
onions
Some sprigs
of fresh parsley
Grind all of
the above in a food processor until very fine
Add:
¾ - 1 large can
of tomato juice (just keep adding juice till it’s moist but not wet – mine
might have been too wet) (Today I added about 8 ounces.)
3 eggs (I
used Ener-G Egg Replacer, but I think flax eggs would be better.)
½ t ground
marjoram
½ t poultry
type seasoning (I used a homemade Chicken-Style seasoning)
Beau Monde
seasoning and tobasco to taste
Mix all
ingredients and place in a buttered loaf pan
Press 3 T
butter (Earth Balance is the best) into the top of the loaf which will create a
nice crust
Bake 350 °
for 45-60 minutes or until brown.
Cool before
slicing. (Mine was a bit wet in the center, but it didn’t affect the taste. The
loaves I pulled from the freezer were also a bit wet.)
Serve with
Mushroom Gravy.
(note: double the gravy recipe to have enough to serve over mashed potatoes)
(note: double the gravy recipe to have enough to serve over mashed potatoes)
Saute lots
of mushrooms in butter until brown. Set aside. In the same pan brown 1 t sugar
until toasted, but not burned. Add 2 T butter, and 1 T flour to create a nice
brown roux. Add 2 C veggie broth and stir till thick. Return the mushrooms to
the gravy.
This sounds so good!
ReplyDeleteI'm reading this before breakfast and I'm thinking could you eat this for breakfast? I certainly would. Now the colder months are with us in England I'll be eating more casseroles, pies, roasts and stews!
ReplyDelete