Vegan Jalapeno Poppers - Two Ways - Vegan Month of Food

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

Today I share Emily Dickinson’s beautiful poem entitled “Prose.”  I not only think this is her take on the beauty of a lyric poem, but I think it has a deeper meaning regarding her view of being female.  You know, don’t shut us in; don’t make us write prose! Let us flap our lyric wings!

Really, are there any words more simple yet more beautiful than these? The image of a caged bird is always painful to me, so I love to imagine a bird escaping toward the stars.

They shut me up in Prose —
As when a little Girl
They put me in the Closet —
Because they liked me "still" —

Still! Could themself have peeped —
And seen my Brain — go round—
They might as wise have lodged a Bird
For Treason — in the Pound —

Himself has but to will
And easy as a Star
Abolish his Captivity —
And laugh — No more have I —

Vegan Jalapeno Poppers – Two Ways

Here’s what you need:

¾ C raw cashews soaked for a few hours, then drained

½ sweet onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T Nutritional yeast

1 t cumin

1 T chicken-style seasoning with ½ C water(optional)

½ C veg stock (if not using the chicken-style seasoning)

1 4ounce can chopped green chilis (optional)

10 jalapenos, halved, seeds and veins removed

Olive oil

½ C crushed tortilla chips OR bread crumbs

Here’s what you do:

Brush the jalapeno halves with olive oil and set them aside. Prepare the filling by sautéing the onions and garlic in a bit of oil until softened. At the same time, toast the crushed tortillas chips in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Watch them closely.

Place sautéed veg, cashews, Nutritional yeast, cumin, seasoning, chilies and cream cheese (if using) in a blender. Loosen with a little veg stock or water. I found that the green chilies provided plenty of moisture! Adding more cream cheese will firm the mixture up also.

Spoon or pipe mixture into jalapenos. Bake for about 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Add the toasted chips (press in) and bake for another 10 minutes.  Broil for a tiny while at the end to get a nice toasty appearance.

Second Day:

There was plenty of filling to serve these another day, but I added some cream cheese to the mixture to firm it up. Instead of toasted tortilla chips, I used bread crumbs.