Episode 2 of Anatomy of a Green Kitchen! Yum!

Anatomy of a Green Kitchen (Episode 2) from Heather M. Davis on Vimeo.

Recipes from Anatomy of a Green Kitchen!

So, now that everyone has seen Anatomy of a Green Kitchen, here are the recipes in written word so you can print them out, or save them to your recipe folder.  Whatever it is that you do with your recipes, I hope you enjoy them over and over again! 

Tofu Scrambles

1 bell pepper, diced

1 14oz. package of extra firm tofu

1/4 tbs. turmeric

1/4 tbs. basil 

1/4 tbs. cilantro

salt and pepper, to taste

oil for sautéing

1. sauté peppers in oil, until soft

2. Drain tofu

3. Crumble tofu into peppers

4. Add seasonings.

5. sauté for 3 minutes, or until desired temperature.

Breakfast Burrito

Wheat wraps

Vegan Cheddar cheese

salsa

tofu scramble mixture (recipe above)

Assemble all ingredients and wrap up and ENJOY!

Cream of Carrot Soup

4-5 large carrots, sliced or diced

1 medium onion, diced

oil for sautéing

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 C. vegetable broth

fresh dill

salt and pepper, to taste

1 14 oz. package of soft/silken tofu

1/2 C. soy milk

1. sauté carrots and onion until soft and translucent.

2. Add broth, bring to boil, then simmer until carrots are thoroughly cooked.

3. In blender, combine tofu and soy milk

4. Add soy mi

lk/tofu mixture to broth.

5. Add 1/2 C. fresh dill.

6. Blend soup in batches.

7. Garnish with fresh dill spring and enjoy.

Vegan Tofu Cheesecake

1 14oz. package firm tofu

1/2 C. soy milk

1/2 C. sugar

1 tbs. vanilla extract

1/4 C. maple syrup

1 8oz. container of vegan cream cheese

vegan graham cracker crust

1. Pre-heat oven, 375

2. Blend all ingredients, except crust.

3. Pour into crust.

4. Bake for 50 minutes, or until top begins to turn golden.

5.  Chill, for at least one hour.

6. Can be topped with any of your favorite fruits!

Anatomy of a Green Kitchen (Episode 1) from Heather M. Davis on Vimeo.

 Anatomy of a Green Kitchen is on the air! The show has been airing all week on Channel 61, ECTV, but don't fret my dears if you don't have channel 61, it should be on the web soon for your viewing pleasure! For the big premier, of course I had to throw a party! I invited friends over for a viewing, hors d'oeuvre sized samplings of the recipes from the show, and thirst quenching Cucumber Cosmos! It really turned out to be a great soiree and  I hope everyone is enjoying the show. 

Cucumber Cosmos

2 oz. Rain Organic Cucumber Lime 

Vodka

1 oz. triple sec

splash of fresh lime juice

1 1/2 oz. fresh cucumber puree

serve over ice or chilled in martini glass

garnish with thinly sliced cucumber

enjoy responsibly or not!

 Anatomy of a Green Kitchen would not be possible without one person, Heather Davis. She is ECTV's Wonder Woman. She taped, edited, produced, and made  everything freakin' awesome! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING HEATHER!!!!!

So, the first episode was "Tackling Tofu". I find in the NEPA area, tofu is a little misunderstood. Many people don't realize the myriad of ways tofu can be used.  I really tried to show recipes that even someone who would 'never touch that stuff', could enjoy.  We started with Tofu Scrambles and used them in a breakfast burrito. This is a really easy and tasty recipe, great for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a quick snack on the run! Next, I made a Cream of Carrot Soup. Using tofu instead of cream, really brings down the cholesterol and calorie content, and it takes 20 minutes to make. And for dessert, Tofu Cheesecake. I topped mine with kiwis and strawberries, you can easily top it with your any of your favorite fruits! I will be posting those recipes in my next post, very soon, along with the link to view the show!

Additionally in NEPA vegan news, Charlotte Lewis' benefit at the Vintage Theater was a success! I had a stand 

with vegan chili and cupcakes, and Eden - A vegan Cafe also donated cupcakes and cookies and we were able to raise an additional $200 for the benefit. It was really great to see so many talented people come together and work towards helping a friend. The entire day was a blast, I even sold out of chili! Even though Charlotte is getting better everyday, 

she still has a long way to go, so look out for upcoming benefits to help Charlotte!

Mother's Day is this Sunday, May 10th, and just because you waited until the last minute, doesn't mean you can't keep your Mom's gift green or local! Here are some great Green Mother's Day Gift Ideas that any Eco-Mommy is sure to love!

1. Gorgeously Green: 8 simple steps to an Earth-friendly life by: Sophie Uliano

This is an awesome book filled with green tips for beauty, food, gardening, style and 

much more! You can buy this book at Anthology Books, 515 Center Street, Scranton, PA, 18503 

(570)941-9630. And if it's not in the store something better and cooler will be! Anthology is also more 

than happy to special order any of your booking needs.

2. WINE! You can grab a bottle of your mom's favorite wine, always a pleaser! You can check

out what wine, beer and liquor is vegan friendly at barnivore.com!

3. Any mom that loves to cook, would love these ADORABLE aprons 

sold on ETSY.com. It's a place for handmade and vintage wares. There 

is even an option to browse local sellers!

4.Gift certificate to Everything Natural, 426 State Street, 

Clarks Summit, PA, 18411 (570)586-9684

It is one stop shopping for fair-trade, organic, vegan, green cuteness! 

She can indulge herself in beauty products, food, handmade wares and

jewelery!

I hope everyone is enjoying the spring! I look forward to your questions, comments and suggestions!

22 reasons to go vegan this April 22nd!

Earth Day is upon us again.  Chances are you already recycle, bring your own bags to the grocery store, eat organic produce, maybe even drive a hybrid or utilize public transportation. So what could you do this Earth Day that would have a HUGE impact on our environment? GO VEGAN! Here are 22 Reasons why to go vegan this Earth Day.......

1.  Pigs are more intelligent than dogs and have the intelligence of a three year old.

2.  1 acre of land yields 165 lbs. of beef or 20,000 lbs. of potatoes.

3.  25% of Central America's forests have been destroyed for cattle grazing since 1960.

4.  The 1.3 trillion cattle in the world emit 60 tons of methane per year

5.  It takes 25 gallons of water to produce 1 lb. of wheat, but 2500 gallons to produce 1 lb. of meat.

6.  A fisherman's net kills 10 times as many other animals as the fish they are trying to catch.  Then those fish and animals die a slow death of suffocation.

7.  Male chicks are gassed or pulped (because they cannot produce eggs), while female chicks go on to be de-beaked without anaesthetic and crammed into cages so crowded they can't sit or open their wings.

8.  95% of poultry suffer injuries before being killed.

9.  The average vegan cholesterol level is 128; the lowest level for a heart attack is 150.

10. Hey GUYS, cholesterol can cause impotence!

11. MEAT is FLESH, yum.

12.  Vegans live an average of 6 years longer than non-vegans.

13. Many lower cost furs that are imported are that of domestic dog and cats, German Shepard and golden retriever fur is most popular.

14. Veggies and tofu are cheap!

15. Your Veganism can save 35 animals a year!

16.  You'll have more energy to do ALL the things you love!

17. Hey LADIES, Vegan diets have been found to ease the symptoms of PMS and menopause.

18.  Poop with ease, a vegan diet is high in fiber, and you will lower your instances of constipation, hemorrhoids and diverticulitis. 

19. It's easy to maintain a healthy weight!

20. We are the only animals that consume another animals milk, and consumes milk in adulthood. Also, studies have found that dairy does not necessarily help with osteoporosis.

21.  Its cool and sexy!

22. The animals and the environment will thank you! GO VEGAN this earth day!

To get a vegan starter kit just go here.

                                                                             In other news, there is a very important benefit going on this Sunday, April 26, that I am more that happy to be a part of. Charlotte Lewis was involved in a serious bicycling accident, leaving her in a coma for over a week.  Anthology Books will be hosting a Benefit for Charlotte at the Vintage Theater.  I have only had the pleasure of meeting Charlotte a few times, but someone who is as genuine as her, has a tendency to make an impression on you.  I will be selling Vegan cupcakes and chili, all proceeds will be donated to Charlotte. SO, please come and support a great person, the door charge is only $5 and there will be plenty of bands, Raffles, improvs, and of course Vegan food!      

        On the Anatomy of a Green Kitchen (AGK) front, I have seen a rough cut and I am so excited to share it with everyone! It will be premiering on May 3rd @ 7pm on ECTV (channel 61). Here is the rest of the schedule that it will be showing on ECTV:

• Monday 5/4 @ noon
  
• Tuesday 5/5 @ 10:30pm
  
• Wednesday 5/6 @ 6:30pm
  
• Thursday 5/7 @ 10am
  
• Friday 5/8 @ 9pm
  
• Saturday 5/9 @ 11am and 6pm
  
• Sunday 5/10 @ noon
  

For those of you not in NEPA, I will be posting it on myspace, you tube, and pretty much anywhere else I can, so I will definitely give everyone the links! 

Now, I will leave you with some shots of food I have been cooking up........Happy Earth Day!

                                    

Sushi, Show, and Spread. Oh my!

As a NEPA Vegan, it is not always the easiest to go out for a nice meal. Sure, I like salads with vinaigrette or pasta primevera with olive oil and garlic. But sometimes, you just want something different without having to special order everything, pissing of the kitchen and annoying your server. So one Sunday night, craving sushi and following the advice of some very pleased diners, we tried Atami Sushi in Clarks Summit. The decor is simple, hip lights over the sushi bar and only four or five tables against a banquette. We saddled up to the bar, because there was no place else to sit, this place was hopping! And for good reason.  People are constantly picking up to go orders, and saying this is the 'third time this week' they were there and how much they 'love it'. This is the first sushi restaurant I have been to in a long time that really catered to vegetarians and vegans. There are plenty of options from salads to appetizers and they even have a vegetarian sushi platter, reasonably priced at $25 for 48 pieces! I started out with my favorite, seaweed salad, and Mr. Donut chose the tomato and avocado salad. Both were fresh and visually appealing, the ginger dressing with the tomato and avocado is perfect. Next, we tried the pan fried vegetable dumplings, and frankly, anything in dumpling form is a winner for me. They are packed with onion, carrots and other goodness that was completed with their sweet dumpling dipping sauce. There was a tempura appetizer on the special board that day, and they were more than happy to accommodate us with just veggies and no shrimp. Then there was the vegetarian sushi platter. There is SO much sushi on this thing, I was amazed it came out so quickly.  It was made up with cucumber, avocado, Inari (tofu), Oshinko (pickled radish), vegetable, and tempura rolls, beautifully garnished. On top of the excellent food, the service is friendly and superb.  After we gorged ourselves and couldn't possible eat another morsel, they sent over free pineapple for dessert with the check.  Atami is B.Y.O.B., and their selection of beverages is basic. It would be nice if they had some sort of 'specialty' drink, but for two peeps feasting on a gargantuan meal

 it was under $50. Oh, Atami, you know the way to a vegans heart. 

 Atami Sushi 100 Old Lackawanna Trail, Clarks Summit, PA 18411 (5

70) 585-1250

Also, taping of the first official episode of Anatomy of a Green Kitchen is complete! Now it is in the editing process, and should be out very, very soon! The entire

 episode was about tofu and the different 

ways that you can incorporate it into recipes, so even Grama and Uncle Joe wouldn't know it was tofu, until you told them mid-bite! It will be airing on ECTV, channel 61, and I will let everyone know about the exact date and times that you can check out AGK! Or you can check out Anatomy of a Green Kitchen on myspace!

In between taping and dining out, I had some fun in the kitchen. I made grilled veggie panini's, but I am so bored with balsamic on grilled vegetables, so I came up with an easy sun dried tomato spread, that was out of this world. All I did was spread in on the bread, layer my veggies (Portabellas, spinach, roasted red peppers) and paninied it to greatness! This also good as a dip for cold veggies, or throw on some cold pasta and make a great salad!  All you need is: 

 1 C. sun dried tomatoes

1/2 C. fresh basil

1/2 C. black olives

1/4 C. pine nuts

olive oil

1. Put everything in your food processor.

2. Pulse as you add olive oil until fully pureed.  If you like a chunkier texture, just pulse a few times.

3. Spread and enjoy!

I hope everyone has a good holiday and please think of the 285 million hens that are raised for egg production each year. http://www.peta.org/factsheet/files/FactsheetDisplay.asp?ID=99

the vegan bitch is back!

  Okay! I am back for good! The past few months have been crazy with the holidays, moving changing scedules, work......blah,blah,blah....excuses, excuses. But during that time I have been cooking up some new recipes, working on some old ones, and working on Anatomy of a Green Kitchen (public access vegan cooking show).  So, those of you who are revisiting or those of you that are new, I hope everyone enjoys the recipes, reviews, stories, news and editorials.

Some interesting news on the Veggie front. As if we needed yet another reason to love our presidential family, Michelle Obama told Oprah in the April issue of O magazine that there are plans for a White House vegetable garden.  The purpose of the garden will be for children's education on cultivating not only the veggies, but healthier eating habits and lifestyles. The first family will enjoy the fresh produce, and possibly local food banks too! Oh, Obamas.....

A green hip tip is get yourself an stainless steel water bottle! 8 out of 10 water bottles end up in a landfill and not recycled. Yes, some companies have 'redesigned' their water bottles to use less plastic, but when they end up in landfills, they still take millions of years to decompose.  Also, plastic water bottles leach chemicals (BPA) which can be toxic, especially at high temperatures (like leaving a water bottle in your car).  Klean Kanteen is a family owned company.

  They use medical grade stainless steel, are 100% recyclable (as if you wanted to get rid of it), they are members of 1% for the planet,  and are BPA-free! They are also manufactured with fair wage and safe labor regulations. Oh, and you'll look cool.

And my recipe this week comes from me obsessively buying

 tomatoes EVERY time I go shopping.  They are so

 appealing.  Yellow ones. Orange on the vine. Heirloom. Baby roma. Grape. I love them all, until they take over my fridge. So to start our dinner the other night I made Basic Tomato Bruschetta. It is quick, easy, light, and deliciously yummy! I used it as an appetizer, but could easily make a meal of it. And it looked super pretty because I used red and orange tomatoes!

Basic Tomato Bruschetta

2-3 Tomatoes (any kind, color, shape, size....do not discriminate the tomato)

1/2 small red onion

2 cloves garlic

1/4 c. fresh basil, chiffenade

1 Tbs. olive oil

salt/pepper to taste

favorite bread

1 Tbs. nutritional yeast flakes 

1. Dice everything up finely. You can use a food processor and pulse it. But I find that sometimes it gets too 'salsa-like' when I use the processor.

2. Mix well and refrigerate for an hour.

3. Pre-heat oven at 400.

4. Slice bread into 1/4 inch slices.

5. Top with tomato mixture.

6. Sprinkle nutritional yeast flakes on top. (This is my new favorite alternative to Parmesan!)

7. bake for 5-6 mins. Until mixture is heated through and bread is toasted on bottom.

8. ENJOY!

OK, it has been long enough!

I have gotten a litte sidetracked (so cliqche in the blog world.) but really i did.  I filmed an episode of "Anatomy of a Green Kitchen", which is my new local cooking show on puublic access, channel 61, Electric City Television (Scranton, PA).  It will hopefully be out before September. But to bring everyone back I am going to post a recipe........Yum! It is for the best summer macaroni salad I have had in a LONG time!

Summer Macaroni Salad

1 bell pepper (you can use red, yellow, or orange) seeded and finely diced

4 celery sticks diced

1/4 C. diced black olives

2 Tbsp. diced sun dried tomatoes

2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. vinager (white wine/apple cider)

1/4 Tbsp. granulated garlic

salt and papper to taste

2 C. cooked pasta of your choice

3 heaping  Tbsp. of your fav vegan mayo(more if you need it)

Refridgerate for at least 2 hours............ENJOY!!!!!!!!!

Movie Night!

We got the new Joy Division movie, Control, from NetFlix on Saturday, so we invited some friends over for a movie, wine, and of course food.  Since we are in the middle of a heat wave, I wanted to keep the menu simple, easy and quick. 

CONTROL MOVIE NIGHT MENU

Pesto Pasta Salad

Spring Rolls with Temari and Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauces

Spicy Broccoli Cheeze Bites

I thought everything came out great, and there was very little left by the end of the movie. The Broccoli Bites were a last minute addition. I think they would make a great addition to any gathering, and they are sooooo super easy.

Spicy Broccoli Cheeze Bites

(makes 15 bites)

1 medium broccoli crown

6 oz. of your favorite vegan Monterrey jack cheeze

1 small seeded jalapeno(you can use a more mild hot pepper)

30 won ton wrappers

oil for brushing tray

1.pre-heat oven at 375
2.finely chop broccoli and jalapeno in food processor, set aside.
3.shred cheeze in food processor, mix with broccoli, set aside.
4.lightly brush the cups of a cupcake pan with oil.
5.place two won ton wrappers in each cup.
6.fill with broccoli/cheeze mixture.
7.place in oven for 10 mins, or until the edges are golden brown and filling is melted.
8.enjoy.

A vegetarian, in a not so veggie friendly world, I have found a love for cooking. Not your normal love either.  It might be a slightly unhealty (but actually healthy, GO VEG!) obcession. Constantly dreaming of recipes, flavor combos, and substitutions. The chemistry of food blows my mind.  Everyday, I try to learn as much as I can about cooking. I experiement. I fail miserably. I burn things. I succeed. I eat.  

I dream of being a vegan chef, living in San Francisco, rescuing as many animals as I can fit into the bed. But for right now, this blog with have to be my veggie-haven.  I have found so much inspiration on so many other vegan blogs, and I really look forward to posting some of my recipes, rants and reviews.  

This Memorial holiday was filled with beautiful weather, awesome friends, and a perfect party! I wanted to keep the menu simple, so I could also enjoy the festivities and guests.  I loved the french potato salad!  It is so much lighter than a normal mayo based salad.  I stuffed some grape tomatoes with a kalamata olive tapenade and some with mozzarella and basil. I loved they way they looked, but it really took longer than I expected. (I am sure there is a tool I could have used.)  Another hit was the homemade onion dip that I took from La Dolce Vegan.

All in all, I had a great time, and I have already started planning my next soiree.  I am thinking wine tasting/pairing. hmmm.