In the '80s I spent a lot of time creating quilts with an art perspective. When I returned to work, I stopped making them and turned my attention to knitting. More portable and practical. Now I have time and space and a dye studio. I am planning a return to art quilt-making.

As my dyed fabric will be in limited supply, I have been building the skills to anticipate how much I need and how it might look in a design before I make my first cut.  The above image is a digital quilt using my hand dyed fabric as swatches in the program so it is a pretty good facsimile of how the quilt might look.

I have updated my free pattern for a top-down, no-swatch needed ribbed beanie. Feel free to download it from Ravelry here (click to download).

You can make this with any yarn, for any size head. Here are a few photos of the beanie knit with Shibui Knits Pebble - a fingering yarn weight with wool, silk and cashmere. Perfect drape. I knit this holding two strands together. Light as air and super comfortable.

DRY:
1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegan margarine
1/2 nuts, coarsely chopped
1/4-1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

WET:
1 egg equivalent (EnerG egg replacer)
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup very ripe mashed banana


 Mix all dry ingredients together. Add in shortening or margarine, cut in with mixer until crumbly. Add in nuts and choc chips.

 Mix all wet ingredients in separate container, then, fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Mix until blended only, don't over mix. Let sit for about 5 min. Spoon into muffin tins. Top with sugar.

Bake 350 for about 30 min, until toothpick inserted comes out clean when inserted into the center of the muffin.

 These vegan muffins have a very fine texture. Addictive. Try and eat just one. Great use of that sourdough starter when you don't have time to get bread going.

If you place all the ingredients in a loaf pan rather than muffin tins, increase the baking time.

We recently discovered this magical easy-to-make and use spicy paste that whips together in a minute, stores for a long time, and can be used on top of a bowl of rice and beans or vegetables and turns the ordinary into the fantastic.

Ingredients:
• 24 dried hot red chili peppers (look in the Mexican spice section of your grocery store)
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon  salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoon ground coriander*
• 2 teaspoon ground  (or not) caraway seeds*
• 1 teaspoon cumin*

*check out the bulk spice section, it's a lot cheaper than buying spices in those glass jars in the supermarket.







Preparation:
Soak the dried chilies in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain.
In a blender (Blendtec or Vitamix preferred), combine chili peppers, garlic, salt, and olive oil. Blend until a fairly smooth paste. 

Store covered in the fridge.
Place a small amount (less than 1/2 teaspoon) in a bowl of cooked rice/beans/vegetables at time of serving. Stir and eat!

If you have discovered and love drinking Kombucha, you might be delighted to find out you can easily make it for pennies a serving (vs. paying between $3-4 per serving.) It's easy. And, I swear, drinking kombucha has evened out my gut and is less sensitive than it used to be. Yay for kombucha!

I make mine by brewing the fermented tea, then doing a second fermentation with juice to flavor the kombucha and give it a little fizz.

Start with a minor investment of:
1. Glass bottles with lids (individual serving size, about 16 oz -- re-using existing Kombucha containers is perfect.) - about 12-20 bottles.
2. Nylon mesh strainer and funnel
3. Large non-metal bowls
4. Large glass container (1-1.5 gal size is great) - wide mouth
5. A SCOBY (or mother, or mushroom) - this is the culture that you'll use to create the cultured tea. SCOBY stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast.
6. Cheesecloth or wide coffee filters + rubberbands (covers the tea while it ferments)

Where do you get a scoby? Here are three ways, choose one:
   a.  From someone who is already brewing (every batch yields a new Scoby)
   b.  Make it yourself (Buy 3-4 containers of a non-flavored kombucha, like GT's Original, pour it in a clean jar, cover with a cloth or coffee filter, and leave it in a corner on your kitchen counter untouched for about 5-6 weeks.)
   c. Or, order one on Amazon.

Here's how to do it, with photos. It's as easy as brewing tea. Just a reminder: make sure everything is very clean: the jars, bottles, tools, and your hands - every step of the process!

10. Place bottled Kombucha on counter and wait 2-5 days. Then refrigerate and drink as desired. The second fermentation in the closed container gives the drink fizziness. You can drink it anytime in the second fermentation cycle when it has the degree of bubbly you want. (Shown above re-bottled in existing Kombucha containers.) I recommend that you strain the final tea prior to drinking to remove any stringy bits or immature SCOBYs.

Quick  cost comparison:

GT's Bottled Kombucha - 16-20 ounces, $3.25-$4.25
Home brewed Kombucha -
Trader Joes Sour Cherry Juice, 16 oz, $2.00
10-12 black tea bags - $.25-.50
1.5 cup white sugar - $.50
Total containers bottled - 9-10
Cost per serving: $.33 per serving


A few notes:
Brewing time will vary dependent on ambient temperature. My house is nearly always 60-65 degrees. 1.5 gallons of kombucha, first fermentation, takes 7-9 days. The second fermentation takes 3-4 days, if I can wait that long.

Tea. Use the cheapest black tea you can find. Green tea works, but black seems to work better. Don't use flavored teas (like Earl Grey), they can affect the SCOBY.

Size and shape of jar matters. I've found that 1.5 gallon straight sided jar seems to ferment faster than bigger  2.5 gal straight-sided or 1.5 gal onion shaped jars.

Sweetener: needed to feed the culture, don't skip it. Honey and agave work, but I usually use cheap white sugar and have the best results.

Second Fermentation. If you use a juice that doesn't have much sweetness like Trader Joe's 100% Cranberry Juice, you can add simple syrup* to sweeten it to the same caloric value as a cup of juice. I also sometimes juice fresh ginger, then add lemon juice and simple syrup, boil for the mixture on stovetop for a few min and let cool. Then use that combo as a flavoring for the second fermentation.

* simple syrup: boil equal parts sugar and water for about 5-10 minutes. Cool and store in mason jar in fridge until you  need it.

Add-Ins. Some folks like adding Chia seed to their kombucha on the second fermentation. I tried adding chia seed directly to the kombucha on second fermentation, but they clumped together. I think if you soften the chia with the juice (maybe warm it?) then add it to the kombucha, it might work. See what SudsyMaggie came up with.

In the continuing quest to discover what makes for a tasty and satisfying veggie burger, I have played around with several recipes and come to some conclusions:
1.Using yam or sweet potato makes for a very sweet "tone" in the burger. It just doesn't resonate burger.
2. You can really use just about anything you please to construct a burger - just make sure you have foundational elements there (combo of tempeh, TVP, rice, beans, oats), some flavoring (roasted corn, peppers, sauteed onion, roasted garlic, salt,  or smoke flavoring), and something to bind it together (chickpea flour, vital gluten, other flours).
3. The bun is very important! If you are anything like me, it means fluffy white buns are what make the burger. Anything else is a hot sandwich and probably rightfully delicious - but a burger it is not.

All of the above said, I bought a book to compare burger ideas and continue "riffing" or iterating on a good thing.  The book: The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet by Joni Marie Newman.

I cannot attest to her recipes (they look great!) because I have not followed  any specific one to a T-- with all those recipes for burgers, I admit that she is inventive. I am in love with her Plain White Bun recipe because you simply mix, shape on the cooking pan, wait and bake. And  - bingo - fantastic soft big burger buns.

I made a burger with the base she uses in her Chinese Take Out Burger - it was chewy and full of protein, and incredibly GOOD:

2 cups (348 g) fully cooked bown rice
8 ounces (227 g) plain soy tempeh, crumbled almost into individual
beans
1/2 cup (60 g) chickpea flour

Mix together by hand, add in some salt, sauteed onion and roasted garlic and the kicker: liquid smoke flavoring. Mixed and tasted and seasoned to taste. Add in more chickpea flour if needed to make these burgers stick together. She then has you dip these in a non-dairy milk and then bread crumbs, then pan fry them. Yes, that made them tasty (in fact we devoured them and ate burgers for every meal until they were gone) - but you can forgo the dipping and breadcrumbing and frying for a lower fat burger.

For the big white burger buns:
1 cup plain soymilk (or any unsweetened non-dairy milk works) 
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup nondairy  butter
4 1/2 cups  all-purpose flour
1/4 ounce (7 g) quick-rise  yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 egg equivalent (either Energ Egg replacer or 1 T. flax seed ground with 3 T. water)

Just mix everything togther in your mixer. Really, this works, despite the recomendations to proof the yeast then slowly combine the dry and wet. No need, just schlep it all together and let your stand mixer knead it for about 5 minutes.  Add a little more water if this is too dry. This should be a soft dough.

Turn out, cut into 10-12 pieces, molding into a ball, then patting it into a bun shape and placing on the parchment-layered-cookie sheet you'll bake them on. Cover with cloth for one hour. Bake in pre-heated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes (until browned.)

I've been making up burger patties and buns on the weekend and freezing them. Then we can pull together a very fast dinner via the microwave (the patty) and toaster (for the bun).

The burger pictured at the top of this post is a recipe that blends stuff together, patties are baked, and then served on a big fluffy bun.

Burger Pictured at the Top of this Post
Using the combo of base, flavorings, and binding agents, I made the pictured burger with:
Base
- cooked white beans (about 1 cup)
- moistened TVP (textured vegetable protein) (about 1 cup)
- old fashioned oats, ground until coarse in the blender (about a cup)
- cooked brown rice (about a cup)
Seasoning
- sauteed fresh onion (about 1 large)
- several cloves of roasted garlic
- sesame seeds (about 1/4-1/3 cup)
- salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp)
- liquid smoke flavoring (1-2 Tablespoons, taste as you go.)
- hot sauce (Siracha!) - as much as your palate can handle.
Binder
- vital gluten flour (this is not regular flour! - about 1/2 - 1 cup.)

Mix together with your hands, adding vital gluten flour a little at a time until you can form a patty. Taste to ensure you've got the flavor you want. The liquid smoke and roasted garlic are key here! Shape into patties (makes 12-18 dependent on size you shape them to) and bake at 350 degrees, 15 min each side. Cool on a wire rack and freeze. Heat when needed.




 

Recipe from the cookbook: Big Vegan

½ cup cooked quinoa
14 oz  canned/tinned black beans, drained and rinsed
2 scallions/spring onions, chopped
¼ cup cilantro/fresh coriander, chopped
2  tbsp gluten flour
1½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp salt
3 tbsp sesame seeds
Vegetable oil spray

Mush all the ingredients together (hands are good), and form into patties. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes, and flip over at the 15 minute mark (spraying with vegetable oil spray.)

Serve each burger on a whole-wheat/wholemeal hamburger bun and sauces of choice.

My notes: This burger was the second black bean burger recipe that I tried. It was very tasty, and held together well. I baked (instead of pan-fried) the burgers. They are a bit drier that way -- so I slathered with fresh guacamole and cilantro sauce (blended fresh cilantro, raw garlic, a little salt and soft tofu.) Served with freshly made sourdough buns.

These make a great quick meal if you freeze all the burgers, then microwave them when you need a meal.

The following is a basic formula for creating a liqueur. Me thinks this would be good done with rosemary, juniper berries, blueberries, peaches, and a number of different things to make a liqueur with a singular flavor. The cocktail above was fantastic and was 50% limoncello and 50% key lime juice (unsweetened.) Totally grownup lemon-limeade.

Frogged? What is frogged. It's a knitting term, and is used when you need to "rip-it, rip-it." Glass purchased from Raverly.com

From Allrecipes.com

• 10 lemon
• 1 liter vodka
• 3 cups white sugar
• 4 cups water

1. Zest the lemons, and place zest into a large glass bottle or jar. Pour in vodka. Cover loosely and let infuse for one week at room temperature.
2. After one week, combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. DO NOT STIR. Boil for 15 minutes. Allow syrup to cool to room temperature.
3. Stir vodka mixture into syrup. Strain into glass bottles, and seal each bottle with a cork. Let mixture age for 2 weeks at room temperature.
4. Place bottled liqueur into the freezer. When icy cold, serve in chilled vodka glasses or shot glasses.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3 cups peeled cubed yams, cooked in water until soft and cooled
1-15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup corn, cooked
1/2 large onion, minced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup cooked red quinoa
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup vital gluten flour (this is not regular flour)
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
good shake or two of salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin, ground
1 teaspoon oregano, ground
1 teaspoon chili powder
Siracha hot sauce, to taste

Combine the cooked yams and cooked black beans and mush together (but don't blend till smooth). Mix the rest of the ingredients together, then using your hands, form into 8 balls. Press the balls into a patty.

Place patties on prepared baking pan. Spray top of patties with cooking spray (Pam, or other brand). Bake the patties for 30-40 minutes. Let cool at least 5 min before serving.

Serve with slices of avocado and vegan spicy mayo dressing on sourdough burger buns.

These freeze well and make quick meals heated on an as needed basis.

If you are fond of this combination of flavors - chocolate, almond, coffee -  this is OMG-good. Vegan, but not low-fat! Eat sparingly -- share with all your chocolate & coffee obsessed friends. This recipe is simple, but is prepared in stages. Plan a day or two ahead.

Brownie:
Trader Joe's Chocolate Truffle Brownie Mix
1/2 cup Trader Joe's Soy Vanilla Yogurt
Energ Egg replacer for two eggs: 1 tablespoon + 1/4 cup warm water - blend together

Mix the above ingredients and bake according to directions.  Cool in pan.

Ganache Truffle topping:
When brownies are  cool, combine 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips + 2 ounces of vanilla soymilk. Place in microwave on low and cook only until just melted. Stir, and when thickened, pour on top of brownies.

When brownies are completely cool, cut into small squares and freeze. When frozen, chop squares into small chunks, this will be folded into the vice cream.

Vice Cream Mix:
1 cup Trader Joe's raw cashews
1/2 cup Trader Joe's dry roasted unsalted almonds
1 1/2 cup Trader Joe's coconut milk (or other nut milk you prefer)
1 cup agave nectar (do not use honey or maple syrup, they over-influence the flavor)
3 packets of Starbucks Via packets (instant coffee)
Blend together in a Blendtec or Vitamix blender (make it super creamy).
Place in the fridge until really really  cold.

When cold, place contents in prepared (meaning, it's frozen if you are using a Cuisinart brand) ice cream maker and churn to soft serve (20 min.) Empty the frozen contents into a freezer-capable container, and then place in freezer.

Fold in nuts and frozen truffle-topped brownie bits:
Take additional 4 ounces of Trader Joe's dry roasted unsalted almond slivers + the frozen brownie bits and fold them into the soft serve vice cream (don't over mix.)

Place back in the freezer until hardened to scoopable status.

Then, enjoy!

Gluten-free option: Don't make the brownies, just do the ganache topping (melted chocolate chips and soy milk.) Cool the ganache, and spread in the soft serve vice cream with the nuts and freeze until scoopable.