zenpawn

Please ignore the well-worn, perpetually-stained (from before my water system was installed), knife-slashed plates in these photos. Now that the world gets to see my fine china (ha!), it’s time to go buy something more presentable.

Our Mother’s Day meal was a smashing success! Originally, Mom had planned on making a “side dish” of h*m for my stepdad, but to my surprise and delight, when I got there, I learned he wanted to eat what I had made. The dessert had been conceived with him in mind, seeing as he is a fellow peanut butter fiend, but the main meal? I had concerns. LOL.

Mom chopped veggies (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions) for a side salad. We each wrapped some of the bean/mushroom/pepper/squash mixture into our warmed corn tortillas with a little of the salad fixings for texture and temperature contrast. Delicious! The rest we just scooped onto our plates beside more salad. Everyone enjoyed their meal and filled up.

Despite having seconds though, we left room for dessert! Mom had never had peanut butter pie, so she had nothing to which to compare it. However, my step-father has had it in diners across the country while trucking, made with either cream cheese, or eggs and whole cream. Even after knowing the secret to this pie was TOFU (shhhh…), he said it stacked up well to the typically fat-laden kind.

We split the remaining pie, which we all agreed we could have easily continued eating. Here is the last piece just before I devoured it today:

And for Mother’s Day dessert we have a peanut butter pie with a chocolate granola crust. Mmmm…

I made the “shell” (really more of a bottom as I didn’t come up the sides with it) by melting semisweet chocolate chips and stirring in granola then pressing into the bottom of a 9″ pie pan. I let this cool in the fridge for a couple hours before proceeding.

Get the recipe in Vegan Done Light.

Here is what I created for lunch with Mom tomorrow.

The main dish was intended to be a black bean, squash, and cornmeal casserole, an idea I conceived sans recipe. Unfortunately, when I went to make the polenta topping, I found my cornmeal to have gone rancid. (I bought the bag prior to realizing it is best to store it in the refrigerator.) So, I’ll just bring some corn tortillas instead.

This is a lightly-spiced dish as my Mom isn’t into hot stuff and I’ve tortured many a family member with my typical scorchers in the past. I sauteed some onions, garlic, green bell pepper and baby bella mushrooms. Once the mushrooms had a little color, I added the black beans (15 oz can), a tsp of dried oregano, a 1/2 tsp of cumin, an 1/8 tsp of chipotle powder, and a 1/2 tsp of liquid smoke (mesquite flavor). This mixture was transferred to a loaf pan. I then lightly steamed some butternut squash and mashed it with a fork, adding 1/8 tsp of cumin and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. This was spread over top the beans. Tomorrow, we’ll just heat it up a little and serve with the tortillas. I’m bringing some hot sauce!

I am a fermented food fanatic (alliterations are pretty cool too, lol). Making them yourself lets you choose the spices and drastically reduce or eliminate the sodium. And it is so fun to watch them bubbling away.

Here is my standard after-dinner treat, red delicious apple chopped up alongside a tangy kimchi of red cabbage, hot peppers, garlic, caraway seeds, and possibly other herbs and spices for variety. My favorites are, of course, curry and dill.