Monday, September 7, 2009

plum jam



plum jam:

a pound and a half of plums (this is not for a very large amount, just a small tupperware for you and yours)

1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon cardomom
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon of cornstarch

- cut plums into small pieces

- stir molasses and all other ingredients together into a bowl until they are smooth and well-combined

- pour molasses mixture over plums and marinate overnight

- dissolve cornstarch in cold water

- start simmering the plums at medium heat and pour the dissolved cornstarch in, and stir, stir, stir. this i charge you: you must keep stirring.

- i cooked this for hours, probably 2-3. but you just want to watch the consistency and wait for it to become JAM! i used a spoon to take it out and test, cool it down and make sure it seems like the sort of jam you like to eat!

- eat that jam!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

the first of my plum dishes - Stone Fox Compote


stone fox compote (for yourself and your attractive loved ones)

ingredients:
about 2 cups of plums (i made a very small pan of this, just enough for two people and a bit left over)
a peach
1/4 cup raw sugar
4 tablespoons earth balance
dash of vanilla
teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon coriander
3/4 cup plain rolled oats

- preheat oven to 325. use a little baking pan for this, you can even use a loaf pan or a cake pan, it doesn't even matter. flexible baking is the way to go.

- cut up yer fruit in small pieces and mix them together. dump them in your pan.

- melt the earth balance and the raw sugar together, stirring so that it forms a syrup. add yer spices and stir, stir, stir.

- pour the syrup over the rolled oats and mix it together with a fork until it's all sticky and pat it down over the cut up fruit.

- bake for about a half an hour so that it gets nice and hot and stewy and delicious. we served this over vegan pancakes with a side of hashbrowns made very hot with sriracha and red onion for a contrast to the sweetness.

plums


plums
Originally uploaded by The Starling Tattoo
coming up this weekend:
some sort of delicious plum dessert, made with these little babies.

Monday, August 31, 2009

on belmont street

sorry for the hiatus, folks.
soon to return with thoughts, a recipe perhaps, and some love.
- starling

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

smear the walls with coconut oil



even though i am sick with the oregon plague, or possibly because of it, i felt an urge to cook last night, so i tried my hand at chickpea cakes! this is also going to be used for our tMG cookzine, hence the odd title, those of you who aren't into tMG. :)

i wandered around the internet a bunch and basically don't have the exact ingredients for anything, so i made up my own recipe, based on a couple that i found.

if i was to be honest with you, i would say that perhaps i got sick because of the following reasons:

1. i have been awful at making sure that i get the right things in my diet
2. i have been even worse at remembering to take vitamins and other nutritional supplements

so this is perhaps all my own fault.

i am now re-resolved to get back on track and be smart about what i am eating.

therefore, i give you my recipe.

Something For the Idols to Eat

a healthy pinch of thyme
a pinch of celery seed
a bit of white pepper to yer taste
a pinch of cayenne pepper
a clove of garlic
2 1/2 tbsp siracha

1 can chickpeas
1 half green pepper
1 half red onion
1 jalapeno pepper
a bit of fresh parsley

1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp flour

olive oil
veggie oil for the fryin'


1. open up yer chickpeas and dump them into a colander and rinse em for all they're worth. get all the little shells off them and throw those away.

2. cut up yer green pepper, red onion, jalapeno pepper, garlic clove, and parsley nice and small, little diced delicious squares.

3. saute the above squares, excluding the parsley, in a bit of olive oil. i like to saute things until the edges start to get the tiniest bit black. you may not want to do it this long.

4. now comes the fun! mash the chickpeas! if you want to have not as much fun, you can do it with a food processor. if you want to have infinitely MORE fun, you can just put them in a stainless steel bowl, wash your hands really good, and do it with your HANDS. it's like playing with play-dough all over again. at any rate, mash them. you don't have to make them into puree or anything, some of the pea pieces can be left.

5. put the spices and siracha in with the mashed chickpeas. mix it up!

6. mix your cornstarch into a tiny bit of water, let it dissolve and then mix that in to the mashed chickpeas, add the flour, and mix it up!

7. add the sauteed squares of goodness and MIX. IT. UP!

8. let it sit in the refrigerator for at least a half an hour or until you're ready to fry them up.

9. shape them into little cakes and fry them in oil. i only did them in about an inch of oil in a deep skillet, and flipped them after about two minutes on a side. they turned out great, a little crumbly, but then we got lots of delicious tiny crumbles that were very crispy.

10. set the table with three extra places. you know who they're for.

11. dust your idols off. give them something to eat.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

just a quick midweek update

this lovely man, henry freedland, mentioned my "going to watkins glen" zine in his article for paste magazine, briefly but wonderfully in this fantastic article about the zoop II event at farm sanctuary.

it's a great article. it made me cry.
it made me miss zoop, and it definitely made me happy after a rough day at work and a screwed up print order for my new zines.

thanks, paste magazine, and thanks to henry.

did you know i'm perfervid?

it's the word of the day.

and my writing has now been compared to a mountain goats song, which is the part that made me cry, first, and then the memories of zoop, after that.

check it out here.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Vegan Baking Success Comes To Oregon Woman At Long Last

yes, that's right, friends, after several disastrous attempts at vegan baking, and yes, i do mean DISASTROUS, i have succeeded where i once failed in the grandest manner possible.

what was once deemed "The Baking Debacle of 2008" has been put to rest finally, with this recipe from the post-punk kitchen, and a few tips from the baking substitution queen, miss ~k~, to whom i give many thanks and a couple hail, hails, though she subscribes not to the cult of tMG. yet. :)

here's the recipe for those what want it, i highly recommend it. my changes are below.

http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=187

i subbed a bit less than 2/3 a cup of applesauce for the canola oil, to make the cookies less full of le fat, this is ~k~'s sub, and i testify to the fact that it worked out great.

i also added a bit of extra nutmeg (i like things to be more spicy than many)
and i added a tiny bit of coriander (i just really like coriander)

i plain forgot to buy nuts at the store, so uhhh, i just didn't put any in. i think it would be great with them, but they turned out great without them too.

i also subbed dried cherries for the raisins, since i'm not big on raisins and i love dried cherries in nearly anything.

SUCCESS. even m is gobbling them down, and states that they are good.

this does not diminish the fact that i am a rock star. a vegan baking rock star.

go forth and bake. if i can do it, so can you. trust me.