Eating Vegan: Day 1

Jay and I are excited to be taking Heather's 30 Day Vegan Workshop, starting today!

I loaded up on produce and have been pouring over vegetarian and vegan recipe books, looking for new ideas to try.

Today for lunch we ate roasted yam wedges with an amazing sage-lime aioli.

Sage-Lime Aioli (Vegan)

2/3 cup vegenaise

zest of one lime

juice of half a lime

1 small clove garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp salt

Oh so yummy. Will use this as a veggie dip as well. And next time I will try a lemon-basil version. 


I'm looking so forward to trying new recipes, and giving lots and lots of veggies a starring role on our plates!

Curing: Homemade Bacon!

I made bacon.

Let me give you a moment to pause and ponder my awesomeness...

Bacon!

I had 3-4 lbs of pork belly in my freezer, waiting for me to get up the nerve. I rubbed it with a mixture of 1/4 cup kosher salt, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/4 cup maple syrup. I turned it in the brine each day for 7 (maybe 8?) days. Then I smoked it in my electric smoker using applewood chips. This piece above went into the freezer, and the other three pieces came to the Island with us.

Oh. My.

The first morning we had a feast with Graham and Kyla. I filled a sheet pan with slices of the meatiest bacon, and we roasted (baked?) it. It tasted like bacon candy. That, along with potato scones, and scrambled local eggs, and shredded Brussels sprouts sautéed in bacon fat, was Breakfast. Super Breakfast.

After that, we added cubed bacon to everything. The fattier pieces were thrown into cast iron pots and pans, rendered of their fat, and then we sizzled whatever we were going to cook in the flavourful awesomeness while Kyla ate the crispy fat bits. I can't even remember all the wonderful things we ate over those five days together but I'm pretty sure that bacon was part of every meal. We have been eating vegetarian meals since arriving back home to compensate for the abundance! 

I was so happy to remember that I had one more piece at home in the freezer. It's thawing now, and I believe it will star in baked beans tomorrow.

Can't wait. 

Cooking: Garlic Scape Pizza

How to make a simple, delicious, pizza, without leaving your house:

 Roll out your favourite pizza dough as thin as you can. 

 (Sometimes I have my own dough in the fridge. Sometimes, like today, I have a thawed batch from Calabria Bakery down the street. Sometimes I use a pizza stone, but sometimes, I just oil a sheet pan, and sprinkle it with cornmeal. Sometimes, I do a lot of things. Sometimes, I read a book all day and eat popcorn. But I digress...)

 Spread the dough with Garlic Scape Pesto, which you found in a little jar in your freezer, where you stashed a few last June when your garlic patch came to life. 

 Tear some whole, home-canned tomatoes into shreds with your hands and sprinkle them on top of the pesto. 

 Top with mozzarella from your fridge (especially yummy when homemade, which this was not) and a light grating of parmesan. Feta is also delish. 

 Tear up some thinly sliced back bacon from Sloping Hill Farm, and add it to half of the pizza, so you can offer your children a slice when they get home from school. You will be loved. 

 Drizzle a bit of olive oil, and a fine pinch of sea salt flakes. 

 450 degrees for 10 minutes, or until it is as crisp as you like it. Please bake on the bottom rack of your oven for the best crust results! 

 Dig in.