Avocado-Pesto Potato Salad

Ahhh summer-time. Kidlets home from school, endless hours spent in the sun and at the pool, vacation, trips to the park.........never a dull moment. Indeed, all of the summer-time activity has left me starving by the end of the day, and rather uninspired in the kitchen. Additionally, we have been receiving quite a bounty from our CSA, and when food is from farm to table fresh I really can't bear to do anything to alter it. Hence, we've been eating a lot of salads, and simple dishes highlighting the freshness of the summer's bounty. It just doesn't seem right to alter the flavor of incredibly fresh fruits, veggies, and berries!

In the past 3 weeks we've been inundated with potatoes and basil. I've grilled potatoes, baked potatoes, made fries and potato salad. I've made pesto, my vegan version of caprese salad, used basil in my salads, on my pastas, and on my sandwiches. While trying to come up with something new for last night's dinner, and faced with yet more potatoes and basil, the only things that came to mind were potato salad and pesto. Then it struck me, why not combine the two?!? It was a pure stroke of genius (although I'm sure someone has come up with this idea before, as it's really not that creative!!).

Avocado-Pesto Potato Salad

1 1/2 lbs potatoes (I used a mix of Yukon Gold and Red Norlunds)
1/2 cup avocado, diced
1 cup loosely packed basil leaves
1 tsp liquid aminos
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 - 1 tsp water
salt and pepper to taste

Wash and dice potatoes into bite sized pieces. Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook potatoes until tender (yet still firm, you don't want them to be mushy). Pour into a colander and set aside to drain while you prepare pesto.

In the bowl of a food processor combine avocado, basil leave, liquid aminos, garlic, red pepper and lemon juice. Process until well combined, adding small amounts of water if mixture seems too thick.

In a large serving bowl fold together potatoes and pesto. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature, or chill until ready to serve.

Cheezy Teese-y Au Gratin Potatoes

I fell in love with Chicago Soy Dairy a few years back when I sampled Temptation Chocolate Ice Cream and found out that not only are they vegan, they are also dedicated nut free, which means Teeny can partake safely in their ice-cream. As a matter of fact, Temptation is the only ice-cream she's ever had the pleasure of eating outside of our house. We love Chicago Soy Dairy so much that Chicago is Teeny's all time favorite place to visit because she can get ice cream cones from The Chicago Diner!! She asks us almost daily if we can drive to Chicago (it's a FOUR hour drive!!).

Chicago Soy Dairy doesn't limit their genius to just ice cream either. They are also the creators of the fabulous (and addictive) Dandies Vegan Marshmallows and the popular cheese alternative Teese. I've used all of these products and can say from experience that they really are outstanding.

A few weeks ago on Twitter Chicago Soy Dairy was offering free Teese to bloggers who would create something beyond the typical pizza and lasagna. Always up for a challenge, I contacted them and they sent me one tube of Teese Cheddar Sauce, and one tube of Teese Cheddar.

Last night I used the Cheddar Sauce to recreate a childhood favorite of mine.....cheesy au gratin potatoes. The result was exactly like I remember my mom making. Cheesy and gooey -- comfort food at it's best.

Cheezy Teese-y Au Gratin Potatoes

10 medium Yukon gold potatoes, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
1 medium yellow onion, sliced
1 tube Teese Cheddar Sauce
1/4 cup + 2 Tbs non-dairy milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground mustard seed
1 Tbs dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs

Preheat oven to 375. Spray 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Line bottom of dish with slices of potatoes, layer on onions, then another layer of potatoes. In a small sauce pan combine Teese, non-dairy milk, garlic, mustard seed, dijon, salt and pepper. Whisk to combine and heat to a gentle boil. Pour hot cheese sauce over potatoes and with wooden spoon gently lift layers of potatoes to allow cheese sauce to combine through all veggies. Sprinkle bread crumbs evenly on top. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake for another 15 minutes until top is browned lightly and cheese sauce is bubbly. Remove from oven, cool 5-10 minutes allowing cheese sauce to thicken slightly. Serve warm!!

Veggie Pot Pie

After what seems like a never ending stretch of temperatures soaring into the 90's, it's beginning to feel like fall around here. It was cloudy today, with temperatures not even getting to the 70's, and a perfect day for some good old fashioned comfort food. Of course, it was purely a coincidence that pot pie was on our menu for tonight, I plan my meals for the week every Saturday, so we were having pot pie regardless of the weather. Lucky for us, the chill in the air made pot pie a perfect dinner

I've been searching for a good veggie pot pie for a few weeks, and have found many recommendations. I didn't follow any one particular recipe line by line, but this is the recipe that I based my potpie on. I didn't use the recommended pastry for the pie, instead used a pate brisee that I got off of Martha Stewart about 7 years ago. It's the crust I use for pumpkin pie every Thanksgiving, and I know it by heart. It was so buttery and made a delicious crust for a savory pie.

So, here's what I did, step-by-step, to create this delicious fall meal.

I started by chopping all of the veggies for my pie:
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium carrots, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
3 small potatoes, peeled and diced
About 2 cups of cauliflower florets
About 1 cup fresh green beans, ends trimmed and broken into about 1 inch pieces (frozen would be fine here too)

After chopping the veggies I started on the crust:
Preheat oven to 425. Add 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 tsp coarse salt, and 1 tsp sugar to the bowl of your food processor. Process for a few seconds to combine. Add in 1/2 lb very cold Earth Balance sticks, cut into small chunks. Process until mixture resembles a coarse meal. With machine running slowly stream in ice cold water just until dough holds together. Remove from processor, roll into a ball, cut in two. Shape each half into a disk, wrap individually in plastic and freeze for about 15 minutes.

While the dough was freezing I started my filling:
Heat 2 Tbs olive oil in a large pan. Saute onion, garlic, carrots and celery until onions become translucent. Add cauliflower, green beans, and potatoes. Pour in 3 cups of vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Here I seasoned with salt and pepper. I also added in about 1 tsp of dried tarragon leaves and stripped a few stems of thyme of their leaves as well. Reduce to simmer and cook until veggies are almost tender, about 15-20 minutes.

While veggies cook begin to prepare pie:
Remove dough from freezer, place one disk in refrigerator and place one disk on a lightly floured clean surface. Roll dough to fit a 9 inch pie plate, with about an inch overlap. Press crust into greased pie plate, use a fork to poke a few holes in the bottom of the crust and place in oven to bake for about 5 minutes, just until crust starts to puff up and become slightly brown.

While crust is baking:
In a small bowl, mix together about 1/4 cup water, 2 Tbs cornstarch, and about 5-6 shakes Braggs. Whisk to dissolve cornstarch and then pour into veggie mixture, stirring ocassionally until sauce thickens.

While sauce thickens:
Remove 1st crust from oven. Remove 2nd crust from refrigerator, roll out to fit over top of pie, again overlapping edges so the pie can be sealed. Spoon mixture into pie until pie is completely full. Cover with 2nd crust, roll edges of top crust under bottom crush, pinch to seal and then flute.

Cut 4 small slits in top of pie and bake for about 30 minutes, until top crust becomes slightly puffy and golden brown. When pie is done, remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.


(Remember, these are step-by-step instructions, so it's not a complicated as it looks!!)


As a bonus, there was enough filling left to fill a large soup mug, and enough trimmings from the crust to cover it and make a nice single serve pie for lunch tomorrow!! Rob and the girls loved the pie, and we finished off our meal with chocolate silk ice-cream (yes, I know, not exactly a dessert you'd expect on a brisk fall night, but it was oh-so-delicious!!).