Once

Colcannon Pancakes over Caraway Roasted Cabbage

I chose Once (2006) for my Irish (St. Patricks day) movie because I have such a strong affection for it. It's a beautiful understated film set in Dublin, Ireland that follows a Czech immigrant and a street musician who meet one evening and begin to write songs together. We see over the coarse of a week how their unique love develops.

I paired this movie with an Irish classic called Colcannon, which is essentially mashed potatoes mixed up with curly kale and scallions. So here's the special recipe I made for this classic.

Colcannon Pancakes

Makes about 3 good servings (12 small pancakes)

4 russet potatoes

1 bunch of curly kale

1 bunch of chopped green onion

1 cup vegenaise

roughly 2 and 1/2 Tablespoons of fresh grated horseradish (optional but recommended)

1 tsp sea salt (to taste)

safflower oil

1/2 cup flour of choice on a plate

Peel and cut potatoes into small pieces and boil until soft (about 15 minutes). mash the potatoes with sea salt and vegenaise (and horseradish if opting for it). Cut kale into manageable, bite size pieces and steam, boil or braise. I sauteed the kale with a bit of safflower oil then braised in some leftover pot liquor. This is also how I cooked my green onion. I realize not everyone just happens to have some pot liquor in their fridge, but maybe look at the ingredients ( in Baby Doll post) and see if you can't throw some of that together for a braising liquid.

Stir in the kale and green onion. Coat a frying pan with safflower oil, form colcannon into palm sized patties, coat in flour and pan fry on medium until golden brown on both sides.

Roasted Cabbage

One head of green cabbage, sliced

safflower oil

sea salt

1 Tablespoon of caraway seeds

coat cabbage with oil and sprinkle liberally with sea salt. Sprinkle caraway seeds over the cabbage. Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes, flipping half way in between.

"I don't know you, but I want you all the more for that"

"Words fall through me and always fool me and I can't react"

"What's the Czech for 'Do you love him?"

Baby Doll - Pot Lick-uh Grits with Collard Greens & Caramelized Leeks

Baby Doll is a nineteen year old girl living in Mississippi, married to Archie, a middle-aged man who owns a cotton gin business. When Silva Vacarro brings an updated cotton spinning machine into town, it pushes Archie out of business which leads him to burning down Silva's new machine. When Silva suspects Archie of the arson, he conducts a plan to seduce Baby Doll.

It's a Tennesee Williams story, so you'll get a lot of southern drama, but also themes that were very shocking for the time. Baby Doll was a very controversial film and there were strong efforts to ban it for it's "indecency." Well, don't expect anything too taboo by today's standards, but look at it through the lens of 1956 and you might just get a touch of the vapors!

Pot Lick-uh Grits w/ Collard Greens & Caramelized Leeks

There's a scene in the movie that I love, where Baby Doll and Silva are eating collard greens and he teaches Baby Doll about "pot liquor" which is the cooking juices from the collard greens. He told her, you dunk your bread in the pot liquor, she tried it and she said in her deep southern accent, "I looove pot lick-uh!"

So I had to have some pot liquor somewhere in the recipe, because I also looove pot lick-uh. So I just decided to put together a dish more southun' than a june bug on pokeweed...

Greens & Pot Liquor

Pot liquor is essentially a bunch of fat, smoke and salt with some flavoring from the greens. How this was traditionally accomplished makes me sad :,( so this is my kinder way of making pot liquor.

2 bunches of greens ( I used a mixture, 1 bunch of collards, one bunch of kale)

about 10-12 cups of water

2 Tablespoons liquid smoke

1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce)

1 cup of stout or porter beer

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

3 tsp white miso

1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup

* if using some of your pot liquor to dunk your bread in, put some earth balance butter in there. I didn't do this because I wanted to save the butter to top off my grits. (and didn't have bread).

Chop the greens roughly into manageable pieces and throw them in a big pot with the rest of the ingredients. Boil and bring to a simmer for about 30 minutes.

Grits

6 cups of pot liquor

2 cups of polenta cornmeal

Bring pot liquor to a boil , then add cornmeal, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a simmer and continue to whisk frequently to avoid lumps. Simmer until creamy and fully cooked (about 5 minutes)

Caramelized Leeks

2 stalks of leeks- sliced thin- stop at the dark green part.

Coat the pan with olive oil and put sliced leeks in. Add a heavy pinch of sea salt and sautee until soft and sweet.

Scoop out grits into a bowl, top with earth balance butter and salt (if needed), then top with greens and caramelized leeks.

Makes about 4 servings

Everything's Gone Green - A Piece of the Green Pie

"Everyone's in on a scam, or creating something nobody really needs, to sell to people who are too stupid to care or notice. Whatever happened to just being real. Why aren't we content to just be middle class."

Ryan is a corporate slave, cubical jockey, but loses that job around the same time he hears news of his parents winning the lottery. Ryan calls in the winning lottery ticket, only to find out that his parents mistook the numbers and didn't win after all. On the bright side, Ryan gets offered a job at the lottery bureau interviewing and photographing new lottery winners. Through his new job, he's tempted by a shady offer and gets caught up in a Japanese mafia money laundering scheme. As he acquires more and more money, he becomes less and less desirable, especially to the woman of his affection.

I love this movie, I've seen it at least a dozen times now. And it's the perfect time to recommend it. The movie has such an accurate depiction of the affluence of money and what it does to the spirit. I love how it illustrates money as a curse, which is why I think it's a great topical post to do right now. Occupy Cinegrub!

From Canada, Everything's Gone Green- 2006, currently streaming on Netflix!

A Piece of the Green Pie, otherwise known as Spanakopita...

Phyllo dough (thawed) - (freezer section, read the ingredients to make sure it's vegan! They usually are though.)

2 lbs frozen spinach

1-2 cups loja (cashew chz) recipe in this post

1/4 cup fresh chopped dill

1/4 fresh chopped parsley

1 bunch chopped green onion

3 chopped garlic cloves

2 tsp salt (to taste)

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup pine nuts

1 tsp nutritional yeast

pinch of salt

Thaw and sqeeze out water from the spinach. saute the spinach in the olive oil with the green onion, add garlic, salt and nutmeg. Stir in about 1 and 1/2 cups of cashew chz until blended. Remove from heat and allow to cool off. Add the dill and parsley. In a mini food processor (or crush with the back of your spoon), grind the pine nuts, nutritional yeast and salt, with a bit of fresh squeezed lemon if you have it on hand.

To fill your pies, first brush your sheet of phyllo dough with olive oil, then place a scoop of spinach mixture on the bottom right corner, top with a few pieces of cashew chz, sprinkle with pine nut mixture and fold. To fold your pies- look to diagram for instructions. Bake 350 for 20-25 minutes.

"Yesterday, life was so average and boring. Now today it's like a mystical experience. It's like life is somehow better."

Hannah and her Sisters

This is my favorite movie of all time! There is just no movie that compares. I remember the first time I watched Hannah and Her Sisters. I was a freshman in high school and it introduced me to film as art, not as a business. It was also my first Woody Allen film and to this day he is still my favorite director. I don't want to oversell it, i'll just say it is THE perfect movie.

I never thought of it as a Thanksgiving movie, but the story begins at Thanksgiving and ends at Thanksgiving 2 years latter. I already had a Thanksgiving round 1 because a family member was in town. I made a roasted Fennel Tomato Sage Casserole, Scalloped Horseradish Dill Potatoes, Cornbread Stuffing, and Pumpkin Cream Cake with pecan crust.

For round 2, on Thanksgiving day, I cooked for 3, it was our second one this season, so I wanted it to be simple, light and elegant. Here's what I made:

Pumpkin Sage Risotto

Roasted Root Vegetables with a sweet balsamic glaze

Lemon Dill Haricot Verts

Peach Basil Pie

Here are a couple of shots. I'm really happy with how everything came out. It was delicious :)

Pumpkin Sage Risotto

Sweet Balsamic Roasted Root Vegetables. (Carrots, beets, parsnips and rutabaga)

" ...Nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands."

"If Jesus came back and saw what was going on in his name, he would never stop throwing up."

(Vegan MoFo) Shaun of the Dead - "Limbs N' Chips" *and a giveaway!

It's midway through the month and you might be needing a little break from all of the scary movies. Well, I recommend my favorite horror comedy to keep you in the holiday season but give you a break from the nightmares. This has been described as a romantic comedy zombie movie. If that isn't charming enough for you, it's from England, so everyone has British Accents! Can't go wrong. I'm also doing a giveaway! The prize is the dvd of Shaun of the Dead! Details at the end of the post.

To go along with this zombie movie spoof from England, I made some...

Beer-Battered Limbs N' Chips

*"Limbs"* - 2 options

block of firm tofu

1 and 1/2 pounds worth of parsnips

6-10 sheets of nori seaweed

Peel the outer tan parts of the parsnips off and discard. Continue to peel away until you hit the hard center. Take your inner peels and pulse in the food processor until you get flakes the size shown in the picture. Toss with a light coating of veganaise and a pinch of salt. Wrap parsnip shreds in a sheet of nori, coat with batter (recipe follows) and place into a pot of 375 degree oil of 1 to 1 and 1/2 inches. Fry until golden brown all around.

*OR*

Cut firm tofu into long rectangles, soak in soy sauce for a few minutes, wrap the tofu in a sheet of nori, coat with batter (recipe follows) place into a pot of 375 degree oil of 1 to 1 and 1/2 inches. Fry until golden brown all around.

Flakey White Flesh!

*Beer-Batter

1 and 1/2 cups flour

1 12 oz bottle of vegan beer. Blue Moon is vegan!

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Beer first, then stir in the flour, salt and garlic powder.

For tartar sauce

3/4 cup Veganaise

5 TB dill relish

1-2 TB fresh lemon juice

heavy dose of fresh cracked pepper.

If you would like to participate in my giveaway with a chance to win the Shaun of the Dead dvd, just tell me what your favorite Halloween (or fall) season movie is in the comment section below. Entries can go on until I wake up Monday morning. No right answer, winner will be chosen at random!

(Vegan MoFo) The Frank Award

National Feral Cat Day is on Sunday October 16th, so in honor I would like to give out my very prestigious Frank Award to my favorite MoFo posts so far. Frank was a super awesome feral cat who is in heaven right now, but I got the pleasure of knowing him in his brief life on this planet. So in honor of Frank and all of the feral cats who need our help, let's celebrate and meditate on a healthier life for them and the end of street births through Trap Neuter Return.

*I've been loving the themes some bloggers have been taking on this month and this one was particularly appealing to me. Over at Air Eater, she has been making a series of Bento Boxes. For those who aren't familiar, they are a Japanese lunch box of sorts, concentrating on arrangement, simplicity and efficiency. Often Bentos feature special food characters, such as a food item designed to look like an animal. It was difficult to choose my favorite, but this Pac Man Bento, I found especially charming. http://aireater.com/2011/10/07/vegan-mofo-pac-man-bento/

*I am a big fan of Mochi and I'm always interested in different ways to incorporate it in a dish. So these Mochi Dumplings from Vegan Chickpea got an immediate bookmark.

*Zombie Cats Eating Plants wasn't messing around when she kicked off her MoFo month. Are you ready for this? Chocolate Peanut Butter Marshmallow Croissants ! This is bookmarked for my next period.

*My next favorite is not a recipe, but a post from The "V" word, on my favorite book, The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams. If you have not read this book, I strongly urge you to do so. It is an eye-opening critical examination of the strong link from our patriarchal society to animal consumption and the business behind it. In the post there is an excerpt from an interview with Carol J. Adams.

*Over at Winged Snail, she has inspired me to make my own fresh homemade pasta. Thanks Sarah, I needed this boost.

*Over at coldandsleepy cooks, she's making her way through the alphabet and my favorite so far has been "H" Chik patties & potato squashers with homemade horseradish cream sauce. I'm quite enamored with this blog, everything looks so good and her pictures are so cool.

Frank <3

A couple of these outdoor cuties need homes. They are in the L.A. area. If you know of anyone looking to adopt a cat or 2, please let me know. I'm having a hard time getting help out here in L.A. with adoptions. Thanks!

The Shining - "Redrum Cupcakes featuring "Tony"

The Shining is one of the great classic horror movies. A family moves into an isolated hotel in it's off season to be the caretakers. The father is a writer who sees this as a good opportunity to work on his writing, but instead goes mad after being influenced by the spirits of the hotel. The Little boy, Danny, is psychic and can see horrible things that have happened in the past, and things that are to come. The mother basically has to put up with a whole lotta bullshit.

If you haven't seen this movie, "Tony" is a little boy who lives inside of Danny's mouth. Tony is animated through Danny's finger.

This is one of my cats, R2D2 in the corner. It was really hard to keep them out of the way in the photo shoot :)

"Redrum! Redrum! Redrum!"

I used The basic vanilla cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. Added 1/4 cup extra flour and 1/2 cup dark rum.

For the bloody fingers, I used Chloe Coscarelli's "witches fingers" recipe.

For the glaze, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup rum, 1/4 cup vegan butter, natural red food coloring. (available at health food stores). Stir and bring to a boil, let thicken (few minutes), then drizzle over the cupcakes.

For the crumbles - 1 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 6 TB vegan butter, pinch of salt. Bake crumbles separate from cupcakes at 350 for about 10 minutes.

"It's amazing how fast you get used to such a big place. I tell you, when we first came up here, I thought it was kinda scary."

"Come play with us, Danny. Forever... and ever... and ever... "

Vegan Mofo #7