Pico De Gallo Slaw

/ pumpkinhoney / 6 Comments

Just over a week ago I received very exciting news!!! The exclamation points let you know how exciting 🙂

I received an acceptance letter from American University’s School of International Service. Starting in the fall I will be a graduate student working toward an M.A. in Global Environmental Policy!

I finally have some direction and that feels incredible. One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite books sums it up, “But absolute freedom can be as paralyzing as confinement when you don’t know what you want” (Around the Bloc by Stephanie Elizondo Griest). I finally know what I want!

Interestingly, American was the only school to which I applied (Penn State was the only school to which I applied for undergrad). Thank the universe I was accepted (to both).

I visited campus the day I was accepted (I didn’t get my acceptance email until that evening) and have already started looking at apartments, short-term study abroad opportunities, thinking about part-time jobs (Whole Foods?), and internships in the city. Each class is only once a week, and the average graduate student course load is 9 credits (3 classes) so I may only be on campus 2 days a week.

Anyway, onto the food! I eat tacos at least once a week, if not more. I love them. Usually they’re filled with black beans, some combination of veggies, and some kind of salsa, and/or guacamole. Last night, Stephen made some amazing tofu tacos and the tofu actually turned out perfect! Almost restaurant style!! Oh dear, they were so good I’m drooling just thinking about them.

And I learned a new trick after some internet searching… thank you, Vegan Yum Yum. The tofu should be DRY FRIED. It leeches out more moisture so the tofu becomes more spongy & chewy while simultaneously giving it a crisper outer texture. After dry frying the tofu, he added Olive Oil, Jalapeño, Onion, and Bell Pepper & sautéed it all together with some Chili Powder, Cumin & Salt. I fried the tortillas a bit to make them warm & pliable. Then we added the slaw I had made around lunch & topped it off with some green leaf lettuce. Oh, and we never forget the Tapatío. They were seriously delicious. I will probably never get around to posting a taco recipe because not only are tacos easy to make, I am FAR more interested in eating them IMMEDIATELY than I am in setting up a picture of my favorite food while it begs to be consumed. Maybe, one day.

Pico De Gallo Slaw

  • 1 Cup Green Cabbage, Shredded
  • 2 Medium Sized Tomatoes, Diced
  • 1/4 of a Large Onion, Diced
  • 1 Large Clove of Garlic, Minced
  • 1 Jalapeño, Minced
  • Juice of One Lime (or to taste)
  • 1/2 Tsp Cumin (or to taste)
  • Dash of Chipotle Powder, for smokiness
  • Salt, to taste
  • 1 Tsp Brown Sugar, Agave, or Honey
  • Cilantro (optional)

The addition of the cabbage actually came about because I didn’t have cilantro and diced tomato, onion & garlic just wasn’t going to cut it. The Mexican restaurant in Kutztown, La Cocina Mexicana, always serves their salsa with shredded cabbage and it’s dynamite. Thus, this slaw was born. Both the jalapeño & chipotle add a bit of spice to adjust to your preference.

In a medium/large bowl combine cabbage, tomatoes, onion, jalapeño and garlic. Toss together. Squeeze in lime juice. Add cumin & chipotle. Toss & taste. You may decide not to add sweetener or salt. I liked a little of both. Definitely be careful with the sweetener though. I accidentally added a touch too much the first time I made it.

If you have cilantro, absolutely add it. Let the slaw marinade in the refrigerator while you make the rest of your tacos. The flavor will enhance as it sits.

The slaw is fresh, bright, and adds a bit of crunch to your taco. It’s really wonderful and you could dress it up however you like.

Echo Hill <3

/ pumpkinhoney / 2 Comments

If you’ve read any of my older posts you know I’m obsessed with a Mennonite owned Dry Goods store in a small town called Fleetwood, PA. Echo Hill may just be one of my favorite places on Earth. When Stephen’s mom suggested he take me there my first time in Kutztown, I was crazy excited. Their pantry was filled with bags of dried apple rings, plump raisins, pumpkin seeds, almonds, trail mix, etc. I thought of all the health food stores I’d been in, as well as the “Amish” Market at home and was excited to buy me some nuts.

When we pulled up I was a little surprised. What a small building standing all by itself. And pretty small on the inside too. Not quite what I was expecting. There are only about 5 aisles. BUT THEN as I explored, I discovered they had just about everything my little heart could ever want. Every single nook is filled with beautiful and wondrous items. And they offer most of their products in organic varieties. They have an aisle of flours & grains, an aisle of pastas, rice & legumes, an aisle of dried fruits & nuts (which includes trail mixes), and an aisle of spices & sauces/milks/juices/oils. They also have an aisle of candy & snack foods that I only wander into for Stephen’s gummy candies. Then along the front wall they have a plethora of honey, jams, sweeteners, & varieties of baking morsels. Along the back wall they have homemade granola, healthful cereals, natural toiletries (ie Toms Deodorant), and vitamin & mineral supplements. They also have a deli counter & a refrigerator/freezer section with various gluten-free products, vegan substitutes, and more traditional meats & cheeses. Above the freezer section they have a whole shelf of Ball Jars & the like. There is also the free-standing rack between the freezers and the standing area to form a line that has many health bars, breads, random stuff. On the other side of the standing room they have a huge assortment of teas, both loose & bagged from a variety of brands.

You’ve got the simple AP flour, bread flour, and whole wheat flour (which all come in organic), and then you have some sprouted spelt flour, brown rice flour, garbanzo flour, soy flour, white bean flour, lentil flour, seriously I don’t even remember all the varieties because I’ve never purchased the ones I’ve never seen in a recipe. And I look at recipes everyday, often most of the day. They also have everything a little vegan girl (or boy) might have seen in a couple of recipes once and never thought they’d buy. They have agar agar flakes & powder, ener-g egg replacer, a variety of different coconut oils, date sugar, stevia, every other sweetener known to man. They have every nut you could ever want, salted, unsalted, roasted, raw, whole, or as a meal (ie almond meal). They have a grain that I’ve never heard of called Freekeh. They have black barley, and regular barley, the best prices on vanilla beans, every dried fruit, every legume, every spice. And they find stuff if they don’t have it and you want it! I told them I was looking for Agar Agar powder last summer when they only had the flakes, the gentleman made a note of it & the next time I was in the store they had the powder!

They also have the zillion things I haven’t mentioned because the list could go on & on & on & on like the song that never ends, it just goes on and on, my friend.

My most recent purchases were:

  • Organic, Unsweetened, Unsulfured Shredded Coconut
  • Organic Garbanzo/Chickpea/Gram Flour
  • Organic Soy Flour
  • EnerG Egg Replacer
  • Agar Agar Powder
  • Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
  • Dried Goji Berries!
  • Numi Jasmine Green Tea
  • Organic English Walnuts
  • Dried Currants (I prefer them to raisins)

I bought the coconut specifically for Pre‘s Coconut Macaroons I just made.

I bought the walnuts because I plan to make some Jam Thumbprint Cookies, inspired by the Feasting Freds.

I bought the soy flour for some muffin recipes, the gram flour for some Indian recipes, the currants for some scones, the EnerG because it’s in so many vegan baked goods, the goji berries because I’ve never had them, and the jasmine green tea because I love it 🙂

I don’t know what I’m going to use the Agar Agar for… Any suggestions, friends?

I’ll be posting some of these recipes soon!

Coconut Macaroons with Chocolate

/ pumpkinhoney / 11 Comments

I made a recipe on my To-Make List!!! And boy oh boy was it fantabulous. Pre‘s Raw Macaroons are divine. And the ingredient list is too. These vegan, raw coconut macaroons are like a sophisticated, grown-up Mounds candy bar except so much better & much healthier. I followed Pre’s recipe almost to a T (well I halved it to a T), using slightly more coconut oil & semi-sweet (still vegan) chocolate. Seriously, they were even better than I imagined. They melt in your mouth. Oh, and I also bought dried nettle leaves to make tea after a recommendation on her blog. I think I might love her.

I used organic, unsweetened, unsulfured, shredded coconut. Shredded coconut is much smaller than the longer pieces that you usually see when you buy sweetened coconut & they’re crisper because they’re drier. Sweetened coconut is usually coated in corn syrup, which makes it sweeter, moister, plumper and ultimately less healthy. Combined with coconut oil & maple syrup, the crispy unsweetened flakes are the way to go.

I also used organic extra virgin coconut oil, which can be quite expensive! According to www.live-the-organic-life.com virgin & extra virgin coconut oil are pretty much the same thing, with no industry standard processing. However, virgin coconut oil (VCO) is much different from refined coconut oil (RBD). According to the website, refined coconut oil is of a lower quality, undergoes greater processing, and will clog the pores if used for external use (ie moisturizer). RBD stands for refined, bleached, and deodorized so the oil also loses much of its smell (which I supposed could be handy if you don’t want everything you make to taste like coconut). I think I’ll still choose virgin. Virgin coconut is physically extracted with no chemical processing and the oil remains unrefined in a more natural form. It smells wonderfully delicious.

Pre’s recipe can be found here. I highly recommend it!

I obviously haven’t mastered chocolate drizzling. And mine kind of look like chocolate covered bananas! Lol. I bet they’d be delicious with almonds, hazelnuts, or more chocolate hidden inside. Maybe some kind of raspberry filling? Oh, they’re perfect the way they are too. Enjoy!