Teen Tuesday: How-To Create a Snack Station

  Got teens? Tweens? Me too. Ages 17, 16, 13, 11. They're vegan, always have been. Like most teenagers, they eat A LOT. Normally, I keep a shelf of snacks that they can add to their lunches. Now, they use them to munch on between meals or to take on hikes.
  When the kids were little, I suffered from a familiar problem. Little kids prefer to snack ALL DAY LONG. As a parent, this can be frustrating. I finally set a few rules. You can have three categories of snacks without asking permission:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Nuts

  Even a toddler could remember this simple list. I made sure there was a fruit bowl stocked at all times. Cans of nuts sat on the counter within easy reach. Raw veggies were pre-cut in the fridge. As long as I wasn't about to serve the next meal, they knew they could freely feed themselves.
  Fast forward to the teen years and the rules have obviously loosened... except for one: Don't bug me when you want a snack! They are all capable of cooking, but who doesn't like the convenience of grab and go food. My husband refers to this as "mouth food" ...you grab it and put it into your mouth with little to no preparation.

  During the coronavirus outbreak, we've been mostly avoiding grocery shopping. There is still a fruit bowl with a few apples & citrus, but most of the fresh produce is gone. We'll restock every few weeks if we deem it safe to do so. In the meantime, dried fruit & bars, applesauce, nut mixes, seaweed, & protein shakes are easy snack options. There are lentil chips, granola, & rice cakes in the cabinet. There is a small stash of frozen bread remaining in the freezer. 

  We've been baking often. Banana bread used to be the go-to treat, but aside from a bag of frozen bananas for smoothies, we're on to largely canned ingredients. Pumpkin bread or muffins have always been a favorite for my kids. In my almost completed cookbook and on my old kids food blog here, I share the recipe for pumpkin muffins. They are known as "AJ's Pumpkin Muffins" or "punkin munkins" because when he was a toddler, he'd poke you in the cheek and call you a punkin munkin. They were also a huge hit with his preschool classes whenever we made them for snacktime.

  Many of my recipes from that era were simple. Not only was I busy keeping 4 young kids alive, but they enjoyed helping me cook and quickly learned to make things themselves, a skill I encourage taking the time to cultivate.

  Nowadays, instead of mini-muffins for snacks & bento boxes, I make a large loaf of bread or a sheetpan of "pumpkin cake." The recipe is basically the same, but without strict school allergy rules, I can add things like nuts, extra nutmeg, and cut back on the sugar. 

  Got a can of pumpkin puree? Don't save it for Thanksgiving. You can use it right now! Maybe you have canned butternut squash instead, or frozen cubed squash that you can thaw and mash. Any whole winter squash can be cubed and steamed, then mashed and used in this recipe. My favorite winter squash is red kuri because of its bright red color. But any variety will suffice!

  While the original recipe works fine, I've tweaked it over the years to be a bit healthier.

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AJ's Pumpkin Muffins/Bread

1/3 cup (around 5 T. or a lump the length of a finger) margarine or butter (I use Earth Balance Buttery Sticks or Soy-Free spread, but I've also used olive oil or even culinary algae oil in a pinch)
1/2-3/4 cup brown sugar
3 T. milk (any kind) or water (I like unsweetened almond or hemp milk)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 can or 1.5 cups pureed pumpkin or other winter squash

2 cups flour (I like to use 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/4 cup pecan halves (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Soften margarine in a large bowl. Add brown sugar and mix until creamy with a fork.
Mix in milk & vanilla, then add the pumpkin puree.
Add the next 5 dry ingredients. Mix well.
Add walnuts and stir.
Pour into greased muffins tins or loaf pan (I spray with olive oil or line with parchment paper). Sprinkle or decorate tops with pecan halves if you'd like.

Cooking times:
mini muffins - 20-25 minutes - makes 3 dozen
regular muffins - 30-35 minutes - makes 12
9x9" sheet pan/baking dish - 40 minutes

loaf - 45-50 minutes - makes 1 loaf...may need a 

few extra minutes if omitting nuts.

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  If you have more cans of pumpkin in your pantry, or a few winter squash in your root cellar, you have lots of options in addition to baked goods. Consider these ideas: Pumpkin soup, pumpkin curry, pumpkin risotto, pumpkin & black bean quesadillas, couscous salad w/roasted cubed pumpkin, pumpkin hummus, pasta w/pumpkin-sage sauce & mushrooms, pumpkin & white bean chili, pumpkin & seitan stew, mashed pumpkin (instead of mashed potatoes), pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin smoothie, pumpkin butter. I have even layered pumpkin in lasagna! And if all else fails, you can always make a pumpkin pie!

How-To Use Your Pantry Staples: Dried Split Peas

  Welcome back! With some extra time on my hands and encouragement from some vegan friends of old, I am going to share some new & past recipes and chat about the challenges many of us are facing during the covid-19 pandemic.

  At the end of January, I stocked my freezers full of homemade soups, most using my own recipes or whatever I had on hand. I was about to have reconstructive surgery and I knew I would be relying on others a lot (a.k.a. plan ahead, because I won't be satisfied).
  With a dozen different soups, three or four containers of each, my recovery went quite smoothly. I just passed the 8 week mark (6-8 weeks projected recovery time, yet I am not allowed to swim for 3 months, sigh).

  A few weeks into my post-op hibernation, scary reports began to emerge from Wuhan, China. My best friend from high school lives in Beijing with his wife, and I found myself checking his posts daily, looking for insider evidence of what was unfolding. Once the virus began to devastate Italy, I grabbed my oldest son and hit HMart and India Market and re-stocked the kitchen plus enough pantry items to last at least a month. (I didn't panic-buy toilet paper, and I had a few travel bottles of hand sanitizer which I decided would be enough.) Here we are, at the end of March, 2 weeks after the last of my childrens' schools closed to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

  Most people are staying home, cooking for themselves, and practicing social distancing. I am happy to say that we're continuing to eat well, and have not had a repeat meal yet!
  Normally, I post frequently on Instagram, but during these heavy times, I think blogging is therapeutic. Instead of sharing a #menumonday post from a local restaurant, I am going to share some old favorites, some pulled from my former food/bento blog, along with some new ideas, made with pantry staples and foods with a longer shelf life.
  It's spring, technically, when nature begins to renew itself. Peas can be sown directly in the ground by now. Yet it's still cold, rainy, and a perfect time to curl up with a warm bowl of hearty soup. In the summer, a thinner, brighter pea soup is refreshing, but for now, let's keep it comfortable!

Simple Split Pea Soup

1 onion, chopped
2 leeks, washed and chopped (or more onion)
2 T. olive oil
1 tsp. liquid smoke (or a poblano pepper)
1 tsp. salt
1 carrot, chopped
2/3 cup dried split peas
1 medium potato, chopped
2 cups vegetable stock
3 cups water
1 cup frozen peas
pepper to taste

Combine first 6 ingredients in a pot over medium-low heat, cooking until onions & leeks are soft.
Add split peas, potato, vegetable stock and 2 cups of the water. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 1-2 hours, until split peas are softened.
Add frozen peas, remaining 1 cup water, and fresh black pepper to taste. Cook 10 more minutes.
Turn off heat. Blend until creamy but lumpy using an immersion blender or food processor, or a few seconds in a blender or Vitamix.