Easy Nature Silhouette Wall Art

I bought a pack of 3 canvas panels at Walmart, once again on a craft impulse. Wasn't sure what to do with them until I saw this pin on pinterest: So lovely!

The source of the pin was to another pinterest-like site called "Pin-Me" and I it was in another language I did not recognize. But the pictures of the pin were pretty straight forward.

Materials needed:

• A flat medium surface like canvas, foam board, or wood
• Gold Spray paint
• Colored spray paint of your choice, or you can use acrylic paint like I did to paint the base color

• Adhesive spray (the spray can in the picture said "KLEJ". Google said it means glue in polish. So glue in a spray can, I figured it must mean adhesive spay.)

• Random branches, flowers, or leaves from outside (I went on a long walk with my dog, specifically for this project - don't tell my dog)

Let's Craft!

1) Paint the base color you want to show in the "negative image" of the leaves/flowers. Let dry

2) Spray some adhesive and stick the leaves/flowers to the medium surface. Let dry according to directions.

The flowers on the right did not turn out so well, I suggest it you want to use flowers as your "stencil" make sure they are pressed first so that you pick up the silhouette. I just found a different plant with large leaves instead, painted the canvas green, and tried again.

3) Spray coat of gold paint over leaves/flowers and base coat.

4) Peel off your leaves/flowers. Let gold paint dry

5) Hang your art and admire!

Summer Rolls

Every time Brook and I go to our local Pho restaurant, we always order the summer rolls. We are obsessed with the Peanut Hoisin sauce that is served with it. What I love about summer rolls is that it is like sandwich - you can put anything in it. A lot of traditional Vietnamese versions include pork or shrimp.

If you read my earlier post about my house warming party, I served a vegan version with tofu, so will be sharing that recipe here:

Ingredients for Tofu Summer Roll





Rice Paper

Firm Tofu

Rice Stick (also known as rice noodles or bean thread noodles)

Romaine Lettuce (with stem cut out)

Shredded carrots or pre cut matchstick carrots

Sea salt

Fresh cracked pepper

Ingredients for Peanut Hoisin sauce:

4 TBSP Hoisin Sauce (I bought mine from Publix)

1 TBSP Creamy peanut butter

1 TSP Sesame oil

2 TBSP water

1 TBSP soy sauce

Prep:

1) Cook the rice stick according to directions, usually boil for about 5-8 minutes until soft. Strain hot water,  and rinse noodles with cold water. Set aside.

2) Open and drain tofu package, and cut tofu in long slices.

3) Preheat the frying pan to med-high heat. Add some canola oil in the pan.

4) Flick some water onto the pan, if you hear crackling or sizzling, the pan is hot enough. Add your slices of tofu, sprinkle with some sea salt and cracked pepper

5) Cook both sides of tofu until a golden brown crust as formed, remove from pan onto a plate with paper towel. Let cool.

Some got stuck to the pan - Oops!

 

Assembly:

1) Grab a large bowl or container larger than the size of the rice paper

2) Fill the bowl with lukewarm water and place one sheet of rice paper in the bowl. Make sure you use a sheet of rice paper this is not cracked or broken:

3) Allow to soak for 5-10 seconds until it softens (you to not want it to turn too soft or mushy)

4) Carefully remove rice paper and place on a kitchen towel for about 30 seconds so that it firms up again

5) When ready, move the rice paper to your prep surface (cutting board)

6) Add your fillings, I usually layer with rice stick first, carrots, lettuce, and tofu at the top.

7) Fold over one side of rice paper to the other, making a half circle

8) Fold in the sides like you would a burrito

9) Then gently, and tightly roll up the rest of the rice paper

10) Set aside on a plate and cover with a moist paper towel so it does not dry out.

11) Make sauce and serve!

Tofu summer roll with Peanut Hoisin Sauce, Shrimp summer roll with Thai sweet chili sauce







House-warming Party!

Had a get together with some friends and family this past weekend with a variety of palates to consider. Half of my guests were vegan/vegetarian, and it intimidated me a little, not gonna lie!

I have ventured into some vegetarian and vegan cuisine, and I have been really impressed by all the possibilities and options that compassionate eaters have out there. Not to mention, dairy free and meat free can still taste pretty darn good! Will I ever go to the green side? (ha, made myself laugh with that) Probably not, there are a few things I couldn't give up:

Seafood
Bulgogi/Kalbi

I hardly eat red meat, but oh, when I have an itch for some good ol' Korean food, watch out.

I heard that giving up dairy is what keeps most people from jumping over to the vegan side, but those didn't even hit my list. Eggs would be hard too, since I love me some egg in my kimchi ramen, or topped over some bibimbap. Yeah, eggs should be on my list too, although I have seen some versions of vegan "poached eggs" and "deviled eggs" in the blogshpere. It's craziness, I might try to make it one day, just because.

Anyway, I didn't want to serve just something boring and un-original like hummus- got my wheels turning and came up with this menu:

Crab cakes with cajun remoulade sauce

 Jackfruit "Crab cake" with soy yogurt chive sauce

Mini Banging shrimp tacos

Tofu summer rolls with Peanut Hoisin Sauce

Black bean, corn, and roasted poblano quesadilla (with Daiya vegan shredded cheese)

Mini Jerk Jackfruit tacos with Avocado Poblano "Crema" and roasted pepitas

Roasted corn and poblano salsa

Butternut squash goat cheese tart with sage brown butter (with cashew "goat cheese")

Toasted Coconut Panna Cotta with chocolate lace (vegan)

Cheese board: Aged White Cheddar, Brie, whole grain crostini, candied walnuts, pecans, honey apricot/cranberry chutney, cracked pepper/rosemary "goat cheese"

Fruit Salad

Raspberry Beer

In addition, Katie brought Lentil loaf, and Greta brought vegan banana split cupcakes - Delish!


Greta's Vegan Banana Split Cupcakes - she's a cupcake genius



Katie's Lentil Loaf - super yummy!



Lets start with the veganized crabcakes - they turned out great! Jackfruit is not what you think, when you hear the word fruit. It has a similar texture to pulled chicken or pork, but can taste both sweet or savory, depending on what you marinate/cook it with. The trick is to allow the jackfruit to marinate at least overnight, so that it can become infused with its full flavor potential.

After what seemed like a quest to middle earth searching Indian and Asian grocery stores, almost curling into fetal position and crying/planning a pitchfork and fire witch hunt with the local asian markets because their lack of stocking jackfruit almost made my planned menu go down in flames.... I had finally found one store that sold canned jackfruit in WATER. If making savory dishes, make sure you get the canned kind in water, NOT SYRUP.

You can buy it at Jax Oriental Market. For those of you who live in Jacksonville, You're welcome.

Jackfruit "Crab cakes"

Vegan Maryland “Crabcakes” Recipe- Made with Jackfruit

Wet Ingredients:

1 Can Jackfruit

1 TBSP Dijon Mustard

2 TBSP Nayonaise

3 TBSP Applesauce (binding agent – if you have liquid egg replacer that will work too)

2 TBSP Fresh Lemon Juice

1-2 TBSP Soy Sauce

¼ Cup crumbled firm tofu (for added density and protein)

2 TBSP chopped Parsley

2 TBSP chopped Garlic

2 TBSP chopped red onion

Dry Ingredients:

¼ Cup crumbled saltine crackers
1 TBSP Old Bay seasoning

1 TSPN cracked pepper

Panko (to coat patties)

Prep:

1)      Rinse jackfruit with water a few times to rid of excess salt

2)      Cut out the “core” of the jackfruit wedges, pick out any seed pods and seed casings, and trim and pieces that have a thick “rind”. You should be left with the stringy, “meaty” bits. ****

3)      Place prepped jackfruit in a food processer and pulse gently until you reach a texture similar to lump crab “flakes”. Place in a mixing bowl. Pat dry with a paper towel as best you can.

4)      Combine all the wet ingredients, plus the old bay seasoning and pepper, mix gently.

5)      Add in the crumbled saltine crackers and fold in. Add a bit more if you find that the mixture is too wet. You want a consistency where you are able to form firm patties.

6)      Pour some Panko in a bowl – set aside

7)      Form patties and then coat with panko crumbs, pressing the crumbs into the patties until they are coat evenly

8)      Place formed patties on a plate, and then cover with saran wrap or foil.

9)      Allow the patties to marinate overnight in the fridge.

*** This step is optional- but it you want your cakes to have a “seafood” flavor – you can place the jackfruit in a pot of hot water, with a few pieces of dried seaweed and let soak for about 30 min. Remove seaweed and drain, pat dry and proceed to step 3. Or, you can add some powdered arame as one of your dry ingredients – maybe ½ tsp at first, add some more to taste.

Cook:

1)      Preheat pan on med-high heat. Add some olive oil or earth balance.

2)      Place a few patties on the hot pan, allow 3-5 minutes on each side, with a golden brown color.

3)      Serve while hot, and top with chive “tartar sauce”*.

Chive Tartar sauce:

½ cup plain  soy yogurt or Nayonaise

2 TBSP fresh chives

Garlic salt or garlic powder

Mix all ingredients together and dollop on jackfruit crabcakes.



Real crab cakes on left, Jack fruit crab cakes on right, look pretty darn convincing don't they?



Some other pictures of the food, sorry, I didn't get a chance to take a lot of pics, I was so busy cooking, cleaning, and hosting!



Cheese board: with Vegan cashew "goat cheese"

 

Toasted coconut panna cotta with chocolate lace



Food is ready!



The party was a success, it was great to see everyone and catch up and enjoy the evening. I will be posting additional recipes for the other menu items on seperate posts.