Last week, we had our first big freeze of the winter. The weatherman predicted it would get down to 18 degrees on Tuesday night, so that evening Rob and I went out and picked all our kumquats—20 pounds of kumquats—so they wouldn’t be damaged by …
We made our favorite vegan lasagna on Monday. It turned out so delicious. The key is the walnut paste, which holds everything together and is so rich and oily and delightful!
Sorry about the poopy picture. It was dark by the time we finished cooking, so I couldn’t pose the lasagna outside in a pretty spot like I wanted to. I don’t know why the dumb pepper shaker is in the shot, but the pitcher is full of tea flavored with our own homegrown Meyer lemons.
Vegan Walnut Lasagna
Ingredients:
8 whole-wheat lasagna noodles
1 small eggplant
1 package (8oz) chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1 carton button mushrooms
1 small bag fresh spinach
Olive oil
salt
fresh garlic
2 jars marinara sauce
Panko breadcrumbs
Walnut Paste:
2 cups walnuts
2 Tbsp water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp salt
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400° F.
Boil noodles until al dente. Drain and set aside on parchment paper.
Sauté spinach and mushrooms separately in olive oil with a little salt. Reconstitute the sun-dried tomatoes. Chop the eggplant into small cubes and pan fry with a little fresh garlic and salt. Set all the vegetables aside.
Toast walnuts in a lightly oiled frying pan on medium-low heat until golden brown. Mix together all the ingredients for the walnut paste using an immersion blender. Blend until you have a smooth paste.
In a baking dish, layer noodles with walnut paste, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, eggplant, and spinach. Add sauce on top of the top layer of noodles. Top with Panko. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Yesterday was so warm, it sure didn’t feel like January–and it didn’t really look like it either. There haven’t been any freezes yet this winter, so our summer vegetable garden is still producing. We’ve got shiny hot peppers galore, and we even have an eggplant …
My Meiwa kumquats are ripe. Hooray! I highly recommend this variety. Our tree is tiny, less than four feet tall, but it produces like crazy–and the fruit is so sweet! Seriously, these kumquats are really not sour at all. And they’re so cute and round, …
We got the house pressure washed a couple weeks ago, and on Sunday Rob went around and touched up the spots where the paint had chipped off during the process. The house looks so squeaky clean and perfect now. It’s snow white instead of mossy green. Whenever I’m driving home from work, I get so excited to see it, that sweet, familiar shape shining softly in the semi-darkness, surrounded by spent wildflowers and the bare trees.
Yesterday Kris had a Christmas cookie-baking party and I made vegan coconut macaroons using this recipe. They turned out pretty good! We had so much fun at the party. We baked cookies and drank hot cider and made Christmas ornaments with lots of glitter. We …
On Saturday, Kris, Sophie, Jake, Mom, Bun, and I visited Pebble Hill Plantation near Thomasville. The grounds are so beautiful, so spacious, with spread-y live oaks and very old camellia gardens, fountains, a sun dial, and lots of Spanish moss. There’s a tennis court and …
We’ve been picking our first satsumas. They’re the Kimbrough variety. They’re so good–and they look so magical hanging on the tree, like little golden Chinese lanterns.
