Beetroot Borscht with Potatoes and Cabbage

About 6 years ago (this month actually) I started a food blog called Vegan Food Rocks, and kept it going for about 2 years. I miss the days of cooking awesome meals and writing all about them.
Before starting this blog I considered bringing it back to life, but now that I am just about due with my first child, priorities have changed. Obviously food is a priority, but cooking big meals and spending hours editing photos and posts just isn't in the cards for me. As I mentioned in my first post, this will be a place for me to blog all about the next chapter of my life, motherhood, and all that goes with it. Don't worry, there will always be lots of food posts though! 

It's been really hard to squirrel away as much food as I would like before the baby comes, it has been far too hot to cook for the past two months. With the leftovers of Tropical Storm Hermine hitting the south coast of Massachusetts today, we finally have great cooking weather. With just 23 days until my due date, and the unfortunate potential for a c-section prior to then, the race is on to get my freezer stocked and my house organized!

On one of our recent grocery shopping trips we grabbed some beautiful locally grown beets, with nothing in mind for them, other than consumption. As the days passed and my brain becomes more scattered with last minute things to do, I couldn't think of anything that I wanted to do with them. When I saw that the weather was supposed to cool down for a couple days due to the storm, I knew I had to make soup with them!

In January 2011 I was participating in a PPK Cookbook Challenge, and I came up with this recipe based on the Red Beet Soup in Urban Vegan. Loaded with earthy sweet beets, potatoes, onion, and cabbage, this hearty soup, paired with a side of garlic bread, really hit the spot today. I'm looking forward to pulling the rest of this out of the freezer in the cooler months when I have a baby on my hip. 

 Red Beet Borscht

3-4 red beets peeled and boiled until soft and then cubed- reserve all beet water. (or 2 cans of whole beets - reserve beet water)
1 onion roughly chopped
4 small to medium potatoes peeled and cubed
1 tblspn olive oil
2 cups roughly chopped - I used 1 cup green and 1 cup red.
1 cup vegan sour cream
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tspns white vinegar
1 tspn balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste.

In a large soup pot cook the onions in the oil until soft.

Add the beets, potatoes, beet water, 2 cups veg broth, vinegar salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender.

In a food processor pour a few ladles of the beets, potatoes and onions and puree until smooth.  Pour back into pot.

Add cabbage and cook about 5 minutes.

Add sour cream and mix until the soup turns from blood red to deep pink.

***Today I only used 2 beets because one of them was monstrous and the other was pretty large. I also didn't add the sour cream directly to the soup since I was planning on freezing it, just put a dollop on the bowl that I ate for lunch***

I also made some bomb Blueberry Lemon Quick Bread which I will post about soon.

Dog Days of Pregnancy

I'm currently 33 weeks and 5 days pregnant and barely surviving in the midst of a humid heatwave. The dog days of summer can really take their toll on you physically and emotionally. Some days I hardly get out of bed and other days, like today, I get some shit done. Some days I am a joy to be around and the others I am an absolute nightmare to be around. Today was a mixed bag; I had my ups and downs, but luckily for my partner there were not a lot of downs after we got some food into me. Hangry Liz is not fun.

After brunch we started heading to my midwife appointment, where we learned that our baby has not yet assumed the head down position. I'm not surprised at all, she is stubborn like me. Her not being in position isn't too much of a concern yet, I just need to be diligent about doing exercises and stretches known for flipping babies for the next two weeks. I checked out Spinning Babies at my midwife's suggestion and they have a lot of really great information on all types of breech babies, possible reasons babies haven't flipped yet, and acitivies to encourage proper positioning.

Somehow after hardly sleeping last night thanks to acid reflux, being out and about in the brutal summer heat (did I mention our car currently has no AC?!), and coming home to do lots of different inversions and stretches, I still managed to get some stuff done at home. I baked a batch of zucchini brownies and a loaf of banana bread, cleaned the whole kitchen afterwards, and reorganized the freezer. It's now midnight and I'm still awake, I have no idea how but I better get to bed before I turn back into the Hulk!

Creamy Lime Pie Squares, Postpartum Meals, and Gladioli

I have recently started squirreling away food for the early weeks of postpartum life and I am certain that post-pregnant me will be very thankful for all the blood sweat and tears that are involved in cooking this much while this pregnant in the middle of a hot and humid summer. Having prepared food tucked away in the freezer will (hopefully) encourage me to eat a varied and healthy diet but also mean that I am able spend less time in the kitchen chopping and more time resting and nuzzling my baby. I will be spending lots of time at home and though the baby will be mostly immobile for awhile, it will be really important that I am eating a lot of nutrient dense (and delicious) food; everything that goes into me, will also be going into Presley via breast milk.

When I cook from scratch, I often make better food choices and find ways to add more nutrition into the meals I am making. Now, that is not to say that I don't indulge or bake things with white sugar and flour, but I am becoming more and more conscious of how I can stay true to the taste and sneak some healthier stuff in there. And then sometimes I will take a fairly nutritious dish and find a way to add a little junk to it to up the delicious factor.

We had our baby shower a few weeks ago and for some reason I was sent home with a bag of leftover limes, 14 to be exact... I had no idea what I was going to do with that many limes, 14 of them, I mean who could ever go through such an exorbitant amount of limes?! After posting a request for ideas in the kick-ass online vegan community I am a part of, it seems that it is actually not uncommon for people to buy more than just one or two limes here and there.

I had let them sit on the counter languishing for far too long and finally got motivated when I bought some gladioli at a farm stand yesterday. There was one single green one that stood out to me amongst all the bright reds and yellows.

Other than the 4 that were sacrificed to the almighty garbage disposal god in my kitchen due to mold, I have used up half. Last night I made the Creamy Lime Pie Bars that I saw over at Minimalist Baker not too long ago. I modified the recipe to suit my tastes and what I had in the kitchen already, as well as cutting them into squares instead of bars. Here is my version:

Ingredients

Pie:

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup coconut cream

2 tblspn corn starch

1/2 cup lime juice

Pinch Himalayan salt

1/4 cup agave nectar 

Few drops of green food dye - totally optional

Crust:

2 cups granola

1/4 tspn Himalayan salt

1.5 tblspn sugar

4 tblspn coconut oil - melted

Steps

1. Cover the sunflower seeds with boiling hot water and let soak for about an hour, then drain.
2. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 and line an 8x8 square baking dish with parchment paper.*
3. In food processor or blender, mix until fine.
4. Add coconut oil and mix until it is a loose dough that doesn't crumble.
5. Spread crust mix evenly in the bottom of parchment lined baking dish.
6. Bake for 12 minutes then crank up the heat to 375 and continue cooking for 5-8 minutes. The edges and center should have started lightly browning. 
7. Remove crust from oven, set aside to cool a bit, and drop temperature back down to 350.
8. Drain sunflower seeds and add all ingredients to blender. Mix until smooth and creamy.
9. Pour pie mixture into center of pre-baked crust and spread evenly.
10. Bake for 18-23 minutes, until edges have set and the center still wiggles a little.
11. Remove from oven and let cool for about 30 minutes before putting in refrigerator to chill overnight.
12. Slice however you want and enjoy. 

**I find that spraying the bottom of the dish with a little cooking spray and pressing the parchment paper on top helps keep it from sliding around or popping out of the dish while you are trying to form your crust. **

I cut mine into 16 squares, one got tested immediately, and the rest got individually wrapped and frozen as part of my stash. I used granola for the crust because I didn't have any oats or nuts, which will definitely be my go-to recipe in place of the typical graham cracker crust, The food dye was a last minute decision because I didn't love the bland color of the filling, they are still pretty light, but have an nice lime green hue. I am trying really hard to avoid dyes and corn syrup but I already had it in the pantry and only used a couple drops; I'm not going to beat myself up about it. 

The bright flavor of the citrus, the subtle sweetness of the agave, and the custard-y texture of the filling against the crunch of the crust really make for the perfect treat that won't weigh you down. They are just enough to satisfy my sweet tooth and not feel badly about putting loads of junk into my body. I will however use cashews next time because their flavor will blend into the background much more than sunflower seeds. 

A New Blog for a New Chapter

I am 31 weeks pregnant and so excited to meet our baby girl but also really really looking forward to not being pregnant anymore! The 3rd trimester in the middle of summer is brutal.

With 9 weeks to go I've got a house to finish unpacking, a garden to tend daily, a nursery to start decorating, 2 dogs to keep alive and happy, a partner to not murder (kidding, he's amazing), and still a ton of things to do before Presley gets here so I figured that I might as well start the blog I've been thinking about for a few months on top of all that!

Sugar Mountain Momma gets it name from the Neil Young song, "Sugar Mountain." It is one of the first songs I knew all the words to as my father would often (and still does when I request it) play it for us. In addition to the fond memories I have of singing this song, the lyrics themselves represent this poignant reminder that childhood unfortunately ends. There comes a time in your life that you are no longer a child and the sense of wonder and and magic that once occupied your mind is replaced with having to be an adult. It is a coming of age song that I can truly relate to, more so now than ever, as I continue my journey to motherhood.

This will be a place for me to talk and vent about pregnancy (and eventually parenting), post ideas/recipes/crafts that I've succeeded (or failed) at, my lack of sleep, and all of the other beautiful, fun, disgusting, and awful things that go along with growing and raising a human. I hope you join me on this terrifyingly exciting path into the next stage of my life!