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Vegan MoFo

Vegan MoFo Day 22: Time of the Season

I’m a farmers’ market junkie, so eating in season is my default, but I did want to stick with my “try new things” MoFo plan and highlight the good stuff we get here in August.

Above: What’s in season?

Tomatoes are key this time of year. I could’ve made a whole tomato THING, really, but I didn’t. Eggplant is also in season, and squash–and squash blossoms. Basil and other herbs are beautiful; I’m getting avocado and sweet fancy lettuce varieties too. So why not make an eggplant BLT–I haven’t made eggplant bacon before–and stuffed squash blossoms?

Above: Baked eggplant bacon, simply marinated with soy sauce, liquid smoke, and olive oil.

For the BLT, only the eggplant required a little extra prep. Everything else was wash ‘n’ slice.

Above: Dry-farmed early girl tomatoes are the star of this show, let’s be honest.

A side of stuffed squash blossoms takes a little more effort, but it’s worth it.

Above: Squash blossoms mid-stuffing with basil leaves and a mix of almond ricotta and Miyoko’s mozzarella.

I’ve done stuffed squash blossoms before, but these had a slightly different filling and batter. In the past, I’ve done more of a cornmeal crust; this was white flour and club soda (OK, well, homemade herbed sparkling water). And I made the almond ricotta myself with blanched almond flour, lemon juice, and water.

Above: Fry, fry, my pretties!
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Food Blog Vegan MoFo

#VeganMoFo Day 7: Accidentally Purple

I love purple food, and it would be easy to make a SUPER PURPLE dinner with deliberately chosen purple veggies and “black” grains and beans that would blend in well in a photo.

That is not what I am sharing today.

Today I made dinner that turned out purple without entirely meaning to.

I made a lentil soup from Decolonize Your Diet. It calls for chard and carrot. The only carrot I had was a purple one. Between that and the rich red of the chard stems, the broth was a rich shade of plum.

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It is a very, very nice soup.

To go with that, I made pan-fried squash blossoms stuffed with a quickie almond flour ricotta (1 cup almond flour [not meal], juice of 1 lemon, pinch salt, ~â…“ cup water, mixed in a little at a time to desired consistency) and crusted with corn masa – you guessed it, I used a little blue corn masa. Which looks purple.

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I mean, less so after you’ve fried it, but you get it.