Monthly Archives: October 2010
Perfect For Fall Sundays: Manzana Chili Verde
| October 29, 2010 | Posted by Nicole L. under cooking, food, Outdoors, Seasonal |
Foreward: Earlier this week I posted about our trip to the Orchard in Back to Nature. I mentioned that friend and blogger Nicole had a great recipe for vegan apple chili that she was going to try out with her share of our fresh-picked apples, and she offered to share it here. So Happy Friday to you all and enjoy!
Here in Orange County, we don’t really get “seasons.”
We have this kind of year-round, Springsummer season which makes things like shopping and beach-going pretty convenient. It will rain a bit the third week in January (on my birthday, it never fails) and sometimes August days can get downright sweltering.
Don’t get me wrong, this Midwestern girl doesn’t miss scraping ice off her windshield, but every 4 months-or-so it would be nice to have a festive change in the weather to break up the year.
Fed up with our lack of weather, fellow scuppie, Linsi, and I packed up our respective husbands and boyfriends and headed to the country in search of some fall culture. We took a hayride, learned how to polish up apples we picked and even found ourselves a bit of blustery, cool-ish, fall-like weather.
To polish: rub on denim, like so
I brought back some Winesap apples which, sadly, turned out to be a little less ripe than I prefer. I probably couldn’t make apple pie, but I could definitely make the “Manzana Chile Verde” from Vegan cookbook, Veganomicon. Fresh peppers, check; tangy tomatillo sauce (from scratch) – hell, yeah! Goes well with cornbread – perfect.
Full disclosure, I didn’t have exact the ingredient Isa Chanda calls for so I made some substitutions where appropriate. Foodie purists may be totally appalled, but you should know it still turned out delicious. My advice for inexperienced cooks like me: this recipe is very easy but it requires you to measure, chop and prepare everything in advance. So be patient, chop your peppers beforehand and you’ll end up with chili perfect for the change in season (real, or imagined).
So, here we go:
Manzana Chili Verde
1 lb baby Yukon golds, cut into 1/2″ pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced small
3 jalapeños, seeded and sliced thinly
2 poblano peppers, seeded and chopped into 1″ pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1 cup dry white wine
1 lb tomatillos, papery skin removed, washed, chopped into 1/2″ to 3/4″ pieces
2 Granny Smith apples, cored, quartered, and sliced thinly
2 cup vegetable broth
1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro
1/4 cup shopped scallions
1 15-oz can small white beans, drained and rinsed
Juice of 1 lime
Avocado slices for garnish
Cooking this makes me feel so Food Network
Place the chopped potatoes in a small saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Let boil, covered, for a little less than 20 minutes, until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Saute the onion, jalapeños, and poblanos in oil for about 10 minutes, until everything is softened and the onions are slightly browned.
Add the garlic, cumin, oregano, and salt. Saute for 1 more minute, until the garlic is fragrant. Add the white wine and tomatillos, raise the heat a bit to let the wine reduce and the tomatillos release their juices, about 5 minutes.
Add the apples, vegetable broth, scallions, and 1/2 cup of the cilantro. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.
Use an immersion blender to partially puree everything, or transfer half the chili to a food processor and puree, then return to the pot (I used a food processor and it worked fine).
Taste for tartness: if bitter, add a teaspoon or two of sugar to level things out. Add the cooked potatoes and the beans, simmer for a few more minutes, until everything is heated through.
Add the remaining cilantro and the lime juice. Ladle into bowls, garnish with the avocado and scallions, and serve.
***
Although she’s proud to be a scuppie, Nicole Longstreath may have less “copious amounts of disposable income” than the Urban Dictionary definition may suggest. In addition to a day job, she runs the activist photography website, A View From The Edge, and blogs about social issues on her blog, In The Loupe.
Yay, A Sale!
| October 27, 2010 | Posted by Linsi Brownson under accessories, announcements, furniture, lighting, redefine home |
It can’t happen that often or it wouldn’t be special, right? I totally agree. That’s why I’m really excited about the Redefine Home semi-annual Sample Sale starting today. It’s mostly furniture, but we also have some great lighting and decor pieces that are marked amazingly low. There are only one of each piece available at these prices – each was ‘the chosen one’, used in our photoshoots.
So shop early and tell your friends because the sale ends November 5 (or when the samples run out). Happy Inspiration Day!
Back To Nature
| October 25, 2010 | Posted by Linsi Brownson under Inspiration, Outdoors, Seasonal, weekend fun |
Last weekend we headed out of ‘the city’ with some friends and drove to Oak Glen, CA – where apple orchards abound. We went in search of some good ol’ fashion farm fun and found it at Los Rios Rancho. The weather heading out was sunny and warm, but the moment we got up a little higher into the foothills we entered into a different world. The temperature dropped about 15 degrees, with a gorgeous low hanging (eeerie) fog. It was absolutely perfect!
Los Rios Rancho has quite an interesting story – originally owned by Joe Wilshire who founded the city of Oak Glen. As the story goes, he purchased the land for $8, a couple small animals and a bottle of whisky. As it stands today Los Rios is an organic orchard and home to some amazing heirloom and hybrid apples.
My favorite part, aside from the weather, was the crazy shiny apples we plucked off the trees. A simple swipe across your pant leg and you have an apple that shows your reflection. Perfectly pesticide-free, you can eat it on the spot!
Nicole L. (from A View from the Edge) was our hand model
And no farm attraction would be complete without a collection of animals who let you pet them for food. We got the pleasure of becoming pals with some goats, an alpaca, donkey & horse.
It was so nice to get away and do something festive. We came back armed with apples, cider and apple butter so I think we’re all good on apples for awhile. I just finished making the first batch of baked apples. Nicole has a recipe for vegan apple chili that I’m dying to try. If you have any unique ideas for apple or cider usage please share!
le Salon
| October 22, 2010 | Posted by Morgan G under Body, cooking, favorite things, food, Gather, Guest Bloggers, Have Fun, le salon, See and Do |
My girlfriends, my compatriots, are a lovely bunch – adventuresome, accomplished, creative and thoughtful; probably a lot like yours. And, like you, I depend on them for support, laughs and inspiration. In the midst of birthing babies and businesses, splitting up and hitching up and surviving this altogether queasy economic ride, sustaining friendships is more important than ever.
Unknown artist.
Lately I’ve been mulling what fresh form a consistent, low-cost and pressure-free opportunity to gather and share mutual awesomeness might take. For my answer, I turned to the French. Oui, mon amie, the French. The form is the French salon, and I am proposing a revival. (To be fair, the Italians came up the concept, but the French took it to a whole new level.)
sa-lon (se-lon)
a regular gathering of distinguished guests, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation
Réunion de dames. A. Bosse.
I am drawn to everything about the salon – the history, the intent, the distinguished guests, the idea of dedicating a space in the home to a social practice – but, more than anything – I love that the salon can be an incubator for sustainable living. Ne comprenez pas? It can! Sustainability solutions should give equal consideration to economic, environmental and societal factors. While it’s obvious how regularly hosting friends and would-be friends in one’s home can increase social capital, the economic and environmental elements require a slant. My spin on the salon would be that, instead of reciting poetry or playing music at each gathering, one member of the group would share a DIY talent that translates into a cost-saving and/or earth-loving practice in the home. Such as?
Unknown artist.
Such as jamming, concocting homemade vanilla extract, seed sprouting, lavender satchel making, etc. I’m still surprised by the hidden talents of my friends and I think le salon is le forum to celebrate them. And you? What do you think about the concept? Would you go to or host a salon? Take a look at these modern salon-style spaces for inspiration!
Crafting a Conscious Wardrobe
| October 12, 2010 | Posted by Nicole L. under accessories, fashion, Guest Bloggers, Sustainable Living |
Hi everyone, it’s Nicole from A View From The Edge and since October is Fair Trade Month, I’m going to tell you how to craft a conscious wardrobe by avoiding clothing made in sweatshops. But first, let’s review.
Once upon a time, around the turn of the 20th century, the American industrial revolution was at it’s peak. Our country’s population was exploding and industrious businesses were struggling to produce products cheaply so they could reap bigger profits. Their primary solution was to cram hundreds of workers (usually women and children as young as 5) into ill-ventilated factories and drive production by locking the door and refusing breaks.
Today we know these conditions as sweatshops and, sadly, they still exist all over the world but are thriving in countries like China and Bangladesh. In recent years, mega-chain Wal-Mart, has seen a backlash because of clothing they carry which is made in foreign sweatshops. But the reality is that avoiding sweatshop-free clothing may be more difficult than we thought.
That’s because sweatshop clothing is everywhere, including the name brands and department stores we love. Next time you shop for a garment, look at the country of origin on the tag and ask yourself, “does this country have a good reputation for human rights?” Chances are, your inner voice will tell you “no.” Making responsible changes in our lives is difficult but I think the best way we can do our part to fight sweatshop labor is to divert our business to those which carry ethically-made goods.
So, let’s get our shop on!
Shoes
We’ll start with the most challenging. This is the most difficult category because ethically-made shoes can be very expensive. Also, Britain seems to be leading the way on this subject so Americans are not only paying through the nose for shipping but we’re at the mercy of a very unbalanced exchange rate. Whether you buy them at home or from abroad, you will likely be paying at least $100 or more for the typical Vegan, sustainable shoe (unless you pick up a pair of ultra-casual Toms wedges for about $70). So, for your first pair, be sure to choose a style which you can get a lot of mileage out of before splurging on a closet full of new, ethically-made shoes.
Check out these shoes on Kaight from sustainable and technologically-advanced brand, Melissa, from Brazil.
Vivienne Westwood Melissa Ultragirl II
Clothing
Sustainable and ethically-made clothing is much more mainstream and easier to afford and find than shoes. Resources are everywhere for organic cotton t-shirts, recycled plastic bottle garments and ethically-made textiles. My favorite blogs keeping me up to date on sustainable fashion are Ecouterre and Magnifeco. Levi’s has even gotten in on the conscious clothing movement by being the first multinational company to establish their own “code of conduct for suppliers emphasizing labor and safety requirements.”
Socially Conscious Levis
Accessories
The proliferation of Vegan, sustainable and consciously-made handbags is so great that one only needs to search Google to find a wide range of styles and pricing. And for jewelry, there are so many options. Customize your collection of baubles by searching for products made from reclaimed and recycled materials. Your next great find doesn’t have to be at the mall – consider searching local estate and garage sales and even Etsy and Ebay for some awesome vintage pieces.
In fact, when in doubt, vintage is always a great addition to the conscious wardrobe. With these resources, we can still have great style all while being socially conscious.
Mat&Nat Vegan Tundra Bag
Vintage Jewelry
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