Happy Halloween!

Yikes. Bad blogger lately. As always, I will make up for it by distracting you with pictures!

Do you not look at this picture and want to eat her!?! I barely even eat food from the kitchen anymore as her cheeks and thighs are sustaining me quite well.

Before you write in, I'm well aware that she's tipping over in this picture. There was even a version of this picture where she wasn't, but I didn't look good in it and since I have the ability to type and she doesn't, I win!

B's beautiful pumpkin from Family Pumpkin Carving Night.

Home Grown Tomatoes presents: Turnip the Volume

I 100% could not resist the absolutely ridiculous title - it's been lurking in the back of my brain since deciding on this post, so I figured, what the hell? As you guessed it, we're exploring the strange little land of the turnip. I always remember turnip as that "required" vegetable at Thanksgiving that looked like potato, but did not even remotely compare (remember, these are 9 year old taste buds we're talking about here).

This past summer Beau grew turnips, much to my surprise. So when it came time to do my part in "gardening," I began to explore the white and purple wonder. I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty proud of this recipe. But I must confess, it isn't the healthiest side dish in the world, but all will be forgotten (and hopefully forgiven) once you indulge.

Turnip 'n' Cheese:

Serving: 4 polite people, 2 otherwise

1 large turnip (shredded)

1 small yellow onion (diced)

3 Tbs (heaping) of butter (I use Earth Balance, for the vegan version)

6 oz cheddar cheese (Follow Your Heart Vegan "Cheddar Cheese")

Black pepper to taste

1/2 tsp - 1 tsp onion powder

Start by sauteing the onions and butter on medium heat. Once the onion is translucent, go ahead and add the shredded turnip. Let the turnip cook for a few minutes (it really doesn't take long) and then add the shredded cheese. I let the cheese melt for about a minute, and then turn the heat down to low. Add the onion powder and black pepper. Continue to stir and work the ingredients so everything is mixed together well.

The whole dish from start to finish only takes about 10 minutes, but it won't hurt to leave it on low for a few extra minutes until you are ready to serve. This recipe is easily adaptable to any diet just by substituting the butter and cheese for whatever you prefer. If you are using regular cheese, I would maybe suggest using a bit less (than the 6oz) to start with and maybe get the heat to low before you add it (as I imagine, it will melt MUCH faster than vegan cheese does). Nonetheless, however you make it, this little number resembles macaroni and cheese, but there's a bit of unexpected finesse added with the subtle horseradish flavor the turnip possesses. It's a dish that is both tasty and different, which I think makes for a winning combination. Enjoy!

Home Grown Tomatoes is a weekly Vegan/Vegetarian column by Giovanina Bucci

Home Grown Tomatoes presents: Tofu Scramble

Let's talk about a staple breakfast in the Bucci household... tofu scramble. Hands down, it gets consumed about once a week, if not more. I am all about big, homemade breakfasts, particularly on Sunday mornings. I've made this meal for just about everyone I know and so far it's been well received by all. I consider it a perfect breakfast, but truly, you could make it for a dinner as well. Basically what I'm getting at...it's damn tasty any time of the day.

Servings: 4 hungry bellies

4 Tbs. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tbs. Bragg's Liquid Aminos

1 small yellow onion

1 block of extra firm tofu

3 c. fresh broccoli (chopped into small florets)

1 yellow squash (diced into small cubes)

4 Tbs. ketchup (any organic brands that I have come across do not contain high fructose corn syrup)

2 celery stalks (chopped)

2 handfuls of fresh spinach

Black pepper to taste

1 Tbs. onion powder

Dash of lemon pepper

Begin by sauteing the onion on med/high heat in oil and Bragg's until onion is translucent. Once the onion is cooked through, drain the tofu (I usually do this by squeezing it a bit over the sink) and crumble (again using your hands) into the pan. Let the onion and tofu cook together for about 10 minutes, stirring intermittently. The idea being: getting the tofu in nice and early allows time for it to firm up a bit (while cooking off some of the moisture).

After about 10 minutes, go ahead and add the broccoli, cook until somewhat tender (I prefer mine a bit on the al dente side, it's completely up to your taste buds). Add the ketchup, celery and then squash. Let all of these veggies cook and flavors blend together. After I've let the veggies cook through, I turn down the heat a bit to medium or medium/low. Finally, with the heat lowered, add the spinach and let it wilt away... I use two good size handfuls of spinach, because obviously, it shrinks considerably in size. Top off the scramble with the black pepper, onion powder and dash of lemon pepper.

Essentially this "scramble" is a stir fry - and you can use any vegetables that you have or prefer; mushrooms, zucchini, pepper...the kitchen sink, etc. The final kicker is the avocado, Tofutti sour cream and salsa that I use to top off this little delight. Most often I serve the scramble with some tempeh bacon and hash browns (or some potato concoction).

For all of you veggies out there who are trying to cook for yourself and your carnivore counterparts, this is a great 'introduction to tofu' meal to help convince the haters that tofu can, in fact, be consumed AND enjoyed by humans. The texture is palatable and there are so many other flavors bouncing around that the tofu is hardly the focus. This allows you a good opportunity to give that tempeh bacon a whirl too. Not to mention this scramble recipe can easily be done with eggs instead of tofu. Also, if you're not vegan, regardless of whether you are using eggs or tofu, feel free to throw some cheddar cheese in the mix - that can't hurt anything :) Indulge and enjoy - please email me and let me know how your scram turns out or if you have any questions: giovaninabucci@yahoo.com.

Home Grown Tomatoes is a weekly Vegan/Vegetarian column by Giovanina Bucci

A Night Away

B & I had a delayed anniversary celebration this weekend with a night away at a Lake George B&B - our first ever B&B believe it or not. It was the longest I've ever been away from my little lady, save for that one hour I spent at Macy's back in September shopping for a Naming Ceremony dress, so it was a little nerve wracking. I actually did fine though. Her Nona kept me in text messages and picture updates so that got me through. And we even managed to spend all of our conversations talking about life and career aspirations and not our child. Woo Hoo! After all, we wouldn't want to be THOSE PARENTS, ya know? I can't decide if the best part of the weekend was the wine on the porch, the 2 1/2 hour Italian dinner we had, or the woman at breakfast the next morning telling us that "You CAN'T have too many Snuggies! Seriously, I own four of them, there is NOTHING not to love!"

When photography goes horribly wrong

Did you know I was an amputee?  Ya, me either.
This one inspired doubled-over laughter in the middle of the forest.

Home Grown Tomatoes presents: Tempeh Bacon

Bacon...mmmm...is there really a substitute for that greasy, salty wonder that you can practically put on ANYTHING? I can hear your doubts...I completely understand. I have to say, bacon is the one meaty food that I attempt to "recreate" at home. The process of making tempeh bacon involves three simple ingredients, and it can be used for sandwiches, on salads, or crumbled atop sour cream melting over the sides of a twice baked potato...(the idea there was to make you salivate a bit, unfortunately I've gone and made myself hungry!) Even my dad, the mighty Italian, LOVES this stuff.

Tempeh (fermented soy) can be found in just about any grocery store, it's usually in the cold/organic section, often right next to the tofu. There are about five varieties that you can play around with to find the flavor you prefer. I tend to favor the three grain, and I am not a huge fan of the garden vegetable, at least not for the purposes of making bacon out of it.

Serving: 20-25 slices of tempeh bacon

Slice your tempeh (as thick or as thin as you would like it), I tend to get about 24 (2" in length) slices out of one package of tempeh.

Using a 1/2 c. of extra virgin olive oil (more or less) and 2 Tbs of Bragg's Liquid Aminos, coat both sides of the tempeh right in the pan and then cook each side on med/high heat.

With the oil, my main objective is to have an even coat on the bottom of the pan in order to avoid the tempeh from sticking. The idea with the Bragg's is to give it a bit of flavor without having it taste overly salty. Check the tempeh after 10 minutes to see if the edges have begun to turn a golden brown. Once the bottom of the tempeh has cooked thoroughly, go ahead and flip it over - it won't take nearly as much time to cook the second half. If some of your pieces haven't cooked thoroughly, go ahead and keep on frying and flipping!

The tempeh should be a rich, dark brown color (on both sides) by the end so the tempeh retains a crunchy texture. I use this to make TLT's - just had one this morning as a matter of fact! I often crumble it up and add it to dips, fillings, soups, salads... basically any dish whereby I think a 'baconesque' crunch would do some good! And of course, I serve it in its simplicity as bacon when it comes to a big Sunday morning breakfast. Give it a whirl - you'll more than likely have tempeh bacon down to a fine science after a couple tries.

Home Grown Tomatoes is a weekly Vegan/Vegetarian column by Giovanina Bucci

Musical Brilliance

Charlotte LOVES songs. Usually I just make stuff up as we're going about our business, but sometimes when we're in the car and she's upset I resort to actual children's songs. Well... attempt to resort to actual children's songs. Have you tried to do that since you were actually a child? Turns out that shit is hard to remember when you have a crying baby on your hands.


"Oh hey! What's that spider song! Uh....

Da na na na na SPIDER!
Ba bump ba WATER SPOUT!
Out came the rain and somethin somethin OUT!
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
And the Itsy Bitsy Spider did somethin somethin AGAIN!"

Introducing... Home Grown Tomatoes!

We're starting a weekly column here called Home Grown Tomatoes, written by my wonderful cousin and food lover Giovanina Bucci. My love of food, cooking, and health is well documented on here and I thought Giovanina's experiences as a vegan and kitchen experimenter would give all of us some great insight every week. She has proven over and over again in her dishes that you really can make an entire dinner out of healthy vegetable-based ingredients without sacrificing flavor or fullness. Additionally, her dishes are very adaptable and she'll be giving tips on how to change dishes to make them vegetarian instead of vegan, vice versa, and even where you meat lovers can throw in some bacon or chicken if you really need it.

I'm personally excited for Giovanina's recipes because whenever B and I try to eat a vegetarian meal, it's not that we don't like the ingredients, but that we don't have enough ideas of how to cook with them to have an interesting dish. Hopefully Home Grown Tomatoes will help us overcome that problem. Now let's get to know Giovanina!

So, let's just get the dirty laundry out there.. you're a VEGAN. AHHH! I would venture to guess that almost none of our readers are vegan, though some are probably vegetarian, and most are interested in food and their health. Can you tell us how Vegan & Vegetarian recipes can benefit those of us who aren't as strict with our diets? First off, I completely understand the initial shock people have when I tell them I am a vegan. No cheese? How do you possibly live without cheese? That’s usually the biggest concern. Being that I am Italian, I think my dad nearly fainted when I told him of my choice to become vegan, about two years ago. I think it's some sort of unofficial sin, ridding mozzarella and meatballs from an Italian's diet. Prior to becoming a vegan, I was a "not so healthy" vegetarian for five years. So in the last seven years, I have been on all ends of the Vegan/Vegetarian spectrum. Healthy, unhealthy, fish, no fish, cheese, no cheese, eggs, no eggs, etc. At this point, however, I feel like I am eating the most conscious and healthful I have ever eaten in my entire life thanks to becoming vegan. Vegan/Vegetarian recipes have benefited not only my health, but they have also sparked my creativity and they have inspired a whole new passion for cooking. I think, most obviously, vegetables can get boring and therefore completely unappealing to eat and to prepare. Seeing a steamed bowl of once-frozen broccoli on the dinner table doesn't exactly make one jump for joy. The bottom line is, as most of you know, our bodies need vegetables (fresh ones), particularly greens. Not only are they a huge source of nutrients, but much less harsh on our digestive systems. And although not my sole reasoning for being vegan, enjoying this way of eating has helped significantly in maintaining a much healthier body weight. Frankly put, I’m stubborn. I refuse to eat salads for the rest of my life for the sake of being able to call myself a vegan. Instead I am committed to finding, researching, and creating recipes on this journey to being a happy, full, healthy vegan. Why was it that you started to dive so passionately into creating your own vegan/vegetarian recipes as opposed to just using what already exists? When I actually began cooking I followed recipes like it was my job. Most of all, because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing in the kitchen and in order to forgo too much embarrassment, I relied heavily on the knowledge of others. And thank God I did! Truly, cookbooks have been my culinary education, along with tips from friends and family, and the tolerance and willingness of my partner to try everything! I’m passionate about creating my own recipes for a few different reasons. First and foremost, I don’t want to have to be reliant on someone or something else to help me prepare a dinner. I enjoy being able to go into my kitchen, work with what I have, and create something delicious and hopefully memorable. Secondly, I find in being a vegan, variety is part of the key to success (as cheesy as that sounds). Personally, I believe that’s why many people find this diet so incredibly challenging – just like an egg; you must find 100 different ways to have squash. Once you take all those different options for foods and combine it with the complete abundance of various fruits and vegetables we have in this world, possibilities become endless! Finally, I love taking what exists in a carnivore’s world and altering it into a vegetarian or vegan friendly dish. There are millions upon millions of fantastic recipes out there that have an abundance of flavor and character that are far from vegan. Flavors, spices, herbs, and marinades are transferable components of these meaty recipes. Why not take them and run?? You can take the BBQ out of the chicken, my friends. What has been the biggest culinary lesson that you've learned as you've been creating and tweaking recipes for the last few years? You mean I can only name one? I am being long winded, aren’t I??!! Most importantly, I’ve learned the complete and utter value in having patience. It has taken many culinary mishaps to get to this point, and I continue to endure mistakes in the kitchen on a daily basis. It’s just one of those things that you might as well get over, it’s inevitable. Often, I think we forget about enjoying the process of doing things, not just in cooking. We constantly focus on the outcome, and with food, the outcome is usually gone in about 20 minutes – so enjoy the art of preparation! What is one ingredient that non-vegans/vegetarians may not know about that would improve their kitchen pantry? Ah yes, Bragg’s Liquid Amino’s. Unbelievable ingredient. Essentially it is a soy sauce with about 1/10 of the sodium as regular soy sauces. And no, it doesn’t make everything taste like Chinese Food. Many of you may notice that I rarely use salt in my recipes. Bragg’s gives a punch of salty, fabulous flavor without making everything taste salty. I use it in everything from stir-fry’s to dips, soups to dressings. You only need to use a tiny amount – so for me, it has become a cost effective “go to” ingredient.

Good Morning Smoothie

Although I know a smoothie recipe isn’t necessarily the most exciting first food post, I figure since it’s the way I begin most of my days, it’s an obvious way to begin the column!

To give you a bit of background, B and I moved back from the Virgin Islands about a year ago and didn’t have much of an opportunity to do any gardening while living there. We moved to Flagstaff, Arizona (yet another challenging place to garden due to a short growing season) last December. Nonetheless we were excited about the opportunity to do at least some experimenting. Not to mention, we relished in the idea of being that much more sustainable.

And so it began with a 12ft x 24ft greenhouse in our backyard, followed by an all consuming garden in the front yard. Let me be honest though, I can take absolutely NO credit for the bounty that we’ve been enjoying from our garden and greenhouse. B is the green thumb in our family of two and he knows it. The other night we watched the Constant Gardner and afterward B asked me if I knew about the sequel called “The Inconsistent Gardner” starring Giovanina Bucci? Unfortunately, his witty comment sums it up! However, this works out for a nice relationship because B grows and I cook.

Among many other foods, we’ve been enjoying tiny but oh so tasty strawberries from our front garden. To naturally sweeten up our smoothies, I’ve been adding these little red bits of juiciness!

For this recipe, you can experiment with any kinds of fruits. (Although I don’t recommend kiwi, it leaves this really odd scratching feeling on the tongue!)

Good Morning Smoothie

2 Servings (usually with a bit leftover)

1 c. Rice Milk (or whatever milk/alternative milk you prefer)

2 bananas

1 dozen or so of blueberries (apparently eating 10 a day helps decrease the chances of getting Alzheimer’s)

4 large strawberries (8 to 10 small ones)

2 scoops (scoop provided) of Peaceful Planet’s (preferably unsweetened) Rice Protein Energy Shake

You should be able to find in your local health food store. You can visit this link to order or read all of the nutritional information:

http://www.vitaminlife.com/product-exec/product_id/5605/nm/Peaceful+Planet+High+Protein+Shake-Natural+Flavor,+Unsweetened+(old+upc+617626760197+)

2 Tbls. Flax Seed Oil (a great source of Omegas!)

Optional: one (6oz.) container of soy/regular yogurt

For you lone vegans out there, just a heads up that the soy yogurts I have come across do contain live cultures, there is completely vegan yogurt that is made with coconut milk put out by So Delicious. Check out this website for more information; http://www.turtlemountain.com/products/coconut_yogurt.html

About 8 large ice cubes or just less than 12oz of small ice cubes

Blend and there you have it! I tend to let the blender go for a minute or so extra (after it looks ready) just to make sure the smoothie is, in fact, smooth.

This is one of those recipes that you can really play around with as far as ratios and what fruits you prefer. I highly suggest at least the bananas because they help make for a really great texture. You may find when you are blending that the smoothie seems to be a bit thick, slowly add more milk until you reach the consistency you like. I don’t use soy milk at all because there are so many other delicious alternatives such as Rice Milk, Almond Milk, Hazelnut Milk, and Hemp Milk. Soy is a whole other conversation/post in and of itself. Simply put, I use it in moderation because I try to focus my vegan diet more on fruits and vegetables rather than alternatives for meat and dairy.

If you have specific questions about this recipe or any other recipes, comments, ingredients, philosophies, veganism, etc. please feel free to email me at giovaninabucci@yahoo.com.

He's the Best

For those of you who don't know my husband, he is the ultimate Absent Minded Professor. His parents even used to call him that when he was little and nothing has changed in the years since then. We joke about it all the time around the house, about how his brain is just wired... differently... from other people's. I tell him that the fact that I find all of his flightiness, forgetfulness, and lack of common sense adorable and funny instead of infuriating is why we work. Though about once a week this exchange occurs:

Me - AGH!! HONEY, do you have ANY idea what it's like to live with you?!!
Him - Just imagine what it's like to BE me!!
Me - Haha.. OK, good point.

And while he makes me laugh everyday with some little B-ism, every once in a while he does something SO ABSURD that it makes me cry with laughter and then we reminisce about it for weeks afterwards. One of those little events happened last weekend.

It was your typical Saturday morning in the Scarlet Lily household. Adorable baby was in her swing, loving parents were in their pjs and the coffee was on the way. Both of us take our coffee with cream and sugar... that will be relevant in a moment.

B had offered to fix the coffee for us when I came up behind him to give him a sweet little Saturday morning snuggle (insert cute couple banter). But my loving gesture actually threatened to RUIN THE ENTIRE DAY...


B - Oh MAAAAAANNNNNNN...... (very whiny, very disappointed)

Me - What?!

B - UGH!! I can't remember if I put the sugar in or not!!! Damnit!

Me - (long pause....................) Huh?

B - The Sugar! I can't remember if I put the sugar in yet and if you over-sugar coffee it taste horrible! I'm gonna have to dump these out and brew a new pot.

Me - (TOTALLY blank expression. The kind where your brain has actually stopped moving or processing life)

B - What?

Me - Uh... or you could TASTE IT.

B - (TOTALLY blank expression. The kind where your brain has actually stopped moving or processing life)

B - (More blank stares) WHOA. I would NOT have thought of that. Ha! I was about to tell you that it's total bullshit that Crate & Barrel didn't sell a Sugar Meter that we could have registered for when we got married. Huh. Wow...


Welcome to our marriage :)

Apple Fest

We had another Family Fun Day yesterday at a local Apple Fest. These are the kinds of things that, in theory, we'd want to attend before but rarely actually did. Apparently the addition of someone who sleeps through 90% of any activity and spends the other 10% trying to hold her head up is just enough impetus to get us out in the world. Well, that and the promise of caramel apples. Those can get me pretty much anywhere.

The adorable husband, holding his even more adorable child.

Charlotte with her gorgeous Aunt M.

Baby Alpaca

The petting zoo was supposed to be for the small children, but since B's dream is to live in a zoo and I have an uncontrollable obsession with snuggling all things cute, small, & furry, that part of the Apple Fest was high on the priority list. I asked B if it would be rude to push the small children out of the way so I could get to the Alpaca of Adorableness faster, and though he said it would be more frowned upon than actually rude, I decided to impatiently wait my turn in the snuggle line. Although when I got to the fence it was all I could do not to hop it, throw my arms around his tiny little sweater body and make little squealy sounds. I thought they might take my child away from me if I did that though, so I stuck to the "pet the head of the animal through the fence" protocol that seems to be preferred at petting zoos. All in all a great day.

Road Trip!

My brother was in Connecticut this week on business and ruthlessly demanded that I bring him his niece. Since I told him I couldn't drive three hours to have dinner and then turn around and drive three hours home (not alone with a baby, anyway), he successfully conned our mom to come into town to share the driving with me. When you have a bi-coastal family, these are the things you have to do! It was tiring, but totally worth it. And clearly Charlotte wanted to see her uncle because she was an angel for the whole trip. Good thing too because the one thing you have to be in this family is a good traveler!