Month: November 2015

Vegan Roasted Vegetable Stew

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This weekend I was cooking for our Women’s Meditation Retreat in Big Bear. With the beautiful blanket of white snow outside our log cabin windows, it finally felt like winter had arrived in California. In honor of the holidays coming up and the brisk air outside, I wanted to ring in the season with a hearty stew to warm the soul and belly. I experimented with making this stew vegan to accommodate the dietary restrictions of some of our attendees. With some toasted gluten-free garlic bread on the side, this veggie stew was a warm delicious hug in a bowl. This could be a perfect addition to your holiday menu as we step into the season of sharing, gathering and feasting. Makes 6 Ingredients 2 sweet potatoes 2 zucchini 4 carrots 1 butternut squash 4 stalks of celery 1 onion 1 cup de-stemmed kale 5 mushrooms 1/2 can of chickpeas 6 cloves garlic 1/4 cup chopped ginger root olive oil salt & pepper to taste avocado & cilantro to garnish Instructions Preheat oven to 425 degrees. …

Go Rogue! ~ Opt Outside on Black Friday

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This Friday, instead of facing the real-life version of The Walking Dead at your local retailers–witnessing throngs of people stampeding each other in a crazed daze for a cheap(er) wide-screen TV…why not reclaim your sanity (and your humanity) and Opt Outside instead? REI started this inspired movement by pledging to close its doors on Black Friday and #OptOutside in an effort to get families to bond out in nature instead of under glaring fluorescent lights buying a bunch of crap no one needs. You can find awesome hikes in your area just by entering your zip code here. Save the Redwoods League has even upped the ante—offering free day passes to 49 California State Redwood Parks in Northern California. Happily, there has been an overwhelming response to this rogue reclaiming of the day after Thanksgiving and some park passes have already sold out. But there are still plenty of parks available. You can find a list here. For those of us in Southern California looking for a place to spend November 27 in peace, we have some …

Cauliflower Crust Egg-in-a-Hole

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This year, I’ve had an ongoing weekly Sirens & Scoundrels cook date with fellow Siren, Pippa. Every week, we come together and experiment with rogue ideas in the kitchen. Some were failures, some were delicious triumphs. When I went gluten-free 5 years ago due to an allergy, pizza was the only thing I felt deprived of, since it was my favorite go-to meal. So I thought it was time I started experimenting with some crust alternatives. I’ve always been curious about cauliflower crust. Here’s the thing: because cauliflower is a vegetable, it sweats liquid when cooked down, which makes it difficult to get a really crisp crust. I theorized that if you make the crust into smaller, more personal sizes, then the middle of the “dough” will be as crisp as the edges. This led me to an enticing vision of combining my two favorite things: Pizza & Brunch.  Thus, the idea for the Cauliflower Crust Egg-in-a-Hole was born! Makes 4 Crust Ingredients 2 cups packed riced cauliflower  (Follow the instructions for Ricing Cauliflower: Here) 1 egg ½ cup grated parmesan ½ cup grated low-moisture mozzarella Preheat oven …

Rain Room ~ LACMA

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For a city in the midst of a Megadrought, there is something strangely poetic about going to a museum to visit the rain. In Rain Room, LACMA’s latest interactive environment exhibit from their Art + Technology initiative, that’s essentially what we’re doing. When Random International originated the concept in London in 2012, followed by an insanely popular run at MoMA in NYC, it’s probably not what they had in mind. But just as every great work of art changes in relationship to its environment, this is no exception. What could be just a really cool sensory experience anywhere else, within the context of Los Angeles begins to take on a larger meaning. Our first piece of advice is to go in knowing as little as possible. So honestly, you should just stop reading right now, buy yourself a ticket through this link and go. Trust us on this one… Still reading? Okay, so you like to be prepared. In that case, we’ll let you in on a few key tips for getting the most out …

Apple Picking Season ~ Oak Glen, CA

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Every Fall I go apple picking. And each time I come back with my bags of apples and Mile-High Apple Pie in tow, everyone asks, “WAIT!—You can go apple picking in LA?” YES. Yes you can. Meet Oak Glen, CA. Nestled up in the mountains about an hour & a half east of Los Angeles, the folks in Oak Glen have been growing apples since 1867. If you imagine Autumn-in-Vermont Pioneer Village meets 1950’s Frozen-in-Time Americana, you’ve got Oak Glen. It’s a magic combo that makes you feel like you’ve just stepped inside a Charles Wysocki puzzle. Located a mile up the mountain, this 5-mile loop of sweet old-fashioned apple orchards actually experiences all four seasons beyond just “warm and warmer”. Official apple picking season runs September to November, when the trees explode with ripe juicy apples of every flavor and the surrounding landscape bursts into an impressive show of bright yellows, reds and oranges. The best time for apple picking is the start of the season. But if you wait until later, there is …

Apple Bake

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Returning from our recent day-trip to Oak Glen’s apple orchards with massive bags of farm-fresh apple bounty in hand, our Sirens were inspired to turn our treasures into tasty treats. We invited the ladies over for a leisurely afternoon of apple baking, followed by a roundtable tasting with our Sirens and Scoundrels. There were some soul-stirring gems, as well as some disasters. (TIP: Guava and apples don’t mix.) We’re sharing the best of the bake-off with you here. Try our recipes out yourself at your next Autumn-into-Winter dinner party. Happy baking!           CLICK LINKS BELOW FOR APPLE BAKING RECIPES~ Apple Castles Gluten-Free Apple Crumble (with Vegan option) Vegan Sugarless Apple Oat Cookies >>For your baking pleasure, enjoy these Farm Fresh Folk tunes!<< Be sure to subscribe to Sirens & Scoundrels for more awesome recipes & adventures delivered straight to you! Enter your email address on our home page & hit “SUBSCRIBE”!  Follow us on Instagram: @sirensandscoundrels Words by Christina Huntington // Photography by Sarah Prikryl © 2015 Sirens and Scoundrels

Apple Castles

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Serves 4 Ingredients   4 apples 1 lemon 2 tsp cinnamon pinch of nutmeg pinch of ground ginger 2 Tbsp coconut oil 2 Tbsp brown sugar 1/2 cup pecans Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheet. Set aside. With a melon baller or pairing knife, cut out apple core leaving the apple intact. With a pairing knife or peeler, peel a long strip of apple skin from the very top of the apple and the very bottom, leaving the skin on in the middle. With a mandolin or knife, slice the apple into rings 1/8 inch thick. Squeeze lemon juice onto apple rings. Mix cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger together. Rub/lightly dust tops and bottoms of the apple rings. Stack the rings back into the apple shape on the cookie sheet. With the apple peel from the top and bottom, curl the skin, inside out, around your finger to create a rosette. Place the rosette in the apple stack hole on the top. Drizzle a little bit of coconut oil on each castle. Bake in the oven …