whats for supper....

the somewhat-mostly-vegan strikes again:

finding vegan foods my meat and potatoes hubby like to eat is sometimes a challenge (eg "really? stir fried variation of tofu again??"). mexican anything, spelt crust pizza, spelt crust calzones, lasagna, lentil cakes and vegan gravy, pad thai and stuffed portebella mushrooms are always good, but i still need more recipes...

my momma came to visit this week. she brought me a whole mess of her "mountain pride" tomatoes fresh from her garden. yu-um. figured they would be awesome in a tomato pie.
here's the basis of my recipe:

(i re figured it to be vegan with a spelt pie crust, of course):

ingredients:
one 9 inch pie shell
4 or 5 medium tomatoes peeled, sliced and drained (use a paper towel to remove excess moisture)
3 spring onions chopped
1/2 onion chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
chopped basil (optional)
1 ½ cups extra sharp cheddar cheese (grated)
1 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper (to taste)

directions:
bake pie crust according to directions and cool. Next, cover the bottom of pie shell with sliced tomatoes.Salt and pepper tomatoes and sprinkle with basil and onions. Then, in a small bowl, combine cheese and mayo. Cover tomatoes with cheese mix and spread over entire pie. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until cheese is melted and golden brown. let cool for 5 minutes.

http://www.keepitsimplefoods.com/vegetarian/southern-tomato-pie/#comment-1487

i served it with a side of crunchy oven baked kale chips.

i think its a keeper!

try it at home. thanks for reading!

slacker

okay so i'm not really a slacker. but i have been slacking on the blog, that is for sure.  time for an update i guess. here goes...
the pottery is doing well. i am excited about my new glazes and working hard to put out new pots. in the works? platters, big bowls, teapots, big pitchers, mugs, pendents....all my favorite things to make. well except maybe the mugs. i really don't like naking mugs  (not sure why). BUT i really like to USE handmade mugs. therefore, i suck it up, and try to make a lot of them....
other fun stuff?
as a potter its hard not to always be thinking about food. the last time nick and i spent quality time in asheville we started to eat a lot of vegan food. to those that know my hubby, one would say "nick??? vegan!!!!!???? what????" . well, what we realized is that we found that cutting really far back on our meat consumption has made us feel really really really good. we still eat meat from time to time (i cannot understand life without bacon and chorizo!) but have adopted a new barely-meat-eating diet. combined with our old organic-less-processed-food diet. now i find myself busy busy busy in the kitchen all the time. so much freshness. its truly  amazing. its been super fun!!! i dont miss our heavily meated meals...but now i havent quite as much free time. the conclusion?? its is definately worth it!
as a potter (and a foodie!!) its hard not to think about gardening all the time. here in the coastal region of nc, its that time!!!! yay. back in the hills we'd still be scraping ice off our windshield every morning. here, as of february first, i can start my collards and greens and turnips all those yummy wonderful cold weather veggies! some i have wintered over and those are starting to blush with happy green-ness. but others i am starting this week in little portable seed beds. yay. which we brings me to my next point...
wanted: pet friendly gardeners yard :)... we are currently renting a home here in bft. unfortunately, our rental home has been sold to new owners. we are looking for a new home in bft. we hope we have found one. we are keeping our fingers crossed.
yep, we are busy bees!
otherwise, life is good, dogs are good and spring is starting to tempt us with occasional warmish sunny days. i am so ready. oh lovely equinox hurry hurry...

see you soon!

thanks for reading and wishing you well!
~trista