Skylanders Birthday Party

The Punkin turned three this year and is in love with the video game Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventures ® . Frankly, so are his parents as it is a very well designed video game and toy collection. There are a lot of good pagan values in this game, it is pro environmentalism and the toys lead the Punkin to creative play when not playing the video game. What’s not to love?

However, Activision ®  in its infinite wisdom decided not to license party supplies and decorations. So when Punkin requested a Skylanders® themed Birthday party mom and dad had to hit the internet and design a theme. Hubby had originally offered to take over the project since he left me in the lurch to do Saturnalia all by myself. I had accepted his offer but as he drifted off into the time sinkhole of his MAT work I took the bull by the horns and designed the decor and the cake.

It took a lot of creative shopping to piece together a theme incorporating as many of the design elements of the game as possible.

The game has 8 “elements”and each of the 32 Skylanders® belongs to an element. These elements have symbols so we printed out the symbols full color and backed them with foam core and I used a foiled create your own banner kit to make the party banner.

Skylanders® elemental symbols and party banner

I used the portal of power the wireless device that lets the game read what character the person is playing and the Skylanders ® toys themselves as the decoration on the coffee table.

Coffee table decorations and a happy Punkin at play

For the birthday cake I baked a Betty Crocker Gluten Free chocolate cake mix cut the layer horizontally across to form two layers filled it with Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate frosting left over from the daycare Skylanders® cupcakes. I then used Duncan Hines cream cheese frosting to give a fairly light coating to the outside of the cake to stick the home-made quickie fondant to the top and allow you to use the frosting as “mortar” for the Trader Joe’s dark chocolate bricks to be placed on the cake to recreate the Portal of Power.  The treasure chests filled with gems and gold cups and the  coins are from the game.

Skylanders® Portal of Power cake

The Skylanders® on top of the cake were brand new and a surprise for the Punkin. Older ones were used to decorate the base of the cake.

The Punkin enjoying his cake:

Punkin Loves His Skylanders® Cake!

The chocolate used on the cake  was a vegan dark chocolate from Trader Joe’s. The quickie fondant recipe I used was also vegan. Use a homemade vegan frosting and sub apple sauce and egg replacer powder for the eggs in the cake mix and voila vegan portal of power! Also use vegan chocolate coins, these were just standard  milk chocolate ones from the party supply shop.

Copyright© 2012 Valerie Hartzer

Val’s Three Layered Polish Pizza and Jewled Beet Salad

Pagach is a Slavic dish that has Polish, Slovak, Russian and Ukrainian versions and all claim to have invented it.

It is basically a bread dough based crust ( either single or double) filled with onions, potatoes, cabbage and cheddar cheese. While it is in all of it’s “traditional” forms is vegetarian (Ovo-Lacto only).

This is my very offer-stuffed version.  Mine is lower in fat has three amazingly hearty layers and all of  the richness of Eastern Europe is still vegetarian (and can be made vegan).This recipe was a huge hit with the Punkin and my husband really liked it too.\

Val’s Three Layer Polish Pizza

Ingredients:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

1 frozen or refrigerated pre-made pizza crust( I use Whole Foods frozen Gluten Free Pizza shells) pre-baked to make 1 12 in. pizza

1/2 a medium onion sliced thinly vertically

5 ozs. crimini mushrooms thinly sliced

2 Tbsps. vegan margarine

2 Tbsps. vegan “sour cream”

2 Tbsps. unsweetened soy milk

4-5 small red or yellow skinned potatoes

8 ozs. pre-shredded cabbage

1/2 cup Textured Soy Protein

slightly more than a half cup of mushroom broth

2 cloves of fresh garlic finely minced

1/2 tsp. dried marjoram

1Tbsps. vegan Worchestershire sauce

1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (soy or use Daiya brand for vegan)

2 Tbsps. fresh chives chopped

Directions:

Bake or thaw pizza crust to

Pre-bake or thaw the pizza crust set aside to cool

Wash and quarter the potatoes and place in a microwave safe dish add a Tbsp. water cover tightly and microwave for 5 minutes on high power or until potatoes are steamed soft. Mash with vegan “sour cream”, 1 Tbsp. soy margarine, and 1 Tbsp. chopped chives, season with salt and pepper, set  aside.

While the potatoes are cooking, saute the onions, cabbage and mushrooms in 1 Tbsp. vegan margarine over medium heat until the mushrooms are cooked and the cabbage is softened, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Microwave the mushroom broth until boiling about 2 minutes on high then mix with the textured soy protein, garlic and dried marjoram,vegan Worchestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

Place pizza crust on a perforated pizza pan to keep it crisp, top with the mashed potatoes, then with the mushroom, cabbage and onion mixture, top with the textured soy protein mixture and then with the mock cheese.

Bake for 25-20 minutes until all of the dish is hot all the way through.

Top with the remaining chives, slice into wedges and serve.

Makes four generous servings.

Serve with Jewled Beet Salad.

Jewled Beet Salad

Ingredients:

5 ozs.  pre- packaged herbed salad greens

/4 of a medium red onion sliced thinly vertically

8 ozs. shredded pickled beet salad  drained(available in Polish, Ukrainian and Russian markets)

1 cup of pre-shredded carrots

2 Tbsps. spicy horseradish mustard

Juice of half a lemon

1/4 cup of sunflower oil( this is the ONLY oil used in Eastern Europe and sunflowers are grown in giant fields all over Eastern Europe)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Place all salad greens, carrots, drained pickled beets in a large bowl. In a small bowl whisk  together mustard and lemon juice the slowly whisk in oil to form a vinaigrette add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over salad and toss to combine.

My Big Fat Greek Pasta Dinner

This was inspired by an odd array of veggies in the fridge including a small home grown mini eggplant. I planted an early season mini variety as baby and I like it but hubby isn’t the biggest fan.  This recipe is vegetarian but NOT VEGAN. It can be made vegan by either substituting  a vegan feta or removing the feta.

My Big Fat Greek Pasta

Ingredients:

8 ozs. rigatoni ( I just use  Bionare potato, rice and soy pasta a superb gluten free pasta) cooked 2 minutes short of al dente

1 9 oz. can of  butter beans drained and rinsed or Greek Gigantes beans in tomato sauce right out of the can

1/2 a medium onion cut into a small dice

4 large cloves of garlic minced

1 miniature or baby eggplant

1 bell pepper any color chopped into 1/2 in. pieces

1 1/2 ribs of celery minced

2 Tbsps. olive oil

8 pitted Kalamata olives quartered

3 ozs. fresh baby spinach washed and dried

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 lemon both zest and juice

2 Tbsps. balsamic vinegar

1 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes with garlic and basil ( I use Muir Glenn organic as it contains no HFCS)

1/4 cup of water

Directions:

Over high heat boil pasta water . While the water comes to a boil chop the onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic, olives  and parsley.

In a deep  medium skillet with a lid, heat the olive oil over medium heat, add the onions, and celery. Saute for 4-5 minutes then add the bell pepper and eggplant and saute for 3-4 minutes more. Add the garlic , the lemon zest and lemon juice and  cook stirring for one minute. Then add the balsamic vinegar, stir then add the canned tomatoes, beans, oregano,olives and water. Stir to combine and drop the heat to low, cover and cook  10 minutes stirring occasionally. By now the pasta water should be boiling  add pasta a cook to 2 minutes before al dente. Drain the pasta add to the sauce, stir to combine add spinach stir to combine again , cover, simmer 2 minutes.Top with feta cheese, if using, and fresh parsley. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings

Not Beef Stew with Herbed Dumplings

This is a delightful TSP stew that will fool many  a meat eater.

1 1/2 cups of chunk style TSP
2 cups of mushroom broth
2 Tbsps. vegan Worchestershire sauce
1/2 a medium onion diced
4 small red or yellow potatoes 1/2 in. cubes
1 large or two small ribs of celery
1 carrot cut into thin slices or 10 baby style carrots
1/4 lb. green beans topped and halved
8 oz. mixed mushrooms sliced (I used shiitake and oyster)
2 large cloves of garlic minced
4 cups of vegetable stock
2 Tbsps. Gluten free all-purpose flour
3 Tbsps. vegan margarine
1 cup of gluten-free biscuit mix( use vegan to make vegan)
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 Tbsp. fresh chives snipped
1 fresh bay leaf torn in half
1 handful fresh Thyme leaves minced
2-3 stalks of fresh winter savory leaves removed from stems and chopped
4 cups of vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

In a 1 qt. saucepan bring 2 cups mushroom broth to a boil, add TSP chunks and reduce heat to simmer, stirring occasionally 10 minutes. Remove from flame and stir in Worchestershire sauce, set aside.While the TSP is cooking chop the vegetables.
In a large dutch oven on medium high heat cook onion, carrots, potatoes and celery until they begin to soften about 10 minutes,add garlic and stir one minute. Move vegetables to one side of pot and melt margarine, add flour and cook 1-2 minutes until it starts to smell nutty then add the 4 cups vegetable broth and the thyme, savory and bay leaf. Add the TSP chunks and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. While it simmers stir together

Copyright 2010&cpoy; Valerie Hartzer

the biscuit mix, fresh chives and soy milk mix until you have a soft dough. Drop by tablespoons full onto the top of the stew and simmer uncovered 10 minutes then cover and simmer another 10 minutes.

Serves 2-3 with no sides

Copyright 2010© Valerie Hartzer

Not Yo’ Average Nachos – Vegetarian (or Vegan)

Here is a fast , easy nacho recipe that can be made either vegetarian (or vegan).

1 8 oz. bag of tortilla chips

4 oz. vegan soy chorizo

1/2 15 oz. can of black or pinto beans washed and drained

4 oz. shredded soy cheese (either Follow your Heart® Nacho flavor or Galaxy Foods Rice Vegan® Cheddar flavor shredded or your fave vegan cheese sauce)

half a bell pepper your favorite color

one small onion diced small or two green onions thinly sliced both tops and whites.

1 medium tomato diced small

1 heart of romaine lettuce shredded coarsely

optional toppings: sliced black olives, thawed roasted frozen corn,fresh or canned jalapeno peppers, salsa and vegan sour cream.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees (450 if using Follow Your Heart®).
arrange nachos overlapping on a pizza pan, ideally the perforated kind. Top with the shredded soy or rice cheese and the beans . Bake 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the chorizo and beans are hot.

While nachos are baking dice pepper(s), tomato, onion or green onion, romaine and black olives if using.

Remove nachos from oven top with the chopped vegetables, salsa and vegan sour cream.

Recipe Copyright©2010 Valerie Hartzer.