Tag: New Years Reflections

Vegan Colcannon non-traditional

Vegan Colcannon
Vegan Colcannon

Happy soon to be St. Patrick’s Day! Let’s celebrate with some yumminess. In the past I’ve done green food like these pancakes, and these muffins, and vegan Irish cream. This year we’re focusing on the potato. Oh how I love a potato. I’m going to play up the awesomeness of the Yukon Gold potato in this variation of  Colcannon, or mashed potatoes with green stuff if you aren’t Irish.

Traditionally Colcannon is as Irish dish made from mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage folded in. It is often perked up with scallions or leeks. For this vegan variation I am sautéing leeks and folding them in, and garnishing with kale chips. It’s pretty, yummy, and my girls love to pick the kale chips off the top. Honestly, that’s the only part they eat. I think I have the only kids in the world who won’t eat mashed potatoes.

Kale chips are a huge hit in our house, but they shatter and always leave tiny little pieces at the bottom of the container. This is a perfect way to use them up. And a perfect excuse to try making kale chips if you haven’t yet.

The twist in this recipe is adding the salt and vinegar to the cooking water for the potatoes. When you do this the potatoes are flavored from the inside out and each and every bite becomes a perfectly seasoned flavor bomb.

Vegan Colcannon

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 lbs yukon gold potatoes cut into 1/4 cubes
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 tsp white vinegar
  • 1 large leek cut lengthwise, and then into 1/4 half moons
  • olive oil for sautéing
  • 1/4 cup vegan butter
  • 1/4 cup nondairy milk (plain unsweetened)
  • 1 TBL nutritional yeast
  • kale chips for garnish

Instructions

  1. Place potatoes in a 3qt pot and cover with cold water to 1″ above the potatoes.
  2. Add salt and vinegar to the pot and bring to a boil.
  3. Continue boiling until potatoes are tender, 10-12 min.
  4. While potatoes are cooking heat a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot add olive oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add leeks and sauté until leeks are tender, about 7 minutes.
  5. Remove from heat if potatoes are not yet cooked.
  6. Once potatoes are cooked drain them and return to the cooking pot. Add butter, milk, and nutritional yeast and mash to your desired consistency.
  7. Fold in cooked leeks, taste and adjust seasoning.
  8. Garnish with kale chips and serve immediately.
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Happy New Year!! -Reflections and Goals

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Happy New Year! I hope your new year is filled with happiness, love, and passion for people, ideas, and goals.

I’m writing this as Wolfie sleeps and my husband does whatever it is he does on the computer for fun. I’m baking cookies, chocolate chip, and just hanging out reflecting on the last year, and the year to come. This last year had some big changes for us and I still feel like I’m adjusting, even as more changes are coming. Wolfie was born in late 2014, so that wasn’t actually in the last year, but since it was between the holidays it feels like it. I quit my job and started my own private practice (clinical social work); my husband got a new job and we spent a few months traveling back and forth between Maine and Boston spending several nights a week apart; I closed my private practice to move to Boston; we moved to Boston while still owning our house in Maine; I put a lot of time and effort into blogging this year; I accepted a new job, but when it came time to start I just couldn’t leave Wolfie at the times I would have needed to so I resigned before starting; My husband traveled A LOT; We traveled together to Utah, San Diego, Wisconsin (3 times), and up and down the east coast from RI to ME countless time; I finally accepted and started a new job; Wolfie started daycare a few days a week; we moved again in Boston; we are hoping to close on the house in a few weeks.

So, it’s been crazy. I was telling my husband yesterday that I feel like I haven’t done anything this year, but when all that is listed and we still managed to raise a happy, sweet, child, who is mastering skills every time we turn around, and keep our marriage healthy and strong, I guess it’s been a good year. I think what I meant is that I haven’t done much for me. My life totally changed from being a person, to being a mom. My work, my free time, my sleep schedule, all revolve around another person. My goal for this next year is to get a little bit more time for me, to feel like I am still an individual. My other major goal is to continue to put as much time and effort into blogging as I can. It is something I love, and I have started to see movement (people actually stopping by) this year.

What are your goals this year?