Veggie Cooking Fall Classes

Elegant Vegan Japanese Cuisine
October 4, 6:30 - 9:30 PM
Vernon Hills High School, 145 Lakeview Parkway Vernon Hills, IL

Satisfy your inner Geisha or Samurai with the ease and elegance of
preparing a plant-based Japanese style meal.
Class fees are $39 each plus an ingredient fee payable to Amy and Jim on class night.
To register contact the District 128 Community Education Program at
(847) 932-2176 or (847) 932-2171
or register on line at www.ComEd128.org

Eating Low on the Food Chain
October 8, 10:00 AM - Noon
Brookfield Zoo, 8400 31st Street Brookfield, IL 60304

How livestock damage the environment and how to help by eating more plants and less animal products. 
Includes a sample mini-meal.
$35 for zoo members, $45 for non-members
To register call 708-688-8361 or
online at www.czs.org/Adult and click on the "View Schedules" button

Vegetarian, Vegan, Whole Grain ... What's It All About?
October 11, 7:00 - 8:15 PM
Indian Trails Public Library, 355 South Schoenbeck Road, Wheeling, IL 

Amy and Jim will explore vegetarian, vegan, and whole grain eating in this interactive presentation. 
They will compare plant-based diets to the typical American diet and discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of each.  They will serve a sample vegan, whole grain mini-meal.  Register by going
to http://www.indiantrailslibrary.org/, click on Calendar, go to October 11, and click on our event.

A Traditional Thanksgiving Feast-Vegan Style
November 1, 6:30 - 9:30 PM
Vernon Hills High School, 145 Lakeview Parkway Vernon Hills, IL

The class will create a savory Thanksgiving meal using traditional grains,
fruits and vegetables available to the pilgrims and the North American
First Nations peoples.
Class fees are $39 each plus an ingredient fee payable to Amy and Jim on class night.
To register contact the District 128 Community Education Program at
(847) 932-2176 or (847) 932-2171
or register on line at www.ComEd128.org

Baking Sourdough and Wild Yeast Breads
December 6, 6:30 - 9:30 PM
Vernon Hills High School, 145 Lakeview Parkway Vernon Hills, IL

Jim will share the secrets learned in his indefatigable search for the perfect
loaf of bread.  He will demonstrate how to “capture”  the wild yeast in your
home to make your own sourdough starter.  The class will prepare sourdough
whole wheat bread and more.
Class fees are $39 each plus an ingredient fee payable to Amy and Jim on class night.
To register contact the District 128 Community Education Program at
(847) 932-2176 or (847) 932-2171
or register on line at www.ComEd128.org

How to Stir Fry With a Wok: As Easy as Prep 1-2-3

Cooking with a wok is as easy as Prep 1-2-3.



First you prep. Prepare all your ingredients for cooking. Grind and mince your spices and cut your veggies.If you are adding tofu, slice it now.  Get your oil and soy sauce ready.  In this photo I grated fresh ginger and sliced some onion. Then I sliced mushrooms,  turnip root, bok choy, and kale.



When your ingredients are ready, it's time for step 1, tempering the spices. Turn on the fire under the wok, pour in a tablespoon or 2 of oil, and put in the spices. Heat the spices for a short time to allow them to infuse the oil.  Do not allow them to burn.



Now it is time for step 2, cooking the veggies. Start with the veggies that are cut into the biggest chunks. Cook them, stirring continuously with your wok spatula, but do not cook them completely.  I started by adding the turnip slices and bok choy stalks.



Then add the veggies that are cut into medium chunks, and finally the leafy greens.  Here I added the mushrooms and kale stalks, and then the bok choy and kale greens.



Step 3 is the easiest. Pour a splash of soy sauce into the wok and stir.  Cook the food until it is slightly crisp, not overdone.

Although your wok is Chinese in origin, you can use it to cook food from any culture.

You can use Indian spices such as onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, coriander, and cumin.  For an Indian dish hold the soy sauce.  

For an Italian flair use olive oil and minced garlic for step 1 and basil and balsamic vinegar or wine for step 3.  Add a pinch of salt.

Modern Chuckwagon

 

In August Amy and I went on a national parks road trip. We drove from Chicago to Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Big Horn National Forest, the Black Hills, and Badlands National Park. We were on the road for 28 days, camping for all but 4 nights. We cooked all our meals outdoors, except for 3 at restaurants and 2 at the home of friends. We ate whole grains, fresh vegetables, beans and fruit, just like at home. How did we do it? We set up a modern chuckwagon in the back of Amy's car that held all of our food and cooking equipment.

 

As you can see the chuckwagon did not take up too much room in Amy's small SUV.

 

The smaller bin on the left side of the chuckwagon was the dry food bin. It contained our whole grains such as rice, millet, oats, barley, pasta, and flour as well as other dry foods such as dried beans, oil, soy sauce, peanut butter, tahini, crackers, tea, and salt. We always had plenty of trail mix in this bin. 

 

We put perishable foods such as fresh vegetables and fruit, soy milk, bread, and containers of leftovers in the cooler. We had to buy ice for the cooler about once every 2 days.

 

 

The large plastic bin on the right side of the chuckwagon held all our cooking equipment. We brought four pots of varying sizes and one frying pan. The pots are made out of fairly thin steel, which allows them to pack compactly, but sometimes caused food to burn on the bottom.

We used a Coleman 2 burner propane stove. In 28 days we used 6 1/2 canisters of propane fuel. The stove was a real workhorse. At Yellowstone and Big Horn, where the temperature was often in the 30s when we got up, we appreciated that we could cook hot cereal and soup right away. As you can see, after a few weeks some spilled food had burnt on to the stove. I removed it with oven cleaner after we returned home.

We usually ate breakfast in camp, and packed a lunch of sandwiches or leftovers for the trail. Since our chuckwagon was always in the car, we did not have to go back to camp to eat dinner, so we usually ate at a scenic picnic spot. The photo at the top of this article is of Amy cooking dinner on the shore of Jackson Lake with the Tetons in the background.

We were in bear country, so we had to put all our food in the car every night. Since all the food was in the dry food bin and cooler, all we had to do was put these 2 containers in the car.

We had little rain on this trip, but when we did, we put up a tarp over the picnic table.

Our chuckwagon allowed us to eat the way we wanted, while we enjoyed some of the most beautiful places in our country.