I need 2 recipes please

[alexylinda]

Hi I am looking for 2 recipes. One is for macrobiotic Lasagna? I had it at the summer conference, I know it was made with beets and carrots instead of tomato sauce. It was so delicious. Also they had a flan that contained soymilk and grain coffee, it also was so good. Any info would be greatly appreciated Thanks

linda

[neon]

I won't provide you the recipes, but I am interested what Summer Conference were you at? Because there are two - Becket in US and Helvoirt in Netherland. Just curious. I was at Netherland

[alexylinda]

I was at the one in beckett at babson college.

[Klara]

and I was at neither :<( but maybe one day

Neon, did you by any chance get to meet my friend Olga (the one I posted about the Vegetarian Festival in Hungary)?? remind me, Neon, where do you live??

so for the recipes, I can't promise it will be exactly as you had, but my family loves the lasagne, just it's alot of parts so I don't make it that often.

so these are the different parts - you can make them easier or more complicated, depending on your mood, time, interest, etc

the noodles, of course (I sometimes use rice lasagne noodles, depends on what you can find)

the carrot/beet sauce - I no longer follow a recipe on this, more specific below

the "cheese" - based on tofu, recipe below

a reoux topping

a green vegetable - usually just kale, but could be anything

other vegetables - often mushrooms and onions

other protein fillers - such as tempeh, seitan - that I don't do, but have had delicious lasagne with them in it

Carrot/beet sauce:

lots of carrots, sliced (really doesn't matter, maybe a pound or two, I just go by how it fills the pan and if I feel like cutting up more)

a couple of onions, diced

a half/beet, enough to add color

a couple bay leaves (probably not crucial, but I use them)

pinch of salt

the important part is not to add too much water - just a bit below (maybe 1/4 inch??) where the vegetables are - the vegetables will shrink and if too much water, you take away some of the flavorings.

cook til soft - maybe 1/2 hour, but depends

then blend up (take out bay leaves first!!!!) (if you did add too much water, you can drain some of the liquid now and not blend all the liquid - depends how watery you want the sauce)

now the important part - put back into pot and add miso and umeboshi to taste - that's what gives it a great flavor - simmer a few minutes

in the old days when I tried mimicking more the old kinds of foods, I would add basil and oregano - depends on how wide you are practicing mb.

The "cheese":

do you have by any chance Brother Ron Pickarski's Friendly Foods??the recipes are in there

you start with soy mayonnaise - 12 oz firm tofu
6 Tbsp oil (I use sesame)
1 tbsp vinegar (I use ume)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tsp prepared mustard
1 tsp minced garlic (I sautee this and onion in the oil in order for it not to be too strong)
4 tbsp minced onion
1/4 tsp white pepper (I don't use that)
1 1/4 tsp sea salt (alot but works)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbs very finely ground cashew nuts (I don't use that)

Blend all together til smooth

Then:

1/2 cup finely chopped onions - sauteed in 1 1/2 tsp oil, with 1/4 tsp dill weed and 1/4 tsp salt - til soft

cool - add 1 cup firm tofu, crushed by hand, and 1/2 cup soy mayo (recipe above) and 2 tbsp chopped chives if you wish

hope you know how to make a reoux - can find that in any cookbook, just use whole wheat flour

hope that's enough of a start to get you going

I don't make a flan - I don't care to use soymilk if I can help it - but I do make a great kanten using coffee substitute, vanilla, apple juice, tahini, and agar of course. That recipe I have from Whole World Cookbook called Coffee Mousse - Melanie Waxman posted her recipe for her version of the mousse on the yahoo group site moderndaymacrobiotics - I will try to find it but it may take a while, so please have patience.

so tell us more details about the summer conference - either of you - what left you with the strongest impression? what changes have you made because of it??

Klara

[Klara]

well, search engines work fine - here's the post I'd written for the coffee mousse - with Melanie Waxman's recipe also in there:

here's the recipe I've been using, from Whole World Cookbook, p.
12 (another cookbook with pages falling apart)(the amounts in
parenthesis is making 1 1/2 times the amount in recipe, so equals
amounts in Melanie's recipe for comparison)

(1 1/2) 1 quart apple juice
(7 1/2) 5 Tablespoons agar flakes
(1 1/2) 1 Tablespoon instant grain coffee
Pinch of salt
(3) 2 Tablespoons tahini
(1 1/2) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
(1 1/2) 1 Tablespoon barley malt
several walnuts, shelled (to decorate on top)

and here's Melanie's recipe

Grain Coffee Mousse

Ingredients
4 cups apple juice
2 cups spring water
6 tablespoons grain coffee
2 tablespoons nut butter of choice
2 tablespoons rice syrup
6 tablespoons agar agar
Pinch sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Orange slices for garnish

Preparation:
Place the juice, water, salt and agar flakes in a pan.
Heat on a medium flame until boiling.
Lower flame and simmer until agar flakes are dissolved.
Whisk in the grain coffee and the rice syrup.
Pour into a dish. Let sit for a few minutes until cool.
Place in the fridge until firm.
Blend with the nut butter and vanilla to a smooth cream.
Serve garnished with oranges.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

so I see the differences between the two recipes aren't that huge.
The biggest difference seems to be the amount of grain coffee (and
I'm also wondering if it makes a difference which one is used). And
no water is used in the recipe I've been using, so perhaps it's
sweeter?? A bit less agar in Melanie's recipe.

[neon]

Hey Klara,
I live in Czech Republic.
Ofcourse I have met Olga. How can you overlook such a beautiful person

Strongest impression this year?
Definitely Lino Stanchich and his lectures about importance of chewing.
He gave us so much time and I am not talking about lectures, but he was sharing all the free time between. Because we were a really big group of Czech people there (27), he made a special chewing lecture for us also. We were sitting with him at one table and chewing our meals for 1 hour many times.
Also I liked his advice about eating fish - because I got into the "Monk life style" and he thinks that's because I completely stoped eating fish In his view, the fish for men does bring things like - women and money

[alexylinda]

Thank You so much for the recipes. i plan on making them this week. As far as the conference goes, it was wonderful. Also at babson College I got to hang out with Lino. He is such a wonderful person. All of the classes were so wonderful. The cooking classes were the best though. We got to learn how to make tofu, including tofu yogurt, delicious, alot of soups, and even blueberry scones, can you believe that. The class that stood out the most was Michio talking about Global crisis. he was explaining to us how just small changes can impact everyone. He was also so funny, he has a great sense of humor. I hope that someday everyone will be able to attend this conference. This is my second year and I look forward to it each year. They always have a benefit performance show for people who want to attend but cannot afford it, the money raised with this helps them to be able to attend kushi way to health program. It is so much fun. everyone is so very friendly, and you always feel so much at home there. I recommend whenever you can catch Chef Satoru Sato in a cooking class or program,to watch him work. This guy is so full of life, you cannot help but to smile the whole time he is cooking. Very hysterical. Can you believe we also learned how to make Watermelon blueberry and pistachio nuts Kanten with Amazake cream, thanks to the wonderful Eric and Sanae Suzuki. Powerful conference, i recommend it to everyone. Also, they are always looking for volunteers to help out at the conference. This is A great alternative for people who need help with the conference fees. Take care always and THANK YOU so much again for the wonderful recipes.