Yesterday's Oatmeal and Rapini Pie-Something from Nothing

       Yesterday's pot of leftover cooked oatmeal becomes the crust of this simple to make, easy to brownbag vegan pie. Vegans generally have 'let go' of the flaky perfect pie crusts of the Betty Crocker kitchen, and opt for an oil-based high protein crust. Grasshopper's love of buckwheat, calcium-rich and gluten-free, added to pre-cooked oatmeal in a fortified vegan milk of choice creates an easy high protein nutty base. Whole toasted buckwheat and can be ground on a fine grind in the blender to make a flour. Getting hungry now, and imagining the endless possibilies here with nut butters, tahini or inexpensive ground nut or seed additions...  sunflower or hemp seeds, peanut, Mmmmm,......
     You decide how to 'stiff up' the cooked oatmeal with oil and dry ingredients. Use tahini or nut butters for their oils, or grind a dry mix of seeds. Plain and simply, grasshopper uses the oil:dry ratio of 1:3 for a crunchy crust.  Decide: what's available in my kitchen, AND how much of this ingredient do I want for taste pleasure and protein.  Just count the servings you are creating. Experiment! It'll never taste the same again!
                                                                                                                  
   Yesterday's Oatmeal and Rapini Pie
       1c yesterday's cooked oatmeal    
      1/3-1/2 c of dry mix combo: buckwheat flour, ground nut or seed ..sunflower, hemp or sesame
      3tbs or more olive oil or tahini or nut butter
      dash salt
  one large bunch rapini, cleaned, washed and chopped
  2 garlic cloves crushed
  1 tsp olive oil
  dash salt

Mix enough dry ingredients/oil with oatmeal until you have a workable dough. Oil a pie plate as well as your fingers, then shape dough along the edges of the plate. Pre-bake at 350* for 10 minutes or until slightly brown. Meanwhile, oil a large covered skillet, add garlic and slowly simmer for 2 minutes. Add chopped rapini, cover, steam, and 'stir down' for 10 -12 minutes, or until soft and creamy. 
   Spread on prebaked crust.  Return to the oven for 5 minutes. Enjoy hot or cold.
Love Grasshopper

Grasshopper's Vegan Pesto

Adaptations. Living creatures are perpetually adapting. Understanding the culinary properties of your favourite foods teaches us how to adapt any recipe when we don't have an ingredient, or have specific food intolerances to avoid. May your days be filled with opportunities to experiment with ingredient substitutions. Risky when inviting guests, but surely a grateful experience of rich lessons. Ask your guests their thoughts on your new creations, and such is how we will continue with adaptations. In this vegan pesto recipe, parmesan is absent, so hemp protein is an excellent substitution for a vegan diet.

Grasshopper's Vegan Pesto
-olive oil
         a choice of seeds or nuts...
-hulled hemp for high protein works beautifully,
    or walnut, just try to use a nut or seed with a soft consistency
if using a mortar and pestal, however  any seed or nut can be
   ground in a blender; flax seed is nutritious, but lacks flavour and
   its geling properties keep soaking up the oil (not grasshopper's favourite choice)
-fresh basil leaves, fresh parsley leaves, arugula,
       any green with flavour
-cloves of garlic
-salt to taste
 
Mash, using mortar and pestal or blender for larger amounts or harder nuts and seeds. Use at room temperature or you may also line a baking dish with plastic wrap, pour the pesto over the wrap and freeze in a slab and put into a ziplock bag in the freezer for future use. Then break off chunks as needed. Just melt frozen pesto chunks in a hot pot of cooked/drained pasta, for a quick on-the-go nutritious meal.
For a great pasta recipe, see Grasshopper's easy gnocchi recipe
 http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=838924271458807488#editor/target=post;postID=3981368696112836922
Love Grasshopper