Hope you’re all enjoying your Labor Day weekend!  Despite having to work for much of the weekend, Ryan and I were able to sneak away to the Getty Center on Saturday where he took these amazing photos.  I just couldn’t resist sharing them.

Welcome to the new and improved C’est La Vegan!  As you can see, we’ve had a bit of a face lift, and I’m so excited to share the new site with all of you.  Ryan and our site designer, Robert, have been working tirelessly to update everything, and I’m so grateful for all of their help.  I can’t wait to bring you some new posts on this amazing layout, so stay tuned!

A few years ago, Ryan and I had a gift certificate to Sierra Mar restaurant, one of the most beautiful places on Earth.  Just attaching that link makes me want to cry because of how badly I want to go back to that place! That night we had fried squash blossoms that had been stuffed with some kind of goat cheese mixture.  I still remember the moment of biting into them, and then the two of us devouring the plate when we realized how unbelievably delicious they were.  So many of my memories involve the food.  Ryan can’t believe my ability to remember meals.  Wish I could remember other things half as well!

I’d never actually seen squash blossoms in a store or at the farmers market that we used to go to, but all of that changed one day at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market, where there were stalls overflowing with blossoms. I knew I wanted to try a vegan version of what we’d eaten that night, so I looked on line and found this recipe from the amazing Tofu 666.  I used that recipe for the tempura batter (minus the herbs), but I couldn’t find any recipes for stuffing that didn’t involve cheese.  I ended up making my own, taking inspiration from Tofu 666’s descriptions of the many stuffings he’s used (they’ve stuffed a LOT of squash blossoms in that house!).

The batter was incredibly simple to make, and so was the stuffing.  I used a pastry bag to stuff the blossoms with the “cheese” mixture, and then fried them – not the healthiest thing to eat, but man were these good! The picture of the finished product doesn’t really do these justice – it’s not that easy to make friend squash blossoms look super appealing.  But you can’t judge a book by its cover!

I served these with a tomato panzanella salad and delicata squash bisque.  They were so good that I made them again the following week, and we gorged ourselves on them until we felt sick.  They’re pretty rich on their own, so next time I make them I’ll be sure to pair them with a salad or something light and maybe acidic. Or, I could just try to not eat the entire batch!

Seasoned Cream “Cheese” Filling for Stuffed Squash Blossoms
enough for about 19 blossoms

1 8-oz. container plain Tofutti cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon salt (sea salt or gray salt)
freshly ground black pepper

Let Tofutti come to room temperature, and then mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.  Scoop into a pastry bag fitted with a metal tip, and pipe filling into squash blossoms.  Dip in tempura batter, and fry until golden. Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with a touch of salt and enjoy!

As you can see, this is a pretty basic recipe.  I chose to keep it simple, but feel free to add whatever spices and herbs you like best.

On Sunday (the 23rd) Ryan and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary, and eleven years together.  Last year, for our tenth (dating) anniversary we took a trip to one of our favorite places in the whole world – Ireland.  We have many great friends there, and we’ve been thinking of them all week as we reminisce about “where we were this time last year”.  As an anniversary gift, Ryan gave me an amazing book of his photos from that trip, and he’s posting some of the beautiful pictures on his blog this week.

This year though, we had to work on our anniversary, so we decided to go away for a night away during the week.  We drove up to another favorite place of ours, the Santa Ynez valley, just north of Santa Barbara and only a couple of hours from LA.  We made our way up the 101 to our first stop on the trip – the Los Olivos Grocery store.  They have great prepared food and sandwiches at the deli (with plenty of vegan options), so we like to pick up some lunch and then go picnic at the Fess Parker winery, where we can buy a bottle of wine to enjoy with lunch. Just look at that glass of voignier!

I’m actually not a huge drinker – I’m very much a lightweight when it comes to alcohol – but there’s nothing like a great glass of wine with some yummy food enjoyed in the great outdoors.  Later in the evening we went into Solvang to check out their farmers market.  Solvang is a really cute town, but can be a little touristy. Being there during the week was really nice though, and much less crowded than the weekends.  After strolling around town we headed back to the Ballard Inn, which offers great midweek deals.  We spent the night playing cards and trivial pursuit on the beautiful wrap-around porch.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to head out to Ditmar’s Apple farm, where they have all different kinds of apples that are available at varying times from late August to sometimes as late as December.  We got some amazing gala apples, peaches and pears that we bought directly from Mr. Dittmar, who sells them from a table under a huge oak tree by the side of the road.  I wish I could buy all my fruit like that!

The next stop was Clairmont Farms, a family owned lavender farm that was just up the street from the orchard.  The flowers on the farm were in bloom, and the smell was amazing.  The view wasn’t too bad either!  I tried to be good and only buy a couple of things – a candle that I’m only burning in little spurts to make it last, and some lavender mist that I’m spraying around like a mad woman.

Whether or not you’re a wine enthusiast, I can’t recommend visiting this area enough.  There’s something so satisfying about visiting the actual location where products (whether it’s food, lavender or wine) that you consume come from.  One thing we didn’t get a chance to do was go berry picking, but there were several places where you can.  There are a lot of things to do and see that have nothing to do with wine, if that’s not your thing.

If however, it is your thing, then you’re in a pretty good place for it!  We were very fortunate with perfect weather, and since we went mid-week we didn’t really have to deal with crowds anywhere.  We’re hoping to be able to take a trip up again before the year is out.  For now, it’s back to LA and work and traffic and everything else that comes with reality…  but at least we have the memories!

Ryan’s brother is getting married this weekend so I thought I’d take a break from food and give Dane and Amy a wedding shout out.  Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Dane Suffern!