Juneteenth in Philadelphia

Last Friday evening, commemorative wreaths honors Austin, Paris, Hercules, Christopher Sheeler, Richmond, Giles. Oney Judge, Moll, and Jon.

Before sharing the closing highlights of Juneteenth, I would love to link everyone to Chéri Yielle's Save My Soul. - a pleasant, soulful tune as humbly sweet as a mixture of maple syrup and dark chocolate. In addition to making a beautiful spirited song that calls out to the ancestral astral plane, Yielle is a vegan and shares her multifaceted artist lifestyle on Instagram. Check her out!

On a rainy Friday evening, a host of individuals from local, national, and international took the stage, red, green, and black balloons setting the mood with its symbolic color scheme. This was the third year for such an event, a commemoration of not just the freeing of African Americans from enslavement. The crowd stood right on the slave burial ground, near the slave auction block, a place that now beastly honors those nine illegal indentured prisoners of Washington's white house. In between moments of beautiful songs including the Pan African anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing." dance and theatrical performances, motivating speakers gave candid, moving accounts of how horrific the environment. We learned the importance of ATAC (Avenging the Ancestors Coalition), a local organization that fought for eight years to rectify a great wrong. On a December day, eight years ago, the mayor of Philadelphia cut the opening ribbon of the first slave memorial of its kind on federal property here in America just moments away from The Liberty Bell-- named such thanks to 19th century abolitionists.

The Philadelphia Heritage Chorale.

Among the artworks is a piece that tells the story of Oney Judge-- the successful woman who ran away before being presented as a present for Martha Washington's granddaughter. 

The Nanikha sisters gifted the audience with two beautiful serenades.

Special guest speaker, Opal Lee is the 92 year-old activist who, two years ago, walked from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington D.C., campaigning for Juneteenth to be a national holiday. In this short NPR interview, she says, "Slaves didn't free themselves. There were abolitionists and people of all persuasions that worked untiringly to have slavery abolished."

After walking down the red carpet to the joyous harmonies of the Philadelphia Chorale, Kenny Gamble and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney lead on a moment of silence for slavery's countless victims and our strength to continue onward.

Baked Apple Hand Pies

Move over Hostess and Little Debbie-- first and certainly not the last foray into pie-- hand pie.

Time to share the perfect Juneteenth dessert.
I have always wanted to make pastry, especially something along the lines of pie, but butter is such an essential ingredient. Most vegan substitutes rely on palm oil. I wonder why it seems to be in everything, which screams red flag. Thankfully, Miyoko's Kitchen has a scrumptious new alternative on the market (look for the official AfroVeganChick review next week). It has been a life saver. At last, certain things are possible.

Organic Royal Gala apples from Mom's Organic Market.

I certainly should have prepped the dough yesterday. It is an involved process that was a bit too taxing after walking to work, eight hours of work, a great artist lecture after work, and the hour + walk back home. So yes, to return to the kitchen and retain dead set determination to create this dessert is a thing in itself. Still, I was excited and joyous about making my first hand pies. The efforts were well worth the end result-- eating a delicious warm sweet straight out of the oven inspired by That's So Vegan's Classic Apple Hand Pies recipe, amended from another amazing blog, Oh Lady Cakes.


Baked Apple Hand Pies Ingredients and Preparation

2 1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter (one package of Mikoyo's Kitchen butter), cold and cut into chunks
8 tablespoon water

2 apples, peeled and chopped into small bits
3 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie or apple pie spice
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon arrowroot powder (or 1 1/2 teaspoon flour)

Mix flour, sugar, and salt together. Add butter chunks and fork stir until crumbly. Cover and place in a freezer for 15 minutes. Take this out and distribute water one tablespoon at a time. Once dough sticks together, knead for a minute or so. Roll into a large ball. Cover again and place in the refrigerator for an hour.

Kneaded dough before being refrigerated. A little tear spilled from my eye. It was such a good moment.

In a saucepan set on low heat, combine apples, water, coconut oil, cinnamon, pumpkin or apple pie spice, sugar, and lemon juice. Once apples are tender and soft add in arrowroot powder or flour to thicken. Remove from heat. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Take out chilled dough. Roll out onto floured surface and form circles. Place a small amount of apple filling in the center and fold corner over. Fork press the corners together. Poke ventilation holes (or hearts) into top of the pies. Brush with a small bit of oil.

Bake for 15-25 minutes or until edges are browned.

Bursting with apple goodness.

Pie resting in a bed of homemade vanilla ice cream.

The heart wants what it wants.

Vegetable Cheese Sauce

Cheese sauce made from veggies. Vegan creativity never fails to influence my everyday meal.

Happy Juneteenth!

Today, we celebrate our ancestors across America, the last of African diaspora slaves in Galveston, Texas earned their emancipated freedom. On 153rd anniversary of this great victory, well giant steps to victory, we must never forget the painful hardships and dangerous oppression that had been orchestrated since coming enslaved to a young country. There is still long ways to go until true, honest, authentic resolution for all the peoples residing in America. And I believe that it can be achieved.

From onward, Juneteenth will be a yearly blog tradition.

I started a 20" x 30" acrylic painting that combines the highlight of the Grenada cocoa fashion show from last month and a generous piece of a still life containing a fair trade chocolate bar (Chauo Chocolate) on headwrap fabric.

Just like a the standard mixtape on the hot summer barbecue days and nights, here's some soulful tune suggestions while making art and cooking for feel good vibes:

"California Soul"-- Marlena Shaw
"Like This"-- Monica
"You Don't Have To Worry"-- Doris & Kelley
"Summertime"-- DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince
"Word Iz Bond"-- 702
"Tonite's Tha Nite"-- Kris Kross
"I Can Love You"-- Mary J. Blige & Lil Kim
"Can We"-- SWV
"Rhythm Nation"-- Janet Jackson
"Hot Like Fire (Remix)"-- Aaliyah
"Queen"-- Janelle Monae Feat. Erykah Badu
"Love Like This"-- Faith Evans
"Music"-- Eric Sermon & Marvin Gaye
"Your Woman"-- White Town
"Here Comes the Hotstepper"-- Ini Kamoze
"PYT"-- Michael Jackson
"Black Sweat"-- Prince
"Creep"-- TLC
"Hit Dem Wit Da Hee"-- Missy Elliot & Lil Kim
"American Boy"-- Estelle
"Black Steel"-- Tricky Feat Martina Topley-Bird
"Don't Disturb This Groove"-- The System
"He's The Greatest Dancer"-- Sister Sledge
"I'm So Excited"-- The Pointer Sisters

And so many, many more (please give me your songs).....

At last, Juneteenth couldn't be complete without a scrumptious dinner. I finally made cheese sauce with carrots and potatoes-- inspired by a video long ago posted on my Facebook page. Isn't it amazing that the simplest of vegetables, cheap vegetables, concoct perfect solutions when one doesn't have cashews on hand? Usually people add Yukon or white or golden potatoes, but I had sweet potatoes. The sauce comes out a pretty shade of orange, reminding me a bit of the butternut cheese sauce. It's tangy, light on sweetness, irresistibly creamy.

Vegetable Cheese Sauce Ingredients and Preparation

2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
5 small to medium sized carrots
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Chopped veggies. I saved the sweet potato scraps for future plans.

Bring sweet potatoes, carrots, red onions, and olive oil to a boil-- approximately 30- 40 minutes. Make sure carrots and sweet potatoes are fork tender before placing in the blender. Blend with nutritional yeast, turmeric, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and black pepper until smooth and creamy.

Add to any pasta of your choice. Macaroni is always a good choice. 

The Pan African Flag is on full display: green for Brussels sprouts, the red bowl of dinner, and a black "Black is Beautiful" Studio Museum Harlem mug of iced cold cocoa tea (recipe will be posted this week-- a special treat from the Caribbean).

Blackened Moroccan Spiced Carrots

This is the first time sharing vegan Juneteenth recipes on the blog. It's better late than never to celebrate the important significance of tomorrow, a day that commemorates the last freed peoples of African diaspora in Texas. Although meat is usually on the menus of most Juneteenth functions, especially in the deep South, a little plant based goodness can bring about necessary change to the minds of many while at the same time fulfill the joys of ancestors flowing in our veins and satisfy hungry bellies.

Recipe number one is a trip to Morocco, a country in Northern Africa I long to visit. It's connected to Western Sahara and Algeria and is known for splendid palaces, creative architecture, gorgeous nature views, and delicious spicy food. Thus, all over the web are various versions of Moroccan carrots from chilled salads to carrot soups. I twice prepared my carrots-- boiling to lightly soften and pan frying for the desired blackening effect. They came out perfectly spiced and fork tender accompanied by marinated tempeh and topped with red onions.

Blackened Moroccan Spiced Carrots Ingredients and Preparation

5-6 large carrots, rinsed
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
cilantro (fresh or dried, also sub parsley)
pinch of lemon juice

Bring carrots to a boil. Drain.
Coat carrots with salt, garlic, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, cilantro, and lemon juice. Refrigerate for a few hours.
Heat up a skillet and add olive oil. Toss in marinated carrots, turning them over as nice charred sears start happening.