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Hands Occupied

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Vegan Vittles: Grown-up Ants on a Log

January 25, 2012 Leave a Comment

Remember ants on a log? The celery, peanut butter and raisin combination was one of my mom’s favorites to make when I was growing up. Last night, I combined ants on a log with this wonderful idea from Martha Stewart Living  (I told you I shouldn’t read this magazine too often!).

With endive leaves swapping places with the celery, avocado instead of peanut butter, and scallions instead of raisins, this vegan treat is a healthy, low-calorie, low-carb alternative to ants on a log. Dinners like this are a really easy way to fill yourself up and get a potato chip-like crunch without a zillion calories. And I don’t know if I’ve shared this with you all yet, but I freaking love chips. Celery and endive are obviously not chips, but sometimes alternatives like this really do help!

The Martha Stewart Living recipe was part of a story about smoked trout in the January 2012 issue of the magazine. I don’t eat meat, so I had to get creative. Instead of using flaked smoked trout, I used smoked paprika to add some flavor. The smoked paprika tastes a little like BBQ chips, too.

Ingredients

1 avocado

2 tsp. lemon juice

salt & pepper

smoked paprika

scallions

2 endive heads

ziploc bag

Directions

Rinse scallions and endive. Chop scallions into small pieces and set aside. Separate endive leaves from the head and arrange them on a plate. Pulse avocado with lemon juice until smooth, adding salt and pepper part way through.

Spatula the avocado mixture into a ziploc bag. Trim a small opening in one of the corners of the bag (check out this post for pictures of what this should look like). Pipe the avocado like frosting onto the endive leaves. Place a few scallion slices onto each leaf. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika to taste. You can skip on the paprika, but it will be kinda bland.

no paprika

with paprika

On a related note… my dog is terrible. 

In making this for dinner, I learned my little dog is a sneaky little thief! I made this and set one plate of food on my kitchen table and another on the counter. I go upstairs for 20 minutes, and when I get back to the kitchen, I find THIS!

Notice how she only ate the fatty and delicious avocado part. As always, her shame face combined with mild shaking made me feel really bad when I had to tell her, “No, bad dog!” But I know she understands what she did was really wrong. What’s amazing, though, is the fact that she managed to grab a single piece of endive and not disturb the jar of paprika, my camera (thank goodness), or anything else on the table.

Seriously. How did she do this?!

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: avocado, endive, healthy snacks, paprika, scallions, vegan vittles

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad (she/her) is a craft book author & designer specializing in yarn crafts. Her work combines vintage and modern design elements, prioritizing color and graphic motifs. Her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now.

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), and I’ve been helping yarn crafters untangle various techniques on the internet since 2010. I got my start here, as a blogger, and since then I’ve shared more than a few tutorials here and on YouTube as I’ve grown as a pattern designer. 🧶 

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handsoccupied

Knitting & yarn crafts designer helping makers untangle various techniques with a blog & YouTube channel
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Heidi Gustad 🧶 knitting & yarn crafts
Happy with how the mini Nightmare Before Christmas Happy with how the mini Nightmare Before Christmas sweater vest turned out! Now my dog and I can go on walks in matching seasonal fits 😂
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1. I knit this bottom up with scraps and ran out of black yarn. If the vest consistently drifts down her chest upon wear, I might extend the collar or redo the chest panel at a smaller size. If you’ve read this far, what do you think? As a designer, I so rarely get to improvise a knitting project, and I’m having fun working with fewer rules than usual. 🧶
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2. June has a grooming appointment this weekend. She’s currently the mayor of scruff town, I know. 🫡
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Pattern: Chart is from the Spiral Hill Sweater Vest pattern by yours truly in the official Nightmare Before Christmas knitting book 
Yarn: @brooklyntweed Imbue Worsted
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#spiralhillsweatervest #spiralhillsweatervestkal #handsoccupied #intarsia #intarsiaknitting #nightmarebeforechristmasknittingbook #dogknit #knitsfordogs #handmade #brooklyntweed
I finished June’s doggie version of the Spiral H I finished June’s doggie version of the Spiral Hill Sweater Vest & it’s so cute! 🥰
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Do you think June appreciates the fact that she now has a sweater made with @brooklyntweed yarn? 😂 
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#handsoccupied #dogsweater #dogjumper #intarsia #intarsiaknitting #spiralhillsweatervest #spiralhillsweatervestkal #handmade #brooklyntweedimbue #brooklyntweed
Squeezing in some stitching on a selfish sweater t Squeezing in some stitching on a selfish sweater this Saturday morning 😋
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Pattern: Fruit Stripe Pullover with some intarsia mods on the front panel 
Designed by Rachel Brockman for @universal_yarn 
Yarn: Fibra Natura Cobblestone in Dragon’s Breath & Antarctica 🧶
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#handsoccupied #knitting #weekendknitting #sweaterknitting #universalyarn #fibranaturacobblestone
As a yarn craft designer and former librarian, rev As a yarn craft designer and former librarian, review copies of craft books get sent my way from time to time. It's awesome, but I'm always looking for new, quick ways to share them with you. Today's experiment: a mini review of the new crochet book Hooked on Shakespeare: Crochet Projects Inspired by the Bard. A review copy was provided by the publisher. 
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Book: Hooked on Shakespeare by Gurinder Kaur Hatchard  @yay_for_crochet 
Publisher: @herbert.press / @bloomsburybooksus 
Number of projects: 15
Hardcover, 128 pages
Retail price $22/£14.99
Uses UK crochet terms, not US. My copy came with a conversion table (pictured).
Good for: literary enthusiasts, amigurumi crocheters
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Overall, this is a really cute book that would make a wonderful gift. Each of the 15 Shakespearean works covered features patterns for a few characters from the story. The styled photography is fantastic, with whimsical backgrounds highlighting each pattern. Includes some step-by-step instructions with photos and how to crochet tutorials at the back. I'm highly on board with the name of the last pattern in the book, "Wooliam Shakespeare". 👏🏻 
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If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I'm always trying to figure out the best way to share these new titles, and this is a first try at a new format. So if you have any feedback (if I should include more/less detail, more photos, video, etc.), please let me know. 
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#handsoccupied #bookreview #craftbook #craftbooks #crochet #crochetbook #crochetersofinstagram #crochetinspiration
New post & video tutorial are live! How to weave i New post & video tutorial are live! How to weave in intarsia ends, including avoiding holes at joins, how many ends to weave in one spot, when to use duplicate stitch, and more. Everything is on the bl0g, the 🔗 is where you’d think. 
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P.S. I feel like this video took forever to edit, so thanks for your patience as I worried too much over small details. 😜
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#handsoccupied #intarsia #howtoknitintarsia #intarsiaknitting #pictureknitting #weavinginends #knitter #spiralhillsweatervest #spiralhillsweatervestkal
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