See A Penny, Pick It Up....

Score!

2006-11-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday found me stumbling onto a great find -- something I've been looking for for years....

When we first moved into our house 6 or whatever years ago, we purchased for the kids two new twin mattress/box spring sets -- something we had no need for previously (family bed, semi-furnished rentals, etc, etc). We set these onto their metal bed frames and dressed them with the kids preferred bedding. Still, they've always lookrd a little, shall we say..., 'unfinished' --what with having no headboards. The retail store we bought the mattress sets from did have pretty nifty, shelf-style twin headboards that attracted me. Freestanding headboards with two small shelves, with just that little extra space for books, clocks, that nightly glass of water -- how practical. But I balked at the $120 per headboard price, especially for something that really wasn't all that well made to begin with. Then I hoped we might make our own, but in light of ALL the other do-it-yourself projects around here?.... well, that obviously wasn't going to happen anytime soon in this lifetime. My thoughts kept wandering to those store headboards -- maybe they could be Christmas presents? Perhaps I'd just save up for them?

But yesterday walking unsuspectingly into the local Habit for Humanity thrift store downtown to kill time, I noticed they were just happening to have a 75% off moving sale. Wandering aimlessly around, I spied two, matching, white, painted wood shelf-style twin headboards! I could hardly believe my eyes! They were $25.00 a piece without the discount -- so, together with the 75% off, they were all of $12.50. $12.50??? For both!

(Rubbing hands together with glee!)

One Week From This Very Day....

2006-11-16T08:36:00.000-08:00

...it shall be Thanksgiving, and what's a veggie family to do...?

Actually, I'm glad to say we have our Thanksgiving routines and traditions pretty much down, after all these years. No traveling involved -- so grateful for that since I really despise holiday travel. Instead, my sister and brother and their families live nearby, and we all converge at our childhood home, my parents' house, a mere 10 blocks from where I now live. Yes, we'll be the only vegetarians at the gathering, but everyone's used to it by now and there are few, if any, comments anymore. My mom always cooks the traditional foods, everything from scratch, and with lots of vegetable side dishes (I come from a long line of gardening veggie lovers), plus a separate holiday dressing made without chicken broth especially for us. I always bring our own lovely and delicious vegetarian entree -- one that I've made every year for Thanksgiving since 1995, when it was the November cover article for Vegetarian Times (and I was a subscriber -- and no, it's not requisite whole, stuffed pumpkin either...)....

It's called a "No-Turkey" (rather uninspired moniker, but ah well) and it makes for a lovely, celebratory-looking dish that really attracts attention and makes quite the festive impact. People oooh and ahhhh over it. And, it's delicious. My children eagerly look forward to it every year. If only I had a photograph, sigh. My written descriptions never do it proper justice, but I'll try....

Picture this: a mounded up, tantalizingly browned-looking, roast-like thingie, decorated with attractive pastry cut-outs of your choosing (the article suggests maple leaf shapes), which can be made as large or as small according to one's entertaining needs. This 'No-turkey' is an oval, domed-shaped creation, looking ever so SLIGHTLY reminiscent of a browned, basted turkey carcass? (But not nearly so blech of course). I always present mine on my special large, holiday platter. It's very elegant, and I can serve it with real pride....

In any event, as one slices through the 'No-turkey', one cuts first through a browned crust layer of puff pastry covering the top, then through a layer of seasoned dressing/stuffing, then lastly through a layer of gravy-brushed seitan slices, mounded on the bottom. Ok, so the 'no-turkey' takes a little time and effort to prepare -- it is well worth it. (Plus, it's reasonably economical.) Hey, Thanksgiving only comes once a year, right? Besides, most of the ingredients for it can be made several days in advance, with just the assembly of it reserved for the day of....

Here 's the rub. To prepare it, one must have ready: seitan (I make my own several days in advance), dressing/stuffing (made in advance), gravy (yes, made in advance), and commercially purchased puff pastry sheets (purchased in advance).

For the seitan, I make my own with vital wheat gluten -- approximately two pounds prepared to make a large 'No-turkey'. Slice the seitan into serving-size, sliced chunks. These will be brushed with gravy (the gravy I prefer is the 'Quick Brown Gravy' from the book 'Table for Two' by Joanne Stepaniak -- recipe below)

Layer the gravy-brushed seitan slices on a baking sheet lined with heavy, sturdy foil, and coated very liberally with nonstick cooking spray or oil. Build yourself a base of the seitan slices, overlapping them in rows on the foil, mounding it up in the center, brushing both sides of the seitan slices with gravy as they are placed down. Narrow the rows of seitan as you stack upward, forming a roast-sized mound. It will be sort of dome-shaped. Keep in mind the size and shape of the platter that the 'no-turkey' will be served on (I shape mine into a definite oval, to fit my holiday platter). Make the size of the mound according to the number of people you'll be feeding. We like lots of leftovers, so mine is plenty big.

Next, wet your hands lightly, and mound handfuls of your prepared dressing/stuffing all over the mound of seitan slices you created, applying firm even pressure, and pressing into a neat oval. It will all stick together (if your stuffing is wet enough, that is -- recipe for the one I use posted below.) When completed, you should have a nice, roast-sized mound of dressing, covering the mound of seitan, centered on the baking sheet.

Now the piece de resistance --the thing that makes the attractive, browned turkey-looking 'skin' of your 'No-turkey': Puff Pastry Sheets. These are available in the freezer section of the regular grocery store. The brand I typically find, I think Pepperidge Farms, has no animal products (I believe it may have vegetable shortening unfortunately? -- though it's possible that's changed in recent years. And perhaps there are alternatives out there. The article does mention yuba for example). A box of puff pastry comes with two sheets. Follow the instructions on the box as far as storing and preparing the sheets (be sure to allow it the neccessary time to thaw before using). When ready to apply the crust to your No-turkey, roll the thawed pastry sheets out to 1/16 inch thickness. Apply the sheets to cover the roast, draping the sheets and overlapping the two edges slightly to form a large rectangle, with an overlapping seam down the middle section of your roast. Seal these adjoining edges of pastry sheets with dabs of water. You'll have a seam bisecting the middle of the width of the roast. Pat the puff pastry dough snugly around the No-turkey. Trim the excess crust around the bottom with scissors, kind of like when you trim a homemade pie crust, leaving enough to tuck a little under the roast with your fingers.

Next pleat, pinch, and tuck dough around corners of the roast where necessary.

With the dough scraps you have trimmed off, create decorative shapes using cookie cutters. The magazine photo of this dish features lovely maple leaf shapes (which I do also, using a nesting set of maple leaf cookie cutters of various sizes). This added touch really makes the 'NO-turkey' look extra special (apple or pumpkin shapes might be nice too). Attach these decorations to the roast with dabs of water. It looks attractive to place the cut-out decorations to cover over and along that middle seam of the puff pastry sheets I described (disguising it), and around the sides and edges of the No-turkey. Personally, I add these cutouts very liberally, overlapping maple leaves all over the roast, just because it looks so pretty and festive. For an attractive, shiny-brown crust, brush the pastry-covered roast lightly with soy milk before baking. Bake 1 to 1 1/4 hours in a preheated 400 degree oven, keeping a watchful eye on it and covering the pastry with foil if it looks like it is browning too much.

Transfer 'turkey' to a serving platter. To serve, cut straight down through pastry, stuffing, and seitan to make neat 3/4 inch slices. Spoon extra gravy over each serving.

Though this may sound like a lot of effort, and while it does take some time to prepare -- it really isn't as difficult to create it as I probably described. The steps are pretty straight forward, and much of it can be done in advance. And it does look so gloriously festive and fancy...

_________________

Quick Brown Gravy (Jo Stepaniak, Vegan Vittles): ( this whips up fast in my vitamix -- plus I typically double it)

2 T cornstarch
3 T (low-sodium)soy sauce

1 1/3 cup water or veggie broth
1/2 tsp garlic granules
(I also like to add a little nutritional yeast)

2 T tahini

1. Place cornstarch in a saucepan, and stir in the soy sauce to make a smooth, thin paste
2. Gradually whick in the water or broth and garlic granules
3. Place the saucepan over medium high heat, and cook the gravy stirring constanly with a wire whisk until it thickens and comes to a boil.
4.Remove the pan from the heat and beat the tahini into the gravy using the whisk.

Makes 1 1/2 cups

__________________

Dressing/Stuffing (as per the Vegetarian Times Article): (note, I've been known to double this, baking whatever extra I don't use in the 'NO-turkey' in a casserole dish along side the roast)

2 1-lb loaves multigrain bread
2 med carrots, finely diced
2 large stalks celery, finely diced
1 large onion (2 medium) finely diced
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tsp crumbled whole leaf sage (I pick mine fresh from the garden)
1/2 cup Egg Replacer
1/2 cup vegetable broth (I usually end up using more liquid than this)

Break bread into 1 inch chunks and dry in a large bowl, uncovered, at least 8 hours. (or place on cookie sheet in 250 degree oven until desired dryness is reached, 10 to 15 minutes). Saute the carrot, onion, and celery, stirring frequently until browned. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and cool to lukewarm. Add pepper, bread cubes, parsley, sage, Egg Replacer. Toss to combine and set aside at least 30 minutes to allow liquids to soak into bread.

(see the original Vegetarian Times article here: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0820/is_n219/ai_17434384#continue)

Another week

2006-11-15T08:15:00.000-08:00

Ugh, sick again! All of us, taking turns. It's quite hideous really. I hardly know what to think, except that I still blame our adorable little day-care kiddos. Sigh. Hopefully our immune systems will adjust soon....(pretty please?).

So, that's pretty much how I've been spending most of my time lately -- babysitting, then tending to my own family and their needs (mostly transportative in nature it seems). My children's big dance performance is coming up frighteningly soon, so rehearsals are still being scheduled fast and furiously. It's all very exciting of course, and I'm so proud -- still, I know it will be a big relief when it all finally winds down....

I'm still slogging through daily meal preparation. Some days are better than others. One recent success I can happily report, was using up that pesky leftover soybean soup, yay! Remember my mentioning that a few weeks back? I'd made the soup for our local men's homeless shelter, but had plenty 'o' leftovers for our own consumption. Only I just couldn't quite bring myself to consume it in its soupy state for some reason (don't know why exactly -- it's not that it tasted bad. I just got turned off making so much of it I guess). Instead, by blending it -- plus adding a little flour, vital wheat gluten, flavoring, and lots of crumbs of frozen leftover homemade bread heels and ends (then baking it on cookie sheets) -- I successfully transformed the soybean soup into some 5 or 6 dozen tasty little soy, meatless-balls. We had 'falafel'-like sandwiches with it for a few meals (a hit) -- then I froze the rest, to use in future spaghetti sauces and the like. They indeed turned out so well, that I will make them again on purpose I think, happy as I am to finally have a solution for the big bag of soybeans I am so desperate to purge (but hey, it's getting smaller!)....

One Hour To Go....

2006-11-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

....before my daycare kids go home for the day. Not that I'm counting or anything...! But sigh, TGIF...

My daycare mom has had a difficult week I think -- between job deadlines and general parenting challenges. It's just not easy juggling the two. She mentioned yesterday she's now comtemplating resigning from her position in December (rather than May). And I'd have to say, while the extra money has been nice (all of it having gone into our savings account, swelling it by at least $1000 by now), and the little girls are very very sweet, --overall? I can't say I will be terribly devastated for the gig to come to an end. The whole thing just sort of fell into my lap anyway. Going back to our regularly scheduled lives, of business as usual, would really not be such a bad thing...!

November Notes

2006-11-02T06:47:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe it's Thursday already. Actually, I can't believe it's NOVEMBER already. Why does time seem to be accelerating for me? I swear the month of October z-o-o-m-e-d by....

It's quite chilly here now. I'm getting a little reminder of just what winters are like for us here in our 100 year old, uninsulated, drafty sieve of a house. Brrrr. Currently dressing in lots of layers!

Halloween came and went very quickly -- but I think my daughter had fun (my son decided that, at 13? He's too 'old' to dress up or T' or T'). I accompanied my daughter 'round the neighborhood, taking the opportunity to connect with neighbors I don't often have the chance to speak to, and in some cases hadn't even met. My husband and son stayed behind to greet the ghouls and goblins converging at our door. Indeed, it was late afternoon on the 31st, after my daycare kids left for the day, that I finally ventured out to find something to pass out for the trick or treaters to come in a few short hours! Um, prepared much? (rolls eyes) Desperately perusing the picked-over, disgustingly sugar-laden store candy aisles, I finally settled upon a biggo package of those little, miniature red boxes of Sun Maid raisins. Well, my son reported that they weren't greeted with a terrible lot of enthusiasm, heh -- but, hey, at least I could offer them without guilt...!

Halloween was indeed so rushed around here, that I didn't have the chance to bake the Special Fun Dinner Entree that I'd been planning to ('Shepherd's Pie with Ghostly Mashed Potatoes' from the Pillsbury website I mentioned in an earlier post), opting instead for a quick tofu scramble. Yesterday though, the day after, was a little more relaxed, so I made it last night for dinner -- mounding the mashed potatoes into 'ghost' shapes on top of the pie, adding frozen green peas for the ghostly 'eyes'. A day late, but it was still really cute (also baked up another garden butternut squash to go with it). In any event, I was thinking while I was putting together the 'base' of the shepherd's pie, that I could have doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled it -- freezing it in individual bags for future Shepherd's Pies (with a simple matter of thawing it and adding the mashed potato topping before baking). Wasn't quite on the ball yesterday though -- perhaps next time.

The other day I grated up a garden spaghetti squash that was threatening to shrivel up on me. I wasn't in the mood for using it up the usual spaghetti squash way, deciding it would be more useful grated, like grated zucchini. Yesterday I did bake a very nice loaf of savory, yeasted 'zucchini' bread in my bread machine (also utilizing garden sage) that turned out well and tasted good with our supper. But, I still have quite a bit of grated squash left. Today I think I will bake some sort of 'zucchini' cake with it and freeze the remainder, in handy one cup quantities.

Souper Trouper

2006-10-28T20:03:00.001-07:00

Yay, I did it. I managed today to get the soup made for our local mens homeless shelter, to donate to their fall soup drive (and in the process used up a goodly portion of those excess, in-the-way soybeans that have been pestering me recently -- woot!). Two gallons and one quart of it is currently freezing in my freezer as I type (in ice cream containers that were given to me). Tomorrow I shall drop the containers off at church, where they will then be delivered to the shelter. After filling the containers this evening, I still had quite a bit leftover for my own family's use -- though, I must say, after being up to my elbows practically swimming in this soup all afternoon? The very last thing I feel like doing is actually EATING it (I'm 'funny' that way). Hoping that a few days will temper this feeling -- perhaps I will wait to serve it for supper on Wednesday or something. I need distance!

Whew. This past week was a crazy, hectic one for me -- just a lot of activity going on in our lives. Managed to get supper on the table each and every day -- but wasn't always pretty, nor fun. Bleh. Really, there's GOT to be a better way....

Once again, I find my mind turning to OAMC. Am I nuts??? How I can think of such a thing after my little foray into bulk cooking today I don't even know. And yet I can't quite shake the feeling that, after years of OAMC curiosity? I really ought to shut up and give it the old, college try. I must say the idea of having already prepared meals, all ready to go with but a little warming up, every night (or even, say, 4 - 5 nights a week -- I could cook the other nights) sounds so appealing right now to me. Like a real luxury. But I'll never know if it actually works until I try it, right? Right. Thusly? I'm trying to gear up for a big future OAMC experiment, by compiling recipes right now that I think are practical, and doable. From those I'll try to come up with some sort of veg OAMC plan....

Potato Madness

2006-10-24T08:36:00.000-07:00

Co-op order came yesterday, so I again have a number of pantry basics. Only much of it is in bulk quantity (as in 25 pound bags) and needs to be repackaged somehow for more efficient storage and use!

Sometimes I do wish we had sprung for a larger freezer when we had the chance. I'd wanted a stand alone freezer for many years -- but it didn't make much sense to invest in many large appliances while we were still renting/relocating every so often. Finally, home ownership made us permanently settled about 6 years ago, and it was time to buy the long coveted freezer -- though by that time, nearly every penny had gone into our down payment, so we didn't have much in the way of discretionary funds. Plus there was the very real concern of getting the thing down our very narrow, old-house basement steps and around some tight cellar corners. It seemed best at the time to perhaps go smaller in terms of freezer size. Well, flash forward 6 years -- I'm intensely grateful to have ours, petite as it is, though it sure fills up fast....

Anyway, so I did make the potato salad last week, like I said I would -- using 10 pounds of potatoes. And it was all consumed within 24 hours. Isn't that nuts? 10 pounds is a lot of spuds! Not to mention the celery and onion that also went in there, plus the seitan ribs that accompanied it. That's how crazy my family is for potato salad. Now, I still have lots of potato cooking water in various containers in my fridge to use up. I love potato water in bread baking -- I've heard it helps the bread keep longer and I do believe it to be true. But, I have far more cooking water than I need for that purpose right now. Perhaps I'll freeze it -- or make yet more soup. Perhaps even POTATO soup (as if we haven't had enough in the way of potato lately!). My favorite potato soup is from the 'Uncheese Cookbook' -- 'Philly Potato Chowder' I think it's called? Good stuff!

Speaking of the barbecued sietan 'ribs', they turned out well too, as usual --AND, I used up 1 and 1/2 pints of pepper jam in the sauce! Yay -- only too happy to free up some shelving space of THAT....

Peck of Pickled Peppers....

2006-10-19T06:55:00.002-07:00

Daycare Baby asleep in my lap again this morning. I think she's got a touch of this cold too....

I was forced to make a special side trip to the supermarket last night, specifically for red potatoes and celery. I had neither, but promised my daughter to make potato salad this week, and tonight will probably be The Night. My daughter ADORES potato salad. She LIVES for potato salad -- indeed potatoes in general (part German and Irish as she is :). But it's Potato Salad that she's particularly crazy about. So I will be making a HUGE amount tonight, like I usually do when I go to the trouble of making it.

While we could (and often do) make a meal of just potato salad around here? I'm thinking I will also bake up a big batch of BBQ seitan 'ribs' to accompany it. These are very delicious, and not at all hard to make (my fave recipe is from 'Cooking With Gluten and Seitan', by Dorothy Bates). Plus, the BBQ sauce I create to smother the ribs? It makes for a covenient receptacle in which to disguise the infamous 'Pepper Relish' and 'Pepper Jam' I canned several seasons ago (to deal with an enormous windfall of locally grown peppers I was unexpectedly gifted with at the time?), that susequently neither my husband nor kids would voluntarily eat (--will stick to simply freezing fresh, chopped pepper bounty from now on! :). I still have several pints of pickled peppers left on my pantry shelves-- but discovered I can get rid a jar with each batch of ribs! And actually, either 'Pepper Jam' or 'Pepper Relish' tastes quite yummy mixed in with the tomato-y BBQ sauce -- kind of a sweet/tangy thing happening there....

In other dinner news, last night the kids helped me make a very delicious soup -- beet borsht, using the last of my dad's garden beets, leeks, and carrots. I based it on a recipe from Nava Atlas', 'A Soup For All Seasons', and it was soooo uncommanly good (I added touches of soy sauce and a bit of white wine to round out the broth). To go with the borsht, we also baked the 'Buttermilk Oat Muffins' in the book (using soymilk) -- plus my daughter made up a batch of 'Chocolate Pudding Cake' for dessert. All of this, along with a side of sliced, fresh locally-grown apples, made for a princely meal indeed.....

Hair today, Gone Tomorrow.....

2006-10-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

I think I'm the tiniest bit sick? As in a teeny-weeny cold (probably from my daycare baby). Certainly hasn't slowed me down much though-- just a bit of a scratchy throat, a little couging. I'm only even mentioning it, because it's been such a long time since I've last had an illness of any kind (headaches, yes --I'm prone to hormonally-triggered migraines rather regularly, unfortunately. But actual sickness? Lately not so much). I'm racking my brain, but the last time I recall being sick, was over a year ago when I had some sort of nasty digestive distress, accompanied by a fever. I'm knocking on wood here (very hard!) -- but hey, I think that's pretty good...!

Happy to report a 'Thrifty Victory' yesterday. My 10-year old daughter has been requesting 'clogs' for months -- of the more classic, old-fashioned design, with a wooden sole (as opposed to a soft sole). Our local Salvation Army thrift shop recently relocated, and yesterday afternoon I thought we'd stop by, just to check out the new digs. My daughter wondered aloud as we walked in, whether I thought there might be clogs, and I told her we could at least look. Well, shuckey-durn if we didn't find a pair, exactly what she had in mind, in exactly her size. Very cute. For $2.00! Needless to say she was thrilled, and has barely taken them off.

That experience very nicely offset yesterday's 'Frugality Flop'.....

For all my son's 13 years on this planet, I have cut his hair. His Very thick, Very curly (but soft), and, for the most part, Very forgiving hair. It's good hair, in and of itself (for which most ladies would probably kill!). Accordingly, the past few years he's been growing it out and wearing it on the longer side -- which suits him and his personality very well actually (although it never actually seems to get 'longer' in length? -- just continues to curl up and get 'bunchier', heh). As long as he keeps it clean (which he does), I'm very supportive of my children expressing their individuality. Still, his hair can get pretty Wild -- trousled and moppy. Serious 'bedhead' at times. I was beginning to doubt myself -- whether my haphazard, home haircuts were truly doing his hair a service. Could a professional hairdresser do a better job? Might a professional cut better tame and manage those flowing locks...?

Then, he was recently cast as a lead in a large, upcoming show, to be seen by thousands of our peers by the end of it's 6-performance run in December.. And though they've never actually mentioned as much? I admit I've felt a little peer-pressure from both his teacher and artistic director to 'do something with his hair'. And so, we did it -- by my own initiative (my son didn't even seem to have an opinion), yesterday I actually paid a (very nice) stylist $15 (not including tip!) to cut/style my son's 'virgin' hair. Wrote my check, and left the salon to have it..... looking NO different than when I cut it at home! !!!Hello!!! I observed her very carefully too -- except for one little jazzy, clippy movement she did with the scissors on his ends? (that I will imitate from now on) She did *nothing* to his hair while cutting that I don't. And his hair looks exactly the same. Exactly! Oh well, live and learn -- it was actually a very valuable lesson for us both....!

Mission Accomplished

2006-10-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to say, yes, the granola was made yesterday -- a double batch, all ready to go (half of it into the freezer) in all its crunchy wholesomeness. Although I didn't have nuts or seeds to spare for it this go round, I did stretch it with the nearly two cups of leftover sweet baked good crumbs I've been saving in the freezer specifically for this very occasion (you know -- the leftover heels of quick breads, that unclaimed chunk of cornbread, an odd cookie or muffin here and there that no one eats, etc? I save these in a bag in the freezer, drying them in the oven at low temperature when I've collected enough, then grind into crumbs in my vitamix, to add to my granola). I'd have a big bowl of it myself, but ironically? I rarely eat my own granola! (trying to spare myself the calories)

I do need to work out my natural foods buying club order this morning. I fear it's going to be a big one, as I'm flat out of a number of staples -- tofu, tempeh, cashews, chickpeas, spices. I used the last of my bulk rice the other day, and nearly the remainder of my bulk oats in the granola yesterday. So...!

But, I still have PLENTY of that big ol' bag of bulk soybeans (what was I thinking???) that I wrote about in an earlier post. Can't seem to 'run out' of it to save my life, heh. (Although I do plan to dip into it this week, when I will be cooking up two big gallons of veggie soybean soup (loosely based on this recipe: http://recipes.chef2chef.net/recipe-archive/56/297915.shtml) --to freeze and donate to our local men's shelter for their winter soup drive. I made it for the last drive, and it was actually quite good....!)

Granola Gratification

2006-10-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

It's Monday, and do I have the day off today? Why, yes indeedy-do!

And I'm FINALLY making granola today -- no obstacles, no excuses....

Allow me to cut and paste my favorite granola recipe:

Favorite Granola Recipe:

5 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick)
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup untoasted wheat germ
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
2/3 cup liquid sweetner (maple syrup, honey, aguave nectar, etc)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease 9x13 baking dish.
2. Combine rolled oats, sunflower seeds, and wheat germ in dish; bake 10 minutes and remove from oven.
3. Add remaining dry ingredients (almonds through salt) to dish and stir to combine; add wet ingredients (oil through almond extract) and stir until completely combined.
4. Bake 18-20 minutes, stirring halfway through, until uniformly golden; granola will not be chunky yet, but will "harden up" as it cools. (Keep an eye on it and do NOT overbake....)
5. Remove dish to rack and cool, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking to pan; store in airtight container.

________________________

(All righty: I have been known to swap and substitute any matter of nuts and seeds here at will -- including pumpkin seeds (pepitas), peanuts, soynuts, pecans, chow mein noodles, whatever I can scrounge in my pantry, etc, etc, etc. I've subbed wheat bran for the wheat germ. I've also been known to add ground flax seed. Also have added dried soy-milk powder when I had some on hand I wanted to get rid of. And I do typically add dried fruit just to stretch the recipe even more because it often gets plowed through so quickly -- chopped dates, chopped prunes, dried apple, apricots, pineapple, cranberries, raisins, currents, whatEVAH (stirring in the dried fruit AFTER the granola has baked and cooled). Plus I've been none to thin various jams (strawberry, apricot, peach, etc) with a little water to sub for a portion of the liquid sweetner when necessary. Oh, and let's not forget the syrup leftover from candied orange peel production!...)...

V.W.A.V.

2006-10-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it. I finally bit the 'Vegan With A Vengeance' bullet ....

Last night my family took a little trip to our local independantly-owned book store. Daughter had a gift card to use from her birthday last month -- plus my husband and son wanted to pick up (rolls eyes) the latest, and last, of the Lemony Snicket series, released yesterday, Friday the 13th (I held my tongue and spared them any 'instant gratification' lectures -- I guess getting excited about books is not a bad thing?). So, while there? Naturally I checked out the cookbook section (bats eyes innocently). Actually I've had V.W.A.V. (a highly hip n' popular cookbook in veg circles for those not 'in the know') on my amazon wishlist for quite some time now. I even requested it for my birthday this past summer -- specifically telling my husband the title. Except that he got a little mixed up, instead presenting me with 'Sinfully Vegan' (which I was actually interested in as well, so it wasn't all bad). So then I was going to wait until Christmas..., but when I saw that my bookstore, here in my mid-sized, little Midwestern town, actually had a copy? (which I wasn't so sure it would). How could I resist...?

Squash = Love

2006-10-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

Oy. No day off for me today. Daycare Mom wants to temporarily trade working Fridays for taking Mondays off -- so I'll still get a 3 day weekend at least. And hey, it ought to work out as an extra day of pay -- 5 days this week, 4 days next....

After a good night's sleep, my outlook is not so gloomy this morning. I've got a batch of carrot-apple muffins, from the mix my son made, baking in the oven as I type. The soup last night was good -- and the squash?? Oh my...! It was just oven-baked, certainly nothing special. But I wasn't prepared for its rich deliciousness. So flavorful! I guess that's the fresh, garden advantage. There's absolutely no taste comparison...!

Thursday Thoughts

2006-10-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Whew. My two daycare kiddos have left for the day. My house is a wreck (as usual). And has the weather ever turned on us here in the Midwest --it's downright frigid (with potential f-l-u-r-r-i-e-s, people!)....

I was exhausted yesterday after the kiddos left (probably PMS related, thankyouverymuch), plus so utterly devoid of working brain cells, that coming up with supper ideas to feed the family last night felt nearly like the world's Most Insurmountable Task. Luckily, at the last desperate minute inspiration came to me -- TVP "Biscuits and 'Sausage' Gravy" (from 'The TVP Cookbook'). Hadn't made the gravy in quite awhile (don't often cook with TVP anymore), so it was greeted with much enthusiasm by my family. The biscuits I do make regularly -- Drop Biscuits from the 'Kids Can Cook' cookbook, very easy and very quick. Only, the container of organic babyfood sweet potatoes that my daycare mom had given me to feed her munchkin for yesterday's lunch? Which was steadfastedly refused after the first and only bite, despite all my best mom tricks? That the mom didn't want back?? And that I didn't want to waste (because I am a freak)??? I added it to my biscuit batter (unbekownst to my family --shhh!), replacing part of the oil. The resulting biscuits were quite tasty actually, and softly tinged a mellow amber color -- heck, I just may make a point of added pureed veggies to the batter from now on....

Tonight's meal is a little more under control, thank goodness (still tired though, sigh). With weather such as this, I'm declaring it Soup Night -- and I've decided to make my daughter's favorite: 'Golden Vegetable Noddle Soup' from Bryanna Clark Grogan's 'The (Almost) No Fat Cookbook'. She will be very pleased when she gets home from dance. I have the breadstick dough from last Sunday in the fridge with which to make accompanying breadsticks (or rolls? Cloverleaf ones?) Plus, I thought I just might roast one of my butternut squashes while I was at it. In any event, so happy to have a plan -- sometimes it's the coming up with the idea that's harder than the actual implementation.....

Still, last night reminded me that I just haven't been on top of the meal planning lately, and I think I'm beginning to feel its effects. As much as I usually enjoy it, cooking is beginning to feel like a Big Chore again. Now that my free time during the day has (poof!) disappeared, I simply need to be more efficient with the time I do have. Baby keeps me on my toes, so I really can't do a lot while I have her -- besides, I am often between our two houses (which are just a few streets away), so I'm not even home half the time. Then when I do get home, I'm hardly in the mood to spend hours and hours cooking every day (not to mention the subsequent clean up), especially since there is so much other stuff going on....

A few years ago I became very intrigued with the concept of OAMC (Once A Month Cooking). I recall at the time researching it at length, but I never actually got around to doing it. It made a lot of sense, but it also seemed pretty daunting. Furthermore, the vast majority of the OAMC books, websites, etc, are quite heavy on the animal products --so I knew I was going to have to come up with totally my own thing (which I'm used to doing -- it just feels like reinventing the wheel sometimes). So, eventually I got caught up in other matters, and let the idea drop. But perhaps it's a good idea to pick it up again....

Looking ahead.....

2006-10-11T22:08:00.000-07:00

It just occurred to me today ... that Thanksgiving is next month. Next month? Thanksgiving is NEXT month?? Yowza....!

Of course, it's still some distance away, but I know how Time has a wicked way of sneaking up on me unawares -- especially now that I'm 'working'....

I always cook the same very special, vegan entree every year for Thanksgiving -- a real ooh-ahh, fit-for-the-holiday-table Centerpiece Dish, that my family adores. It's a little involved (though not terrible), so I only make it once a year -- but it's now a fully entrenched tradition for us. I really love family traditions, old or new -- they're so important.

Speaking of traditions, Halloween is fast approaching as well. It's always been sort of traditional for me to make and serve something fun/special for it, as a treat for the kids -- whether a supper entree, a snack, drink, or dessert. Despite the fact my kids are getting older, I want to keep it up. This year I think it will be this: http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/ShowRecipe.aspx?rid=15955 (Spooky Shepherd's Pie). Or a recipe kinda/sorta based on it -- doing my own, veganized thing of course (the point being the little ghostly mashed potatoes on the filling -- so cute!). Also check out Pillsbury 'Crescent Mummy Dogs' (http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/showRecipe.aspx?rID=16015) -- aren't they adorable? I did something similar for Halloween a few years ago -- using a homemade biscuit dough however (not Pillsbury crescent rolls, ahem).

Yes, I'm totally hip to most of the online vegetarian sites out there (vegsource, vegweb et al), both large and small, and visit them all regularly. But call me a dweeb -- I confess do still love to surf the Pillsbury website (and let us not forget Betty Crocker...)!

It all started back when I once picked one of those small, slim Pillsbury cooking magazines (you know the ones, that you always see at the checkout counter magazine rack?) secondhand at a charity resale event several years ago, for just a few cents. Most of the recipes in it weren't vegetarian, but I was surprised how easy it was to translate so many of them into more wholefoods, vegetarian cookery, with a few artful substitutions. Plus, the recipes looked fast and and easy with simple ingredients --good in a pinch. Yes, I noticed several of the recipes specifically featured prepackaged Pillsubury products (skipped over those)-- however, a significant portion did not. Nowadays, I like to keep a lookout for those funny, little cooking magazines at garage, charity and book sales --I always find something interesting to try in them, from supper entrees to desserts. And they don't take up much room on my shelves....!

Rainy Day Savings.....

2006-10-10T20:44:00.000-07:00

Thus far, all of my childcare proceeds have gone straight into our savings account....

Brick Trick

2006-10-08T19:05:00.000-07:00

My poor little garden. I haven't visited it in over a week. Not that there is really much out there anymore, but I'd probably find a few tomato holdouts. Perhaps even some peppers, and definitely collard and kale -- those were happy as clams last time I checked. Being as that I finally got around to blanching and freezing the last harvested batch of greens this very afternoon, I'm all caught up, with space in my fridge for more. But who knows when I'll get back out there. While the community garden is only a mile or two (or more?) away, it's still not along the route to anything so it's always a special trip ....

In any event, I made more pizza crust this afternoon, which I am about to roll out in pans for tonight's dinner. In the cooler months, we almost always do pizza (homemade of course) on one weekend night. So why didn't I just thaw out the crust dough I made and froze last weekend? That did cross my mind -- but it seemed too soon! Besides, I had the TIME to make more today -- the logic being that I should save the frozen stuff for the days when I really *don't* have the time. Plus, while I was in the mood, I made up a double batch of 'cheeze straw' bread stick dough, based on the recipe in 'The Uncheese Cookbook'. I hope to keep the dough in the fridge, to shape and bake into breadsticks for snacks this week -- for my son in particular. I swear he just can't seem to get enough calories these days, and I get desperate coming up with more and more snacky stuff for him to consume in between meals. Sometimes it feels like all I hear around here is "Mom? I'm hungry.". Heh, I think I can now understand why my mom was quick to reach for the Little Debbies so often for us in our youth!

Speaking of my son, his soccer warm up pants were hopelessly shredded at the knee, since they see LOTS of action -- yet I somehow managed a quickie sewing repair job before this weekend's game, that will hopefully last through the season. I hate buying new clothes for the kids, since they grow out of them so rapidly. Fortuanately, I rarely do have to resort to buying new, since I've got two really good hand-me down sources for my daughter, and for my son have so far managed to find suitable clothing at thrift stores and charity sales these 13 years.

One more frugal note for today -- after working intermittently for a large chunk of the summer, my spouse (who doesn't have a lot of free time) finally finished bricking-in a backyard patio for us yesterday. Where there was once only ugly bare dirt/mud behind our house, with nothing growning due to its northernly location, there is now an attractive and tidy brick outdoor area, for us to hang out and enjoy our backyard in privacy. Not only was it DIY, the brick used was vintage salvage material from the city (old sidewalk pavers they are replacing with concrete), that only cost .25 per brick. Therefore it wasn't a pricey project either, relatively speaking. All told, I think we used about 1000 bricks (which we loaded, transported and stacked ourselves -- whew) -- at a total cost of around $250. Bricks purchased new would have been significantly more than that (and flagstone or other paving material? --forget it!). Besides, these old and weathered bricks have a patina that better matches our old and weathered house...!

Under Pressure

2006-10-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned how much I love my pressure cookers? LOVE! them? I've been cooking under pressure for 15 years now, ever since I got one as a wedding gift.

Now I have two (not counting my pressure canner), that I continue put into near constant use (sometimes at the same time). One is the traditional, 'jiggle top' design. The other is of the 'second generation', or whatever they call it, technology (no jiggle top). My '2nd generation' cooker is bigger than my 'jiggle topper'. I use one or the other accordingly-- depending on what I'm cooking: stock, grains, legumes, veggies, etc, etc, etc....

By far, probably my greatest use of them, is either cooking rice (in my 2nd generation), or beans (jiggle top). You just can't beat the pressure cooker for cooking beans -- and years ago I discovered the best and most simple method of all for doing it. All I do, is add my beans (unsoaked of course -- who thinks to do that the night before???) to the cooker with all the necessary water, and stick around long enough to see the cooker up to pressure. Then I switch off the heat, letting the pressure release on it's own, while I run off and do Something Else (--put in a load of laundary, check my email, be lazy, etc). Once I notice the pressure has gone down, I repeat the process -- bringing the cooker up to pressure again, then turning off the heat again (and leaving the room again). Amazingly, it takes typically only two of these cycles to get fully cooked, soft beans -- or, at the most, three cycles. Indeed, this method might take a little longer than if I just simmered them straight through perhaps -- but doing so requires little to no supervision (I have more important things to do than babysit the pressure cooker), and is bound to save significant energy. It's how I cooked my chickpeas the other day. Very handy that, and nearly effortless....

And, speaking of beans, I'm reminded that, during a spasm of energy and ambition some time ago, I invested in a large bag of organic soybeans through my co-op. I believe my intention at the time was to use them for homemade soymilk (and possibly tofu), and I did make a number of batches (but only one of the tofu -- and oy, not eager to repeat THAT experiment anytime soon!). However, my family VASTLY prefers the lovely powdered, nondairy stuff that I order through Vance Foods (http://www.vances.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=4) -- PLUS, I get easily overwhelmed by all the resulting okara if I make it too often. So sigh --there they sit, The Soybeans. Taking up all kinds of room no less. I know I need to make a more concerted effort to move them along, so I'm thinking it's about time for another big batch of homemade soymilk, if only to use in cooking and baking. Perhaps tomorrow I can get around to it....

Nice Rice

2006-10-06T07:19:00.000-07:00

Hoo, boy -- Friday. My day off..!

Still busy though -- I have a number of errands to run, catch up to do in pretty much every area of my life, plus a homeschool field trip. No relaxing weekend in the works either. Oh well..!

Gee, I wasn't intending this journal to be SO primarily about food and my cookery of it, but so far that surely seems to be the case. I guess it's because it's such a dominant part of my life??? What's up with that? Hey, some women are discovering cures for cancer, or actively working toward world peace -- and I ...cook for my family. Then I cook, and cook some more....

And speaking of which (fancy that!), dinner tonight will be be easy peasy. Hooray -- I could really use one of those. Fried rice is on the menu, people --using leftover cooked rice, a bit of tofu, plus plenty of fresh/frozen, odd-and-end veggies I plan to scrounge. This is a regular habit of mine -- to cook up a ginormous batch of rice early in the week (in this case it was Tuesday, to go with a chili I made (that called for hominy -- interesting)), with plenty o' leftovers to whip up a no-brainer Fried Rice later in the week. Very speedy dish indeed, what with the already cooked rice. Plus I have a bok choy that desperately needs to be used up --among other goodies (Leek? Kale? Carrot? Pepper? --let's clean out the fridge!). Shuckey-durn, it will feel like a holiday....

Do You Know the Muffin Man?

2006-10-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

Baby charge is asleep in my lap again this morning, the l'il cutie -- happily she's pretty predicatable with her naps, and the quiet time is most welcome...!

I've got a big batch of chickpeas simmering in the pressure cooker, and bread going in machine as I type (one-handed). I intend to make hummus with a good portion of the chickpeas, then freeze the remaining chicks in meal-sized batches. I want chickpeas handy and ready to go on my command....

After a spat of indian summer this week, the temps are more fall-like again today --so tonight will be a good one to bake the vegan "Zucchini 'Gratin' " that I've been wanting to make for dinner this week, to finally use up the last of my garden zucchs. This has to be one of my favorite recipes, not only because it's yummy PLUS easy to assemble, but because it serves to use up LOTS of Zucchini (plus tomatoes and fresh basil --woot!) -- always a gardener's quandary. The one draw-back of the recipe? It requires baking at a high temperature -- indeed, the very last thing you want to do when the summer veggies are at their peak of production, yet the summer temperatures are ALSO at their peak. Happily, I managed to get around all that this summer, by setting my electric skillet out on my porch (which has an outlet) and cooking our dinners, including The 'Gratin', out there-- sparing my kitchen from becoming a burning summer inferno. Firing up the oven tonight will be pleasant.....

My son is now up, and currently clanging/banging in the kitchen. When he takes the notion, he can be quite the baker. By his own initiative this a.m., he's retrieved my 'Make a Mix' cookbook, that I got as a gift several years ago. While I'm into totally down with the concept of the book (making homemade mixes for scratch baking), and have found some of the recipes in the book useful? -- most of the book I've had a little trouble translating into vegan, whole foods cookery. But, there is a pretty good muffin mix in there (albeit a sugary one), which apparently my son has decided to put together at this very mo' (using the co-op purchased ww pastry flour I have, since he doesn't want to mess with the mill). How handy -- I've been meaning to assemble another batch of that for a long time. And he says with the mix, he's going to bake 'Lemon Poppyseed Muffins'. Well, go for it, Kiddo...!

(Update: Mr. Muffin Man made the muffins -- Delish...!)

Daily Grind

2006-10-04T09:09:00.000-07:00

Got an unexpected extra hour of free time this morning, when my day care mom called to say she would be later than usual. So I used the opportunity to throw together a batch of breakfast muffins (based on the recipe from 'Ecological Cooking'). I had some applesauce, store bought (unfortunately :( not homemade)-- that needed to be used up, as well as a scrounged banana. I used home-ground whole wheat flour -- so the muffins turned out a bit on the dense side, but that's the way it goes sometimes ....

Have I mentioned that I grind most my own flour? A few years ago I invested in a little, electric, countertop grain-mill -- a vintage model (probably from the 60's or 70's?) purchased off ebay, and I love it. It works wonderfully and I use it all the time -- snagging bags of organic wheat berries in bulk through my co-op, grinding fresh flour on an as needed basis. I still like to buy ww pastry flour in bulk just to have on hand -- it's a bit on the finer side than what my mill can do, for the more delicate baking. Sometimes I'll mix the two -- as in this morning's muffins. Generally though, I can just dump in the wheat berries, and let it do its thing. Makes good, hearty bread....

Shortcutta to Calcutta

2006-10-03T08:13:00.000-07:00

My little 10 month-old charge is asleep in my lap -- good thing I can type with one hand....

I sat down during a quiet moment last night, grabbed some cookbooks, my little Recipe Control Book, etc, and came up with a general outline for this week's meal planning. Just a little organization can make all the difference.

Dinner last night turned out well enough in spite of myself, as I reached for one of my old desperation supper standbys. I don't typically use a lot of convenience foods in my cooking. HOWEVER...? I do make an exception for a particular brand of canned Indian food that we simply adore around here. JYOTI, JYOTI -- how do I love thee...?

I first discovered JYOTI (http://www.jyotifoods.com/) probably about 15 years ago -- and have been a loyal customer ever since. I was once forced to purchase the products in shops -- not especially cheap, though I always use them very sparingly, stretching them as far as possible. Fortunately, since I joined a co-op I've been able to buy cases (stocking up when there's a sale), at a considerable cost savings. So anyway, I always buy the same three items (all vegan): the Punjabi Chhole (chickpeas), the Madras Sambar (lentil veggie stew), and the Delhi Saag (greens). I never just cook up the cans in and of themselves -- no never that. Instead I use them as a starter, or a shortcut if you will -- in which add veggies, beans, tofu. Once or twice a month, usually when time is fleeting, I grab three cans of each and throw together an easy/straightforward, but delicious/hearty meal that my family always clamors for ....

I start out by cooking a big mess of onions, carrots and potatoes in my pressure cooker, to which I then stir in a can of the Sambar. It makes a delectable sauce (last night I discovered forgotten garden green beans in my fridge that my dad dropped off the other day -- so those went in, along with garden leeks in place of onion). As for the Chhole, I stretch it with additional cooked chickpeas -- LOTS of them (the sauce is rich enough to take it), in order to have *plenty* of leftovers for lunch the next day (though I had no cooked chickpeas last night to call into action (need to amend that!) -- I instead scrounged two cans of white beans and dumped those in). To the Saag I always add a block of tofu, cubed -- my stand-in for paneer (indian cheese) -- as well as any fresh or frozen greens I may have on hand (in last night's case, it was garden chard frozen earlier this summer). I like to round out the meal with ww couscous, a few jarred chutneys, or even homemade chapati or pita if I'm feeling ambitious. I get several meals out of this arrangement -- and, for the sake of my mental health? To me it's worth the occasional splurge.....

Monday Musings

2006-10-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't make soup, breadsticks nor dessert yesterday. BUT, I did alter some leftovers I had in the fridge, to make them more appealing -- which lead in turn to their successful consumption. Always glad to get rid of the leftovers. And I did finally use up all that basil -- by making pesto for one thing, but also blending basil paste for freezing. Plus I ditched the bread machine yesterday, and instead whipped up a big batch of pizza dough -- (enough for 8 crusts!)-- in my old-fasioned bread bucket, using vitamixed garden tomatoes for the liquid, and adding lots of chopped basil. Two of the crusts I put in action in last night's pizza (loaded with chopped garden leek, plus the fresh pesto, among other toppings), the rest I froze. So, while I didn't get *everything* done that I wanted to yesterday? I did accomplish something....

Feeling a little tired/disorganized here near the end of the day though. Mondays are always a little 'off' for me anyway. Watched the kiddos, as usual. Their mom asked if they could stay later this afternoon than usual so she could catch up with work, which of course was fine. So she didn't fetch them until around 4:00, rather than the customary 2:00 or 2:30. And wow, how exhausting! Right now, my house is a real mess (still suffering the aftermath of a busy weekend in addition to daycare stuff I'm afraid), PLUS here I am stuck yet again for dinner ideas! Bleh. Makes me think of all those busy working mama's out there -- most especially the Full Timers. How in the world do they do it??? Today I only worked from 8:00-4:00 -- yet how many out there are working that extra hour, until 5:00 at least, are possibly looking at lengthy commutes once they do get off, not to mention working 5 full days instead of 4? Plus those single mom's to boot --no partner at home to share the load. Amazing what they do. Working Mama's of the world -- my hat's off to you...!

Off to consult my little Recipe Control Book.....

Snack Attack

2006-10-01T07:54:00.000-07:00

Another busy weekend. Sometimes it feels like I could use a weekend just to recover from our weekend...!

Everyone but me is out of the house at the mo' though -- so it's nice and quiet. The kids had a sleepover, and DH is off to a coaching gig. But I'm expecting everyone to descend upon the house probably sometime around noon, and most likely in various states of famishment. I ought to have something prepared for the event, but ugh. I'm still just not in a cooksey mood right now. What is wrong with me? I'll need to think of something that will cook itself without a lot of tending -- soup perhaps, even though we just had some the other day. It would be different of course. Say, vegetable noodle soup for example -- I have a recipe by Bryana Clark Grogan that we especially like. Or perhaps chili?

I did notice the other day, that I had home frozen homemade seitan in the freezer. Hmmmm....

And breadsticks -- if I can summon the energy. Hmmm (thinking).., breadsticks ...made with vitamixed tomatoes from the garden for the liquid..., and lots of the chopped basil I still have on tabletop.... --Sort of pizza flavored -- yeah, that's the ticket!... (although that hardly goes with chili --oh, well!) Mr. Breadmachine? On your feet and get ready for action....

Furthermore, a dessert/goody of some sort (cookies? brownies?) today would probably also be appreciated -- I've noticed I've recently been getting complaints from my perpetually starved 13 year old son, that's there's 'never anything to eat around here'. Well, that's hardly true. However, I'm translating his statement to actually mean that there's 'rarely CONVENIENCE or JUNK FOODS to eat around here' -- and that certainly *is* true. I know he's only expressing a desire for easy and tasty things that he can just grab at hand and inhale -- but my healthy, whole grain, low-fat, low-sugar, homemade whatevers don't always manage to satisfy him anymore. Not to mention that he needs to consume calories approximately every 11 minutes -- and it's just not easy keeping up with that demand...!

Sheesh, wish I had a magic wand right about now....

TGIF

2006-09-29T17:05:00.000-07:00

Whew, what a day -- the end of a rather loooong week...

My morning started out well enough -- sunny skies, and absolutely beautiful fall weather. I went out this a.m. to the park where my garden plot is, which also happens to have a lovely natural walking path, and got in a decent, brisk fitness stroll. I dont' get to do that as often anymore now that I'm watching the kiddos, so it felt really good. I also visited my garden and harvested the rest of my acorn squashes and butternuts, as well as a bunch of tomatoes, a few peppers and a whole mess of collards and kale (which I intend to process and freeze like before)....

But I needed to return home in a timely manner, since I was to watch the baby again this afternoon for a few hours, even though I don't ordinarily work on Fridays. And she's a very busy baby indeed, and needless to say keeps me very much on my toes. I did try to candy the citrus slices this afternoon while she was here -- but boy, did that ever get botched! Wasn't paying enough attention, and let the sugar syrup the slices were cooking in simmer too long and at too high a temperature. It essentially turned into a big, carmelized, crunchy hard candy mess! How many times have I made these? You would think I'd know what I was doing by now -- but no, I currently now have a big mess of 'I-don't-know-what', to do 'I-don't-know-what' with in my freezer, heh! So much for the orange granola and biscotti I was planning to make. Not to mention the pannetone! Bleh. I suppose I'll figure out something to do with this stuff -- if only to use it to sweeten my hot tea all winter, or something.... Hmmm, that might not be SO bad -- sweet, hot rooibus tea with an orange-y twist ....

When I start making stupid mistakes like this -- it usually means I'm trying to do too much. Too. Much.

In addition, the weather suddenly turned on a dime on us at some point this afternoon. Our gorgeous, near Indian Summer morning became a suddenly cloudy, blustery, Old Man Winter-y afternoon. Well, I guess it's as they say -- if you get tired of the weather in the Midwest, stick around for 5 minutes and it will change....

Anyway, now the baby is gone, and the rest of my family is out of the house on their way to their various activities. I'm here blissfully alone (relieved sigh). I do have lots of catching up to do, like laundry, dishes, email correspondance, etc, etc, etc. Plus, I should probably tackle those tomatoes and greens I harvested this morning -- not to mention the giant bowl of basil taking more than its' fair share of space on my kitchen table. I know I'm not going to have much time to mess with it this weekend, and the veggies are not going to wait for me, so I probably should get started here. Kind of tired though.

In light of all this, I really must say I've pretty much run out of juice for making dinner tonight. No ideas, not even on the back burner -- and no motivation either. Therefore I actually suggested to my husband on his way out the door this evening to schlep kids? To grab himself some veggy burritos from one of our favorite locally-owned, Mexican carry-out establishments, for tonight's supper. My kids will be thrilled. T-H-R-I-L-L-E-D. Heck, I'm thrilled....

We actually don't do this very often, eat out. But today sure feels as good a day as any for it -- here as I wave the white flag....!

Dough Re Mi

2006-09-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

We did indeed have the (premade) miso soup last night -- all warmed up and fragrant. Perfect for a chilly fall evening. In fact, it was actually quite lovely to come home from my son's game last night after our busy day and not have to cook (much). Earlier in the day, I'd assembled the necessary ingredients for the Chinese green onion pancakes I wanted to make, while I balanced my little 10-month old chargeling on my hip. Typically, I make the pancakes according to the recipe directions, with hand-kneading and all that. Today? Forget it! Wasn't going to happen-- so I threw it all into my bread machine, hit the dough cycle and let it do it's thing. Perfect, because it's crucial that the dough 'rests' several times-- and the dough cycle on my machine has several rest cycles. It was so easy I'll probably be making green onion pancakes thusly from now on. Anyway, last night's dinner was a simple matter of warming up the soup on my stove, and frying up a batch of pancakes on my griddle. Yum. And I had enough green onion pancake dough leftover to freeze to fry up the next time I make miso soup.

Yesterday my little 4-year old charge seemed to like our vegan 'grilled-cheeze' sandwiches -- yay. I really love that sauce -- a recipe that's a modified combo of the grilled cheeze recipes in both 'The Uncheese Cookbook', and ' Vegan Vittles'. It's one of my daughter's favorites. In fact, the entire loaf of bread from yesterday was consumed -- so I made another batch in my machine last night (using saved leftover cooking water) for today. It's funny how the baking wakes me up every night -- when I smell the odor of bread baking in the middle of it. I sniff and sniff in my sleep and think, 'What's that smell? Oh, yeah -- the bread... Zzzzzz....'. Hopefully, this means that I might possibly smell the smoke if there were ever a fire (but of course can't count on that -- thank goodness for smoke alarms!). Well, let's hope that never happens.

I did blend up and freeze a big batch of basil yesterday -- in ice cube trays. Still need to transfer the cubes out of the trays and into baggies -- but I'd say I did do about half of the basil at least before I ran out of time. There's still plenty more to do though. I hope to process it today. And, I was thinking in addition to freezing it as is, I would perhaps make up a big batch of pizza dough to freeze, and dumping a lot of chopped basil to knead into it. Sounds yummy to me!

Also, after several boilings, I have my orange peels all ready to go -- two cookies sheets full. . I hope to candy them up this afternoon.

Crazy for Basil

2006-09-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

Well! Everyone came home so late from Grandma's last night, ahem, (11:00 pm? Thank goodness for homeschooling!), not-to-mention being so well fed by said grandma, that it was pointless to serve the miso soup I'd prepared. So, I set it aside in the fridge -- where it will commence to be tonight's dinner I guess. That will make things easy enough.

I managed to pick all the basil leaves off their stems yesterday. That took some time, but I sat out on my porch to do it, and enjoyed the nice sunny weather. Anyway, it all added up to two ginormous mixing bowls full. That's a lot of basil! I mean to freeze it -- by blending it with olive oil, just enough to make a paste, then freezing the paste in ice cube trays for sauces and minestrone and the like. Perhaps I'll make some pesto as well, and try freezing that. It would be nice to have ready-made pesto on hand, though I have no idea how defrosted pesto, or at least my defrosted pesto, would taste. Well, it certainly doesn't hurt to try.

Speaking of defrosting, while I was waiting for my family to get home last night, I got my defrosted orange peels all pared and ready to go for the candying treatment. They will now need to be simmered a few times, in water. I hope to get them all processed in the next day or so. My husband really likes pannetone ....

I started a fresh loaf of bread in my machine last night, because for lunch today I'm making vegan grilled-cheeze sauce in my vitamix, to make sandwiches in the 'sandwich maker' I ganked at a garage sale years ago. Hope my little, 4 year old nonvegetarian day-care girl likes them -- because that's what she's getting. My own kids LURVE it.

Super Soup

2006-09-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

Taking a little break to post. Soup is on the stove as I type -- Miso Soup. After a busy day of babysitting and schlepping kids around to dance and rehearsals, the rest of my gang is over at my mom's hanging out for a little while, only about 10 blocks away. Hopefully they wont have snacked too much over there to enjoy the soup when they get home, though that's a distinct possibility (Grandma always seems to have oodles of goodies lying around)....

My dad stopped by this afternoon, generously gifting me with an enormous amount of garden produce, fresh from his plot. He's already cleaning it all up for fall -- this really does mark the end of the season. Wow, where did the summer go? I need to get out to my garden and do the same myself. They're even predicting possible frost in the next night or two. I'm not ready for THAT! At any rate, thanks to him, I now have carrots galore, complete with tops for our nosey little house bun-bun, yet MORE green beans (probably the last of the last), a big bag of arugula, skads of leeks, and a metric ton of basil. The basil I intend to freeze. The green beans too (we'll have so many green beans this winter). Much of the leeks and arugula already went into tonight's soup. The rest will be used up in some as of yet unspecified way...

I was trying to figure out what to make to accompany my soup, since it alone just didn't seem quite 'enough' (on a good day, I like to offer three things for dinner -- even if it's just carrot sticks or cut up apple, or some such side dish, to accompany the main dish). I do often make green onion pancakes to go with miso soup, and I still have plenty of the green onion I'd picked from my garden in my fridge -- but it was waaaaay too late to start on the dough tonight. Nor do I have any bread sitting around right now. Instead, at the last minute here, I quick made little cornmeal dumplings (from the New Farm cookbook) -- very easy and fast. I'm not cooking them in the soup, since I've already added the miso (and miso shouldn't be boiled). Instead, I'm simmering them seperately, now as I type -- and will add them later. And I'll probably save the dumpling cooking water to make my next batch of bread, as is my habit with leftover cooking water (will probably put some in the machine before bed to bake).

To-ma-to. To-mah-to

2006-09-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

Finally got the collard/kale in the freezer, for use this winter (the toughest stems I trimmed and am saving for rabbit treats -- our little free-range house bunny loves them!). It will keep the frozen chard, the home-grown tomato paste cubes, and the bags upon bags of frozen garden green beans in my freezer good company. I've already been using quite a bit of the paste cubes in my meal making --I'm thinking those will go very fast if I don't parcel them out. But it is sort of weird not to have any huge tomato canning projects going right now, like I typically do. It just didn't seem to be a tomato year. I don't know anybody around here with a huge abundance of them this fall. My own 20 plants weren't excessively prolific, nor were my dad's, nor my sister's -- my usual contacts for extras when I want them. Oh well, it's not too late -- I still have lots of green tomatoes, as long as the frost holds out.

Or not. Sigh. Actually, I've really been so busy lately anyway, so perhaps it's just as well.

My Recipe Control Book

2006-09-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

I was TRULY in a quandary about dinner tonight (and last night's too, for that matter). This happens sometimes. Usually I have some sort of meal plan, if even a vague one --just something, anything, to work with. But whew, apparently not this week. Mondays always are a little 'off' for me anyway. Plus I was tired after a day with the babe, and just utterly devoid of ideas. Had to come up with something though -- everyone is always expectantly starving when they get home. So, I consulted a special little book I've created -- what I refer to as my 'Recipe Control Book'. I will have to write more about this handy little innovation sometime -- it's been a real lifesaver for me.

In short, it's essentially a little blank note book purchased from the dollar store, that I've filled with helpful notes over the years (that probably only I can decipher, heh). Throughout the book, I've created headings, with lists. Headings such as 'Tofu', 'Potatoes', 'Mushrooms', 'Pasta', 'Seitan', 'Bread', 'Eggplant', 'Squash', "Rice', 'Tempeh', 'Cabbage', 'Beans', etc, etc -- main ingredients in this case, but also miscellaneous veggies/fruits, like 'Beets', 'Green Beans', 'Bananas', 'Apples', 'Celery', etc, etc. I've also made categories in the book for dishes such as 'Casseroles', 'Soups', 'Sauces', 'Dips', 'Snacks', 'Desserts', 'Breads', etc, etc --as well as categories like 'Cheap Meals', 'Fast Meals', 'Favorite Meals', 'Sandwiches', etc, etc. Then, under each heading, I've compiled my personal tried and true recipes for that subject from all sorts of resources --cookbooks, internet, magazines, etc. Successful recipes that I know we like and that work well. Only I don't note the recipes themselves--just the NAMES of the recipes, and where to find them (although in the back I do copy interesting homeless recipes that I find on the back of package boxes, etc). I cross reference everything in my little book, and keep it updated .

Anyway --so tonight, for example, when I was so stuck? I just flipped through my little book, to help me out. I knew what I had on hand in my pantry -- potatoes for one thing. I looked under the heading for 'Potatoes', ran my finger down the list, spied 'Scalloped Potatoes', Grogan: T.A.N.F.C, page 135 (as in Bryanna Clark Grogan's cookbook 'The Almost No Fat Cookbook'). Grabbing that cookbook, finding the page and scanning the recipe, I realized I had all the necessary ingredients for that dish -- plus some veggie brats in the freezer I could slice into them, for a complete meal (with a side of some peas or something). The scalloped potatoes were going to take more time to bake than I technically had at that point, so I precooked them a little in my pressure cooker. In any event, it's all baking in the oven right now -- and smelling great. Thank goodness for my helpful little book.....

At least breakfast was somewhat under control this a.m.. I was in a very big hurry, because it was about time for my little charges to make their daily appearance (because once the baby shows up? All bets are off!). The previous night I'd cooked up two homeless sweet potatoes I'd found in my veggie bin in my pressure cooker, along with a small, garden acorn squash -- keeping all peels on. This morning I pureed the results, right along with the peels, in my Vitamix -- and, due to the time factor? Simply mixed it all up with some sale purchased, store bought cake mix, slopped it in some baking tins, and called them muffins. I know, I know -- not the healthiest thing around perhaps, but sometimes you just have to 'go with it'. I'm hoping the veggie puree (including the peels!) had some redeeming value at least. And I was desperate! I doubt it's going to kill anybody. At any rate, that's an old weight watchers trick as I recall -- mixing canned pumpkin (and nothing else, except maybe a little water if it seems dry) with cake mix for 'pumpkin muffins'. A time saver in a pinch (although that could have been solved with some home-made muffin mix all made up and ready to go, of course of which I had none). Everyone quite liked them too, even my daughter --that is, until I confessed it had sweet potatoes and squash in it (she has a 'thing' about and sweet potatoes and is a bit winter squash phobic)....

Garden Gab

2006-09-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

Visited my garden this weekend and harvested tomatoes, some butternut squash, collard/kale, and one acorn squash (happily there are more waiting for me out there). Plus a small mess of green onion.

While overall, I can't say my garden this year was a huge success? At least it wasn't a complete bust. I hope to do better next year -- get stuff in earlier than I did this spring, plus find the time to be a better caretaker. Plant potatoes again, like I did last year (which I fully meant to do this year, but just never got around to). We had so many spuds last year and it was such a treat. Sigh, my poor little garden this year got a little too weedy and rambly for my satisfaction -- but I have no one else but myself to blame for the neglect (the garden is pretty much my project around here). And well, perhaps also The Weather -- that wasn't too helpful either. It just wasnt' a great gardening year around here weather-wise...

I'm looking forward to using the squash this winter though. It will be nice to have that on hand (I long for a real root cellar though -- how cool would that be?). I grabbed 5 or 6 hardened-off butternuts to bring home for now --there are at least that many still out there.

The kale and collard I harvested this weekend has already been prepped and blanched -- I just need to chop it up and toss it in my freezer. Since the weather has cooled, it's growing very happily indeed out at my plot, so there's still plenty out there to fetch. I do love me some collard greens --sauteed with onion and garlic, and a splash of vinegar.

With the garden green onion I picked, I just may make Chinese style 'Green Onion Pancakes', sometime this week --one of my family's favorites.

What's for dinner....?

2006-09-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon was busy indeed. I worked until 3:00, then later my son had a soccer game, on the opposite side of town, and at the same time, as my daughter's dance class. Needless to say, I did not make the stuffed zucchini squash that was originally on my menu for dinner last night. Perhaps this evening.

Instead, I made one of my old stand by's, which we actually hadn't had in quite some time (not a summer dish) -- called 'Split Peas on Toast', out of one of my McDougall books. It's a fast cooker, and warm/soothing on cool autumn evenings. The bread I made in my bread machine several days ago, and needed to be used up. But there's still more of it -- so I might try to make some semblance of 'garlic bread' from the remainder tonight, to accompany the stuffed squash. Giving leftover bread the 'garlic treatment' can typically make it disappear around here.

I can never quite tell about my family and their bread consumption. Some days I'll make a loaf, and it's gobbled up with great enthusiasm. Other days it isn't touched! Who knows? I actually thought this last loaf was quite interesting, because I subbed a big handful of Vitamix'ed garden tomatoes (essentially juiced) for the required liquid-- giving the resulting bread a slight pink tinge and a mellow tomato flavor, something they'd ordinarily like. However, there was a lot of leftover birthday cake sitting around these past few days (from my daughter's 10th birthday), not to mention store-bought crumpets (complements of my husband, ahem), which was apparently entirely more interesting.....

FriDay, Fine Day

2006-09-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

Yay, my day off...!

I don't think I've mentioned in here yet that I've recently started a childcare job? An aquaintance/neighbor approached me this summer, mentioning that her regular sitter was (A) having a baby in the fall, and (B) moving away, and asking whether I might be interested in providing care in her home for her two small kiddos (10 months and 4 years) through the spring (probably until May, when she's thinking of resigning). She was offering $9.00 an hour -- very generous! Still, it was something I had to think long and hard about, as well as pow wow with my family since it would also directly affect them. After all these years of having me at beck and call anytime of the day or night? Here I was now proposing to leave the house (albeit only about 5-6 blocks away) Monday - Thursday, for six to seven hours a day. Would my kids be able to handle my absence? Could they be responsible while I was gone? And what about the homeschooling...?

I'm happy to report that so far, it's been working out very well. While I'm 'on the job' by 8:00 a.m., my husband has flexible hours at his office (which is also nearby -- only about 8 or so blocks away), typically not leaving to walk to work until sometime between 10:00 and 12:00 anyway. So, he's been providing supervision for a good chunk of the mornings (plus, my kids typically don't even get up until after 9:00, ahem). At 13 and 10 years of age, my son and daughter really are old enough to look after themselves for a few hours. Furthermore, both are welcome to accompany me whenever they wish, at any time, walking or biking between the two houses, bringing their schoolwork with them as necessary. At this point, however? It's actually been easiest for them to simply stay at home and complete their school work/chores independently -- with me just a phone call, or a short walk, away. Then I get home in time to schlep them to all their extracurriculers in the afternoons and evenings....

We're still getting used to this new schedule though -- expecially me. It's very different to have such constraints on my personal time, and I've had to make not a small number of adjustments. Still, I must say, the extra $$ is certainly nice...!

Impulse Buys?

2006-09-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I lied. I did indeed do a little shopping last night, although it was not part of the original plan. It was my daughter's best friend's birthday yesterday, and true to form (I haven't fully adjusted to our new fall schedules I guess), we were woefully unprepared for it. I ended up stopping by a discount store (Big Lots), after dropping my kids off at their dance classes, to see what I could find in the way of a gift for her, instead of running back home as I normally would. Not only was I unsuccessful in finding an acceptable gift for her there, I just happened to wander down the food aisle, and somehow ended up with all these edibles in my cart! How did that happen?! Ok, well, it was nothing too damaging at any rate. I did grab some pasta -- my son's favorite food, which he'll often make for himself. Of course, at this age he must eat pretty much constantly, so we go through lotsa pasta --and I was flat out of it (wish I could do an order with my natural foods co-op for bulk whole wheat noodles but the times of pick up haven't been working for me lately). I also ganked some huge cans of hominy ($1.00), since I just recently copied down an interesting chili recipe calling for it, as well as cans of refried beans (no lard), also handy for ever-hungry my son to grab when he's foraging in the kitchen. (As for my daughter's friend's birthday gift, she and I found something for her (on sale) at another store...)

Just loafing around....

2006-09-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

I did it. I now have two veggie loaves baking in the oven as I type this, successfully concocted from a myriad of miscellaneous ingredients. First, was the frozen chunk of 'Leftover Lentil Mystery' I thawed, then blended with a bit of cashew butter. I shook up hot water in several near empty condiment and dressing jars/bottles in my fridge, and dumped those in. I added TVP to the mixture, plus bread crumbs and seasonings. A little vital wheat gluten, as a binder. A little okara (from sporadic homemade soymilk production). Parsley. Oregano. Plus a healthy dose of ketchup. My fingers are crossed, but I'm really not too concerned because it's actually smelling pretty good here as it's baking. Accompanied with mashed spuds/gavy, and a veggie of some kind (green beans?), I predict it will be well recieved. And it will be handy to have two loaves -- one for tonight and one for the freezer (I know, I'm actually trying to clean OUT the freezer -- but at least I'll be reintroducing something that's actually in a convenient state for future consumption!). I also plan on getting a loaf of bread going in my bread machine tonight -- for lunchtime leftover meatloaf sandwiches. Sound like a plan?

Another day of grocery shopping avoided.......

Well, how do like THEM apples?

2006-09-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

Shuckey durn. Just got off the phone. As it turns out, my regular source for apples, a friend of my sister's who lives just outside of town and lets us go out and pick in his small orchard, doesn't have much of a crop this year, due to a late frost last spring -- apparently there's pretty much nothing TO pick. I'm bummed! Now what to do? Where else to get my free apples? What about my sauce??? :(

Monday Musings....

2006-09-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

With the way the day is shaping up so far today, I doubt I am actually going to get to the granola as originally planned. Will need to get to that soon, and I still have a few other culinary goals this week ....

First, is to use up one of the two large-ish '8-Ball' zucchini, picked last week from my garden, that I currently have taken up precious space on my kitchen table. I really love their shape -- just like green pumpkins, and they are actually making fine decorations sitting there. But they really must be consumed. All summer I've been slicing or grating them up just like any other zucchini, but now that I can turn on my oven without fear of death from excessive heat in my non-airconditioned house, I think I may try stuffing one, and baking it -- just as I've seen recipes whole, stuffed pumpkins (common main-dish for vegetarian thanksgivings). And I'm thinking a stuffing comprised of black beans, rice, bread crumbs, onion, sage, etc should to the trick nidely -- with the first three items just happening to be conveniently sitting cooked and frozen in various containers in my freezer, needing to be used up because I'm sick of seeing them in there. Plus there's PLENTY of fresh sage for the picking, as well as marjoram and parsley in my little garden. That will be my dinner plans for Thursday. At any rate, it's fun to experiment.

I'm also currently defrosting some lentil something-or-other I found in the freezer. Soup probably? (I really need to stop being so lazy about labeling!). Whatever it is, I'm going to see if I can turn it into a veggie loaf of some such, to serve for dinner tonight with mashed potatoes and gravy. I have quite the quantity of frozen bread crumbs -- between the veggie loaf and the stuffed squash plans for later in the week? Hopefully a nice big dent will have been made in them because I'm tired of seeing them everytime I open the freezer door.

And let us also not forget about the big bag of saved citrus rinds in the freezer that is also getting in the way. It's been my intention to candy them, for granola and baking, etc-- not hard to do by any stretch, although I've certainly managed to avoid doing it for, oh, a few months short of a year now? So, either I'm going to get around to candying them this week, or onto the compost pile they go.

Lastly, I'd like to make a big batch of seitan this week. It's so handy to have in the fridge and ready to go. If I were REALLY on the ball, I'd make it before bed and get it in the crockpot for cooking overnight (a la the book, 'Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker'). That's the easiest method by far, and there was a time when I really had the routine down. But whew, I've been so wiped out at night to be that organized lately. Hardly an excuse though, since I've had good results mixing the seitan on the dough cycle of my bread machine. Is it really so hard to dump the ingredients into my bread machine, press start, and then slap the results into my crockpot before bed? You would think....

Oil Oy!

2006-09-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

Made a huge batch of filled, steamed hot buns in my bamboo steamer trays last night. The filling is from a book, 'The Bold Vegetarian' (by Bharti Kirchner) --a recipe called 'Peas and Potatoes in a Pocket', sort of reminiscent of samosa filling. But instead of a 'pocket' (the book suggests pita), I shape bread dough buns around the filling, and steam them in my bamboo trays. I got this idea back from when I subscribed to Vegetarian Journal, some 12 or more years ago. There was once a whole article in at about chinese steamed buns and their diversity --leaving me inspired to purchase my own bamboo steamer trays. I've been making steamed buns now and then ever since. They aren't too much effort to assemble and cook -- and make great snacks and meals on-the-go (we especially like them filled with pizza fixings --sort of like calzones). We'll need lots of that this weekend as we hustle back and forth between activities. For this reason, I also quick baked up a double batch of 'Raspberry Cornmeal Muffins' before bed (-- from "How It All Vegan"). Not terrible, though they might have been better had I not been a dum-dum and forgotten the oil in the recipe (can you say 'dry'?)! Oy!

Freezer Blitz

2006-09-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

Autumn is upon us and the weather is cooler now. Joy! I've finally come to realize that, as much as I love summer? It doesn't seem to love me. The heat and humidity combination really slows me down, sucking my energy. And because I have so precious little of it, let me tell you, that's the LAST thing I need. I do adore fall. Still, summer was fleeting -- the flowers, the sun, activities, long, lazy days. I will miss it all....

But, I'm happy to be able to fire up the oven once again. All summer I avoided it as much as possible (coming up with some rather interesting solutions actually), since turning it on would have been nearly suicidal, as hot as our old, badly insulated house gets (we have A.C. -- we just choose to not run it). So I've been making up for lost time lately -- by baking, baking, and more baking....

I'm also currently trying to see exactly how long I can get by without grocery shopping. I have quite the stockpile of food in my pantry right now, needing to be thinned out. My freezers, both over my fridge and the stand alone in the basement, are full to overflowing, mostly with odds and ends stuff --bits of grains/cereals, partial bags of frozen veggies, portions of this-n-that, leftover what-have-yous. My shelves are laden as well. I'm very guilty of stocking up on items when I come across a good buy -- still, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Therefore, it's my mission this week to use up much of this superflous extra, and make room for the garden goodies I'm still anticipating -- the tomatoes, peppers, green beans, and more. Hopefully I will also be picking apples again this fall -- my daughter has requested my home-canned sauce.

Did I mention how hopelessly anal I am about using up every little particle of anything consumable??? It's true. When I put a mind to it, I can be pretty darn good at making those sundry bits of food items disappear. I have a number of methods. Case in point? The dessert I made yesterday. According to my family, I was long due for making a dessert of some ilk -- yet I also wanted to use up the misc stuff I dug up when I was straightening up the kitchen cabinets. First of all, I'd discovered a cache of individually wrapped, peanut butter-filled cracker-thingies I'd purchased at the dollar store some time ago. This really isn't something I'd ordinarily buy, except that they were rock-bottom cheap (1$ for a whole big bag) -- never mind the fact my husband had initially requested them in the first place, thinking he'd like them for snacks for work. Well, he apparently changed his mind, because there was still a half-full bag lying around here, uneaten and clearly unwanted by anyone in their present state. So, I crushed them in my Vitamix to a fine crumb, mixed in a little sugar and oil, and baked it to graham cracker-like crust -- peanutty-flavored as it was. I figured this then called for an accompanying peanut-butter filling of one sort or another. After scraping out the remainder of several jars of assorted nut-butters found in the fridge, and blending it all with a bit of tofu, agar, sweetner, plus tossing in some old, really rather stale-looking Easter chocolate I happened to come across? I ended up with an appropriately creamy/nutty/chocolately filling for my pie. And hey, it's not half bad -- not exactly health food, but boy was I glad to finally be rid of those silly crackers....

I also made pizza last night -- topped with lovely, sweet garden onion, as well as fresh-picked garden zucchini and tomato. I find if I don't keep on top of the zucchini and tomatoes, it can get a little crazy. A simple matter of slicing and oven-broiling them a little first, and I managed to use two whole zucch's and a number of tomatoes this way. The pizza sauce I made from frozen tomato paste cubes that I've been cooking down from garden tomatoes in my crock pot lately. I would have added fresh basil to the sauce from my container herb garden outside too, except that the last time I tried picking in the dark? I touched a big slug or something-- serious yuk! I'm planning to harvest all the basil anyway at some point -- to freeze for use this winter. In any event, the sauce turned out well enough. The dough I mixed in my bread bucket, enough for four big crusts --two for last night, and two for the freezer (at least I'd made some room in there for it....!).

Probably next week sometime I will be concocting a big batch of granola, using oats of course -- but also the collection of frozen leftover bits and pieces of sweet breads/muffins I've baked in the somewhat recent past. These I thaw and tear into pieces, dry at low temperatures in my oven until they are good and hard, then pulverise in my Vitamix-- the end result a little like Grape Nuts cereal. They make a good, crunchy addition to my granola along with all the other ingredients, and I'm only too happy to reclaim the freezer space. Anyway, I find granola can be very handy indeed as a receptacle for leftover sweet baked goods -- not to mention any number of seed, nut or dried fruit collections that lack a proper home....

Shop Talk

2006-09-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

Being the homemaker parent that I am? The shopping and meal preparation for my family falls primarily onto me. I'm actually very comfortable with this responsibility, though it can be personally challenging at times. Nutrition is as important to me as saving money. For that reason, most of my meal planning typically involves scratch cooking in some shape or form. However, busy homeschooling parent that I am, with things to do and places to go, my time is important too. In fact, there are days when it feels like I am forever either coming or going out the door. Therefore I'm constantly trying to find that delicate balance between cost savings according to our food budget, time efficiency, and good vegetarian nutrition (not to mention my need to be mindful of calories. With my sluggish metabolism, I can gain weight simply by SMELLING food -- already in the overweight category here, despite my best efforts, don't want to get more so either!).

I enjoy cooking, I honestly do --and yet I've come to realize over the years that if meal preparation and its' ensuing cleanup starts to consistantly become too demanding and time consuming? It begins to feel like an unpleasant chore. In addition to everything else, I also need to keep my sanity in check. Happily I've managed to work out a few shortcuts and systems that I've found very helpful over the years. I'm lucky too, that I have a family of very good eaters -- lovers of good vegetarian food, open to all my culinary experiments (for the most part), with little individual pickiness (good thing too -- cuz I don't have much tolerance for that!)....

So, there will probably be a lot of cookery-type talk here, since it dominates so much of my life....

Who am I?

2006-09-12T15:14:00.001-07:00

All-righty. Things seem to be in working order here. So on to my first real post....

Why am I starting a blog? Well, I do find journaling very theraputic in general, and I'm partial to keeping track of the passage of time. I'm hoping perhaps organizing my thoughts here will help me stay on target as far as my aspirations and goals are concerned. Well, we'll see....

At any rate, I'm a frugal gal, plus an environmentally-conscious one. Can you say, Crunchy? Yeah, that's me. I've been a SAHM now for 13 years, ever since the first of my two children were born. At the time, I was terrified of the financial hit my husband and I were about to take with the drying up of my income. I had a reasonably decent job then. Heck, I was even making more than he was at the time. But I really wanted to raise my own child. That meant the world to me. As for The World, the impending birth also made me think long and hard about exactly what kind of world my children and grandchildren were to inherit from my generation. I knew my husband and I were going to have to make some extremely significant changes, if not outright sacrifices, in our lifestyle to actually make our new one-income lifestyle work, AND that many of these very changes could make less negative environmental impact -- a plus. Thus it began, my headfirst dive into my vast and determined quest of frugality and earth-friendliness.

Over the years, I've read and researched the topic extensively, in addition to conducting untold numbers of frugal experiments, all with varying degrees of success. I've probably tried every tightwad tip out there, at least once. But now, after all this time? I think I have a fairly good handle as to what works for me, and what doesn't. Where to take off running with an effort, and where to draw the line. I'm not perfect. I still squander money sometimes, intentionally or unintentionally. While I try very hard not to be wasteful, occasionally I still waste. I find my motivation can waver and wane in the most aggravating fashion -- sometimes I can go to the nth degree, and other times I just can't. Be. Bothered. Furthermore, I've reconciled (for the most part) the fact that my frugal sensibilities are on the more extreme side than my husband's. He still spends more money than I do, and more than I would personally prefer him to for that matter. Oh well. After 15 years of marriage, I finally understand that people really aren't likely to change ingrained habits, so one is probably better off accepting certain things in life rather than continually butting up against opposition. After all, I can still do my thing, my own part, and feel good about it -- trying to counter as I do his lean toward overspending in certain aspects of our lives, with my more spartan discipline. Perhaps we'll reach some sort of balance. Besides, it's really not nearly as problematic as I'm probably making it sound. In some respects he's actually quite frugal, and I'm grateful for that. I've compared notes with friends and aquaintances and I probably shouldn't complain....

Anyway, I hope this is a little anonymous wee spot in cyberspace, where I can keep track of my various efforts, organize my ideas, and contemplate whatever aspirations and goals I may conjure up. And perhaps even vent a little, when necessary....

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2006-09-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

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