Bread

I am not really that interested in bread making. I like to eat freshly baked bread, but I'm not into the kneading and work that comes with it. This library book has completely changed my view. The basic bread recipe is so simple that I thought I did it entirely wrong. The results proved otherwise, and I cannot wait to make the other recipes in the book. I am planning on purchasing the book because returning it will be depressing.

This bread was "stolen" quickly by the Boy.

Smoothies

We've started having smoothies every morning. We've been doing this for about a week and a half, and I noticed many blogs that I read have been making smoothies as well. Ours is fairly simple, but I've noticed it keeps me full well past lunch time. I used to have a bowl of steel cut oats with my coffee, or perhaps toast with avocado. Neither of which gave me the energy that I feel since drinking these.

We blend(for a family of 3):
1 cup soymilk
1 soy vanilla yogurt
3 rounded teaspoons rice protein, unflavored/unsweetened
1/2 block Pure Acai pulp, unsweetened
1 banana

This is so tasty. And, I've found that my body cannot tolerate wheat very well. It's been an ongoing battle, because frankly I don't want to have to go gluten-free. But, when I avoid wheat my body just feels and works MUCH better. I'll be writing more on this, but for the moment I'm going to enjoy my blue smoothies.

To market, to market

I still don't have this whole food shopping technique figured out. It became more complicated when my son decided to eat like a growing teenage boy, and less like what I had imagined four year olds eat.

I make meal plans and I budget. Somehow this process still doesn't work out for me. I am still making extra shopping trips throughout the week, which in turn leads to spending extra money. I'm always thinking: "since I'm here anyways I might as well pick up....".

I also tend to pick great items out, only to have them sitting in my house. I am great at buying things that will not go together in a meal. I have lots of pieces of meals, just not one complete meal.

This is what I'm working on. I really need to find a system that will work for me.

Unexpected

We have been having some very cold temperatures here in south Florida. I am talking about actual temperatures that will freeze water and unfortunately, plants. I'm not too familiar with how to prevent freezing of my plants, and I regretted this early this morning.




After doing some research, I believe my banana tree will survive. I'm not sure there was a whole lot I could have done to protect it. The roots are somewhat blanketed by mulch, but I won't know the outcome until we are out of this cold weather. The leaves are definitely damaged.

I was going to talk about my fantastic experience at the Farmer's Market yesterday. And, it was wonderful even in the cold. But, instead I will share what I discovered while cleaning my gigantic head of cauliflower.



He wasn't the only one living inside the head. There were three of them. I took them all outside, although I felt a bit bad they were just going to die in the cold anyways. I realize it is a good sign that they were alive and well inside the cauliflower. This means the pesticides didn't kill them, and I am not eating poisons.

But, I have never been very good with bugs. I am very squeamish and will actually scream when something of this nature happens. I'm fine once the realization of the bug sits in, but initially........watch out. So, the cauliflower is all chopped and soaking in my kitchen sink. I do not want roasted cauliflower with a side of caterpillar as a side dish tonight!

The scent of cinnamon

I've been wanting to make cinnamon ornaments for a couple years now. I never seemed to get around to it, but this year I made it happen. The recipe I had previously disappeared, so I had to find a new one. I ended up using this one. Since it was Saturday the Boy and I were accompanied by Bubba. We searched all over our town for a large amount of cinnamon. Finally, on a whim, we found really inexpensive jars of cinnamon and purchased ten of them. I figured it wasn't for eating, only for "scenting".

Though there are only two ingredients, this was actually more work than I expected. But, I'm sure by next season I'll be ready to do this again. My nose still can feel the cinnamon burning inside. The Boy did a lot of kneading and rolling, but his favorite was using the cookie cutters he picked out. He was a pro by the end of it.

Kitchen

Because they were so delicious, I decided to take some pictures of our meals the past two nights. I am glad being vegan is actually so delicious. So many people misunderstand and think we only eat lettuce. These pictures are variations of recipes from the only cookbook I seem to talk about on here, Vegan With a Vengeance.
Seitan with bell peppers, onions and BBQ sauce over brown rice.


Tempeh sausage pizza with "cheeze" sauce on homeade pizza dough.

Tempeh Cooking:


Before:


After:

Wednesday

Curious about what exactly was cooking in that pot? It's my family's beloved seitan. The recipe is a modified version from Vegan with a Vengeance. I'm very anxious to purchase a copy of her new cookbook, Veganomicon. I usually either make the marinade for it or use a bbq sauce for marinade. Saute it up with onions and green bell peppers, and I serve it over some brown rice. So delicious and fairly easy.





I've also been working on some knitted gifts. That black hat is a modified version of Crazy Aunt Purl's knitted hat directions. Apparently though, my math was incorrect or maybe my son's head has grown. Either way, the green in the picture is a new hat I'm knitting for him. The boy has the same size head as his Dad, and he's 4.



And that is my coffee this morning. I know it looks really light, and that is how I drink it. I try not to get a lot of caffeine in my diet. My coffee is usually a half a finger coffee, and the rest of the mug is vanilla soymilk. A vegan cafe au lait, sort of. I didn't sleep well, as my neighbors left their poor dog outside all night and he barked the entire night. Of course, then there was the fighting cats for the other half of the night. I'm going to need a nap I think.

Cooking Muffins

The Boy and I decided to make some muffins today from our tattered Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook. This cookbook has been used so frequently that I'm afraid I'll need a new copy! These are the Carrot-Raisin Muffins from page 47. For some reason the food that I cook doesn't always look "pretty". It tastes delicious, really. Or maybe I'm just unable to capture the yummy-ness in my pictures.

Comfort

It's been getting a bit colder at night in these parts. I believe the thermometer outside read 60 degrees F. Our lightweight coats were dragged out, in spite of our Yankee past. We are definitely thin blooded now. I know I used to laugh, but it really felt like someone was blocking the sun from us.

So, it inspired me to throw together a lasagna for dinner. This is a recipe that has been ever evolving. I initially got the tofu filling mixture from a message board years ago. I believe it was for a vegan stuffed manicotti recipe. It tastes great like that, but I'm more of a lasagna gal.

How to make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Tofu Mixture(to replace traditional ricotta):

1 package of extra-firm tofu(we use Nasoya brand, squeezed out extremely well)

small amount of vegenaise to make it a bit more smooth

spices to your liking, we have used traditional Italian spices and also added red pepper flakes for variety

salt and pepper to taste

Mix, Mix, Mix

Take your lasagna pan and add a dash of olive oil, your favorite sauce, and a layer of no bake lasagna noodles. You can use traditional noodles as well, but this works well. Just make sure to use an abundance of sauce so the noodles cook correctly.

Add a layer of the tofu mixture, favorite veggies(I have used almost every veggie you could think of), then place a new layer of lasagna noodles. Completely cover noodles with sauce, and repeat. At the top I just add my sauce and we like a good strong sprinkle of nutritional yeast flakes. Cover with tinfoil(don't touch the food with it, I worry about Alzheimer's) and bake covered about 1 hour. Take tinfoil off for last 5 minutes. Let rest.

Eat and enjoy!