I need...

...to go grocery shopping.  The food you are about to see was eaten before this dilemna.  On Friday, we ordered pizza (gift card, thank goodness).  Saturday?  Spaghetti.  Oh, and Sunday...nachos.  Nothing special.  Still, here's a couple of dins that weren't quite so heinous.

soup n springrolls

That's the Hot and Sour Soup from Vcon with leeks and green cabbage subbed in for the cabbage it calls for...can't remember if it asks for napa cabbage or baby bok choy (which is sort of like cabbage, right?).  Anyway, it was yummy.  I had an inspiration for some spring rolls, since we finally had carrots, lettuce, scallions, and mint in the house at the same time.  To round them out, I made some tempeh to go in them from this recipe on Vegan Dad.  It was the perfect addition. 

I love mint in spring rolls...not only does it taste fabulous and fresh, but it reminds me of New York and the spring rolls Michael and I got at Saigon 88.  I can't find a website for them (which doesn't really surprise me), but it's yumtastic Vietnamese food at a decent price with a good sprinkling of vegan options (basil tofu steak what!).  So anyway, here's the story with MY spring rolls:  they fell apart because I insisted on cooking them potsticker-style.  Dumb.  They disentegrated pretty much immediately.  Whatever, though, so I had to eat them with a fork.  They tasted damn good.

beetabulous

That's a terrible photo.  I have to show it to you though, because that side dish was amazing.  First off, that's a nature burger (fantastic brand) in the background.  It was good, but unremarkable.  The star of this show was that lovely mound of roasted beets and carrots with caramelized red onions and steamed beet greens.  Oh yes.  OH.  YES.  You may have the recipe, but it's pretty simple.

Roasted Beets n Greens with Carrots and Red Onions  (title too long?)

3 large beets, with greens

3 carrots

1/2 red onion, sliced into thin half-moons

olive oil

2-3 Tbsp red wine vinegar (or more, to taste)

lots of salt

Preheat your oven to 450F.  Wash the beets and trim off the greens (set greens aside).  Cut the carrots in half, and put both the carrots and the beets on a rimmed cookie sheet with a half inch or so of water.  Put the whole shebang in the oven and leave it for a good 45-50 minutes.  While that's going on, cut the greens into thin ribbons (about 1 inch wide) and prep the onions.  Wash the greens very well and don't dry them.  Once the beets are done, you can go ahead and try peeling them by hand (something I've never been able to accomplish) or cut the skins off with a giant knife (my preferred method).  Once you get the skins off, slice them into thin circles.  Cut up the carrots too, lengthwise, so you have nice long slices.  Heat up your olive oil in a medium-large skillet and start sauteeing the onions (med-low heat), until they get brownish.  Be patient.  The  brownish-er they get, the sweeter they will be.  Anywho, when you think they're brown enough, add your beets and carrots and the vinegar.  Stir to combine.  Add the greens and cover the pan (the water left on the greens should be enough to steam them).  After about 5 minutes, stir them in.  Once they are nicely wilted, add salt to taste (I added a bunch, because I think it tastes better that way with the vineger - think salt n vinegar chips here).  That's it.  Enjoy!

So rooty and sweet and vinegary (in a good way).  The greens, especially, were delightful.  Delightful?  Sure.  Why not.  So...that's it until I either have a stroke of some genius or I get paid and go shopping.  I've been trying really hard to not go shopping in between shopping trips and have succeeded well enough that I don't really have any produce left in the house.  

Back to watching The Devil Wears Prada!

'And when this world runs out of lovers.....

...we'll still have eachother. Nuthin's gonna stop us nowwwwwww!'

Imagine me, belting out 80s style Jefferson Starship love ballads, with great, stuffy-headed passion and happiness, and you will get an idea of how thrilled I was to receive this:

dad-style care package!

This is a package from my most awesomest dad, via foodfight (which I love, and now my dad does too). Can you read the note? He asked them to write me a note and they actually did! It says 'Get well soon {heart} Dad'. (blogger won't let me put the actual heart in because of something having to do with html which is totally dumb.)

Next up is more stuff from Vcon. I think I've finally put my finger on what it is about this cookbook that makes me want to use it so much. It reminds me of my mom's cookbooks. The big, fat ones with loads and loads of recipes. It's hardcover. It has some weight to it. The recipes are hearty. And now that it's cold as hell here (I've decided that if hell exists, it wouldn't be hot, it would be cold, because being cold sucks so much worse than being hot), hearty recipes are what my belly craves. ('electrolytes - it's what plants crave!' ohhhh...idiocracy)

I had some leeks in the fridge that I bought before I got sick and refused to use until my tastebuds were working again. I got my buds back sometime on Friday, so Saturday I used up those leeks with lots of love in the Leek and Bean Cassoulet w/Biscuits.

biscuit cloud heaven

It was good. It was not as good as the first time I made it though! I don't know what happened. I somehow royally screwed up the biscuits... They were a tad gummy (and you know I hate stuff that sticks to my teeth)... I kept having to add more and more and more flour to the batter, which is weird because last time I made them, I did not have to do that. Hm. Oh well, they still tasted good.

bowl of biscuity beany leeky goodness

There's just something about biscuits, isn't there? I'm not talking about cookies, either, Brits! Although, cookies are good too. But...maybe not in a way that biscuits are?

Ode to biscuits: biscuits are wonderful. biscuits can be sweet. biscuits can be savory. biscuits are a fluffy favorite of mine. biscuits are best served warm, straight out of the oven. with jam. or stew. i do not like 'butter' on my biscuits! biscuits are good plain. biscuits are easy to make. biscuits are the best personal bread item ever invented. my mom makes good biscuits. my grandma made good biscuits. michael makes good biscuits. i make good biscuits. the end.

On to the Seitan Picatta. I have been putting off making this recipe. I wish I hadn't. Although, after reading LindyLoo's post about it, I believe I have a greater appreciation for this dish.

picatta rules.

I first had seitan picatta* at Blossom in NYC (which by the way makes the best food on the planet, and if you are ever around Chelsea, please go there). It was creamy, lemony, capery, wonderful. This was a tad different, in that it was less creamy and lemony. But it was really good in it's own right. Michael seriously disliked it, by the way. But Michael hates capers. *sigh* I suppose if he can put up with me hating vinegar and mushrooms, I can accept this. Even if it means that I don't get to eat this dish often.

I did not fry my portion of the seitan. I started frying some, but it started freaking me out with it's oiliness, so Michael ate those and I ate my slices that were just from the steamed loaf. But yeah... I can't really say much else, besides that it is salty. In a really, really good way. Yeah. Go read LindyLoo's post. It's a tad graphic (not that I'm complaining), but...well, this dish calls for it, methinks.

Finally, I made something a bit out of my comfort zone. And it made me a little sad, because I did something I shouldn't have, thinking that it would be ok. Listen people: apparently I am developing a hatred for cloves now, too. Great. You know, I didn't used to be this picky. I don't know what the hell happened to me. Well...I do know why I don't like cloves anymore. It might have something to do with the accidental clove overdose that occurred back in September (scroll down, you'll find it).

This would explain why I felt a little apprehensive about the cloves added to Hannah's Cranberry Pudding. I felt especially sad because this is the first recipe I've tried from her wonderful wonderful blog and I SO wanted to like it. It was awesome before I added the cloves. Why oh why did I think I would be ok with this? The clove taste (only 1/2 tsp!) is very pervasive for me. And Michael. This is a huge disappointment (but not Hannah's fault... our tastebuds are just stupid). I'm trying to find someone who really loves cloves, cranberries, and oranges that I can give it to, because it really is too lovely to waste. Just look!

beautiful red pudding of love

I will make this again. I will not add cloves. Because the tartness of the cranberries and the sweetness of the orange add plenty of flavor for me. The texture of this pudding is perfect, as well. Creamy with nice little cranberry chunkies. So... go make this. Add cloves if you're not like me and apparently don't like them. And if you wanna come to my house with a cooler and take this nice little pudding away for your very own within the next couple days...haha... feel free! I used a bag of cranberries, 2 whole oranges, and 2 cups of sort of expensive sugar in this, so I'm loathe to waste that. I'm sorry, Hannah! I feel terrible. Again, this is my fault. Not the recipe!

Man. I am verbose today, yes? Time to go wash some dishes and make some din. I am under orders to make something that Michael will like, and was then asked if I was aware of what he did and did not like, in case he needed to clarify. hahaha... This is how sadfaced he was about that piccata and the pudding. Dinner tonight will be good, I promise!

*I just went to their website and realized what I had was seitan scallopini, not picatta, but the flavors are really, really close, but also that maybe my preconceptions about the Vcon recipe were a bit off. Oops!

Veganomicon Overload

Dare I say that I finally like tempeh?  I dare.  I don't know what it is, but lately...  I like it.  I never used to like it.  But there ya go.  I think, for me, the key is to marinate the holy hell out of it (after boiling the life out of it) in order to render it more likeable.  The texture still gets to me after a bit, but...  I'm getting over it.  Oh!  Another key is to slice it as thin as possible before marinating.  You know, so there is more surface area for the marinade to attach itself to.  Here's the recipe that sealed the deal with me:

i want it again.  now.

Yes, that is the hot sauce glazed tempeh from Vcon.  Originally, I really just wanted a whole lot of the soft poppyseed polenta (also from Vcon) and some brussels sprouts.  But I knew that wouldn't satisfy my Michael's raging hungerbelly.  I had made the hot sauce marinade and put it on tofu once before, and knew it tasted super yummy, and since I had some tempeh, well...  there you go.  It ended up being a full-on comfort food meal.  Especially since the brussels sprouts had like...waaaaay too much EB on them.  I also added another 1/2 cup of cornmeal to that polenta recipe so that it would be more...gloppy instead of soupy.  If you've made this before, you know what I'm talking about.  Anyway, you should make it.  The flavor is subtle and delicious and it's warm and filling and PERFECT.  But make sure you make it with veggie broth (or bouillon like me) and not water.  Duh.  

Next up is a meal that should have tempeh in it, but does not since the grocery store sucks.  Here's the story (there's always a story, isn't there?):  I wanted to make the southern corn pudding (haha..still from Vcon).  My parents make it all the time and absolutely rave about how wooooonderful it is.  But it has cilantro in it, therefore Michael didn't want it.  I explained that, though I too hate cilantro in general, you can't taste it in this dish.  I promised!  It ended up with him getting to choose what we made with it, as a compromise.  Aren't we nice?

He chose the baja tempeh tacos (guess where this one's from?).  Which, funnily enough, also have cilantro in them.  Anyway, cool.  But no tempeh at the store so we did those evil Morningstar Chickn Strips.  Which aren't really evil I suppose (though...they sort of freak me out now that I don't eat them as often), but they are expensive.  Like, $4.  And I would swear on my life that there are fewer of them in a bag now than there used to be.  Anyway.  We made the stuff for the tacos.  I knew immediately that I would not like the slaw...because of the ginormous amount of vinegar involved.  I hate vinegar, guys.  When I can taste it in something, I'm done.  It gags me.  The smell is almost worse.  I just. hate. it.  No one seems to ever understand this about me, but I swear it is true.  I don't even like balsamic vinegar.  Yeah, that's right.  Start throwing stones as you see fit.

Whatever, though.  Fine.  They seemed to be really awesome.  All of it did.  And easy!  Plus, the beer marinade gave us an excuse to buy a 6pack of mexibeer!  (which I incidentally drank none of for some reason.)  

and look how tasty they appear!

The corn pudding was so beautiful.  I baked it in the cast iron skillet.  I use this thing all the time...  what did I do before it?  Thank goodness for birthday presents.

so festive!

Can you tell from the language I'm using how hopeful I was that it would be awesome and how sad I was when I liked....none of it?  I know, I'm terrible.  Jeez.  Well, I tried out my first taco like a real trooper with the slaw and everything the recipe actually calls for.  All I tasted was vinegar.  That was it.  Just...vinegar in my mouth.  

So fine.  My second one, I took out the slaw and ate it with lettuce.  Somehow...I still didn't like it.  I don't know what's wrong with me.  Michael LOVED it.  Like, seriously.  He kept raving about how he wants this to be in our rotation of things we make all the time.  Hmm..  well, is there still hope for the corn pudding?  I would like to say yes.  The flavor was really, really wonderful.  But it wasn't like the bite that I had at my parents' house.  Because the corn got really gummy and stuck to me teeth in a bad, bad way.  Maybe Mom and Dad blend all their corn and pepper mixture and not just 2 cups of it.  I'm not sure.  But the texture was really off-putting for me.  I will, though, be trying it out again.  I have hopes that I can make it good, because the flavor really was quite tasty.  

happy go l(y)ucky dinner!

Oh, my other problem was that I used a whole wheat tortilla as you can see...and it was stupid.  It kept breaking and I ended up with 2 hands covered in various sauces, which was icky and annoying.

I'm full of complaints tonight, aren't I?  I'm sorry.  I'll end on a happy note.  Cuteness.

bill murray lying on my halloween wig (that i wore last year)

ghostface killa lies down sideways and it is hilarious.

Have a good weekend, guys!  It's gonna be rainy and chilly here.  Hmm...was that a...hint?

some hits and misses

I am not above blogging about my failures as much as my successes. Naturally, I'd love to have more good dishes than bad.... but sometimes things just go wrong. And you can learn from my mistakes! Lucky you. First though, how about some pics from my life. Like my bike.

just imagine me cruisin' around town. oh yes.

radtastic pinstriping action

Next, you can see that mom sent me an apron in the mail. She included a note that said 'A sassy apron for a sassy cook'. Awesome! Thanks, Mom, and I totally wear it all the time.

me in 50's garb. i looked happier before the pic was taken but then the camera screwed up. this is the best we could muster.

Oh, and I came up from taking photos of my bike and was watching the kitties under the door. They were watching me, too. The ever curious Ghostface Killa:

'hey! get up here and feed me, already!'

K, food time. You'll notice a pattern soon.

FAIL: bread. I made two loaves, one herb, one normal. I used half WW, half AP flour. And then I made the mistake of startling the loaves after they had risen (an awesome amount) and they fell, and it became all dense and sad. Which in turn makes me sad. But it tasted pretty good.

mom, i seriously need that bread tutorial we keep talking about. i keep screwing up and i'm tired of it!

SUCCESS: turkey style lunchmeat from Vegan Dad. Even though I tried my hardest, subconsciously, to mess this up, too, it turned out good. First, I added waaaay too much soy sauce. Then, while steaming, I steamed out all the water and almost burned my pot to a crisp. Actually, it turned out really great, but could use just a tad more... flavor. I'd add more liquid smoke and more... just everything that adds yum. It'll be ok. This makes a HUGE loaf of seitan and the flavoring in the original recipe gets a little lost, is all. Generally, I'm really happy with how it turned out. It slices thin, scarily just like meat. But way more rad. Vegan Dad is easily the best seitan maker I've seen so far, and his recipes turn out for me most of the time. Plus, steaming seitan is GENIUS!

doesn't this look like meat in a deli? ew! but awesome!

SUCCESS: turkey dinner. Well, this one's fairly obvious. I used the above seitan to make a nice little turkey din for my boy. There with it is some smooshed potatoes (I always leave the skins on potatoes because 1. I'm lazy and 2. no one around here seems to mind) with loads of garlic and scallions, and some steamed Brussels Sprouts and squash with loads of the Mustard Sauce from Veganomicon. This mustard sauce is simply fabulous. Muy Sabroso!

everyone needs a little turkey din in their lives now and again.

SEMI-FAIL: pasta casserole. This tasted better the next day. Consisted of: WW penne, some sauteed squash and zucchini, tofu-spinach-basil ricotta, vegan meatballs, and sauce. I was feeling lazy and needed something I could pop in the oven and forget about. It actually turned out being more work than I wanted. And the ricotta tasted weird or something. But the next day I had it for lunch and it was good. So. I dunno. I've never had that ricotta taste weird before, maybe I was just in a weird mood that night when I ate it. Anyway... just another boring pasta casserole for the masses. Woo!

i mean, it LOOKS good, right?

SUCCESS: coconut black beans, coconut rice. Oh. My. Goodness. Please make both of these, immediately. Go look at the recipes, like RIGHTNOW. Don't change anything about the beans. Definitely eat them with the avocado and mango. I even add some shredded unsweetened coconut. I do cook them for awhile longer than it says, so that they thicken up. Now, the rice. I straight up cooked mine in the coconut milk, not water. Then towards the end, when it seemed a little dry, I added about 1/4 cup of water. I also used a package of oyster mushrooms instead of white mushrooms because I hate white mushrooms and oyster mushrooms are the only kind I like, really. Sounds weird to say that I like a type of mushroom, but oyster mushrooms are nice and chewy, NOT meaty like most mushrooms. Anyway, if you like whatever mushrooms, just add whichever you feel like or have on hand. I just like the oyster ones.

bad pictures of a delicious dinner

FAIL: marinated italian tofu and couscous w/tomatoes and capers (from VCon) and some sauteed spinach with walnuts. Ugh. Everything about this fail is my fault. I used frozen tofu for the tofu dish, which sucked up so much marinade that it made it extra salty. Oh, and I baked it IN the marinade, which I guess just made it worse. The flavor was good though. The couscous.... I was so sad. I'm still a little sad. It says to add optional cloves in the recipe. I don't know what I was thinking, but I added them. And the entire bottle of cloves accidentally got dumped in. I thought I got it all out. I didn't. At all. I was left with a huge container of clove flavored couscous that was impossible to remedy. Nothing really covers up the very strong flavor of cloves. I'd reccommend you skip the cloves altogether on this one. Oh, and that spinach was just very blah.

damnit.

SUCCESS: soft polenta w/poppy seeds (from VCon) and kale w/white beans (from Yellow Rose Recipes). Obviously, those aren't white beans. They're kidney beans. They were the only beans I had in the house, and they were canned. And it turned out just fine! I also added a handful of cherry tomatoes for a little punch. This dinner was SO delicious. The flavors were very subtle, but very yummy. Comforting. Nutritious. Heaven. I added about 1/2 tsp dried thyme to the polenta and I used veg broth, not water. Perfect.

ultimate perfection. i am in love.

FAIL: beanball hoagies. Beanballs from VCon. Are. Mushy. I need to add more wheat gluten, I guess. I thought they were just ok, Michael hated them. He didn't even finish his. Which is rare, honestly. The texture was off, the flavor was off... it was all kind of just...bleh. He made a veggie soup to go with this. It was ok, in my opinion. Sorry, Hunny! Too much cabbage, and I don't add potatoes to my veggie soup. Other than that, it was good though.

how can something that looks this good taste so weird? like mush in your mouth. sorry, Isa.

SEMI-SUCCESS: jalepeno poppers. I got this idea from a really old post from VeganYumYum. I stuffed them with a nooch sauce that I already had in the fridge, and these jalepenos were just dying to be used for something. So. This:

neato!

Served these up with some sloppy joes (Fantastic brand) on that bread from above. The poppers were beer battered (winged that one) and deep fried. I didn't even care, cause they were pretty good. Outside my comfort zone (fry-phobic here), but good.

and in the pic they become shapeless mounds. oh well. there's jalepenos under that batter.

Ok, I'm getting tired here, but I'll just end with a couple things.

LUNCH SUCCESSES: Michael made me lunch a couple times this past week. First off, some pasta that was nice and fresh tasting. I topped with nooch.

pretty

Next up, 'steak' sammiches. These are sliced up Boca patties, sauteed peppers and onions, homemade bread and steak sauce. Very yum.

big lunch, good lunch.

Last but not least.... a silly zucchini.

mega post, as promised

Finally, yes? Ok, throughout this post I will cover my birthday and most of the food involved, my new experiments with Veganomicon recipes (bday present, yay!), and some random pics/recipes that I barely remember eating, let alone making (sorry). There is one golden one in here, however. Keep your eyes peeled for some butternut squash.

K, lets start with my birthday weekend. Sunday, Michael and I drove to Athens, OH to go to Casa Nueva, a lovely restaurant that is worker owned and very supportive of local growers, producers, and healthy eating. While their menu is not entirely vegetarian, there are lots of options, and even specially marked vegan items (and more than just one or two!). If you live close by, definitely pay them a visit. If the food pics below aren't enough incentive, they also have an extensive beer list (over 100 types, I'd say) and they make their own liquor infusions for mixed drinks. Come on, now.

tofu fries appetizer, served with a sundried tomato/basil aioli. we ate a bunch before i remembered i had my camera there for a reason.

stacked vegan enchiladas w/swiss chard and eggplant, served up with jasmine rice, black beans, and guacomole

They make all their salsas and guacomole in house (there are lots of varieties of salsa!) and they even have a vegan queso. Mmmmmmm... Unfortunately, they had already sold out of their only vegan dessert option. That's ok, though because we were stuffed.

Next up is the day my parents came down and I cooked them lunch. My mom insisted that I take process pictures for my blog, so here she is, adding the tofu mixture to the veggies for our mini crustless tofu quiches (from FatFree Vegan Kitchen). I didn't get a picture that day of the finished product, but there is one below from where I made them earlier that week (yes, they are that good).

now you see where i get my skillz

Next up is me kneading my seitan sausages. These were a major hit, when served up hoagie-style with some Italian peppers on buns.

sooo appetizing, that ball of mush

sweet potato fries...we made way too many

this is what it looked like all plated up. we served the quiches earlier as appies.

The truly awesome thing that is next is my birthday cake. Our family birthday cake recipe is called Wacky Cake and it is naturally vegan and amazingly chocolatey, and perfect in every way. The fudgey icing my mom makes isn't though. Well, it's chocolatey and perfect in almost every way except that it's not vegan. So I gave her the chocolate buttercream icing recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and she made it PERFECTLY. Way better than I ever could. I'm missing my cake now, darnit. Anyway, here again is another case where I ate half my serving before I remembered to take a picture. Get over it. That's Rice Dream mint chocolate chip ice cream, by the way.

i could barely slow down enough to bother with this photo, but my mom deserves some credit, here

Presents were rad of course, too. I got a cast iron skillet, a cake decorating set, a cooling rack, loaf pans, new measuring cups/spoons annnnd.... the Veganomicon. Finally. Anyway, more on that later. First, feast your eyes on some tired kitties that love presents almost as much as me, for a different reason.

tired from playing too damn hard

And the very last thing from the birthday part of my post is.. the beautiful flowers that Michael sent to my office on my real birthday! He handpicked each flower at the florist and they were just perfect. (He also got me an AWESOME bike!) We had dinner that night at the Indian place in town, but I didn't bring my camera.

he is just tooo sweet. also, if you look close, you'll see my mom there with my nephew, my dad's radtastic mustache, my neice, and a stack of planet earth books. glimpse into my life!

Next up is my recent foray into the world of the Veganomicon. If you don't have this book yet, please do yourself a favor and go get it, immediately. So many delicious recipes, so little time... *sigh* Anyway, first is the dish that has made me love kale.

braised (seitain), kale, and brussels sprouts

I didn't do the seitan with this because I was using a different protein, but had some kale that needed used up. There are sundried tomatoes in this, and seriously, it is so delicious that I almost died. We served this up with some scalloped potatoes and hot sauce marinated tofu. Michael made the potatoes and used more potatoes than the recipe called for, but didn't really add more of anything else, so they weren't too creamy, but still tasted yum.

herb scalloped potatoes

hot sauce marinated tofu with the rest of it

The tofu was very good, although a little too spicy. This is my fault for insisting on using a habanero hot sauce that I'd never had before. It is apparently incredibly fucking hot!

The next night I made the chili-cornmeal crusted tofu and some mexican millet. Both were absolutely perfect. Besides the fact that I don't know how to cut tofu into triangles. We left out the cilantro in the millet and topped it with scallions instead. Michael and I both think that cilantro tastes like pure death. Yeah, we don't like it.

Om nom nom nom nom nom nom

Ok! On with the randomness part of my post. First up, farmers market from last Saturday. I'm super sad that I missed the market this weekend for the wedding. I mean, it was totally worth it, but I'm gonna miss my fresh veggies this week. Oh, I spent $13 here:

various peppers, apples, beans, sweet potatoes, jalepenos, tomatoes, cantelope

Michael loves pancakes. Almost too much. I love pancakes to an extent, but... Like the late, great Mitch Hedburg once said, 'Pancakes... great at first, but by the time you're done, you're sick of em.' Or something like that. But it's true. Still, these were really good. I made an apple compote (maybe... I'm not sure what a compote really is) to go on top. I'll even give you the recipe! The pancakes are just made from Bisquick. We're lazy, at times.

Apple 'Compote'

3-4 small green apples, cut into 1 inch pieces

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 Tbs vegan butter

pinch of salt

1-2 tsp of cinnamon

nice little amount of fresh grated nutmeg (or some powdered would be fine)

Melt the butter in a small skillet, then add apples. Saute for a few minutes, then add the brown sugar and stir well. Sprinkle on the cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg, stir, and cover. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally until apples are tender, but not mushy (about 8-10 minutes). Serve over pancakes... or ice cream!

One day for lunch I made a sammich. I prefer most sammiches openfaced because you get to have more stuff on them, with less mess falling out of your bread. This is some tempeh (boiled 10 minutes beforehand) heated up with some cheeze sauce, atop homemade bread and topped with yellow tomato slices and some sliced basil (plus salt and pepper).

i couldn't eat all this, but what i did eat was awesome

Oh, and here is some potato salad that Michael whipped up from a combination of the recipe from Accidental Vegan and my additions. You can find this recipe on VegWeb.

this never survives day 2. we can't get enough.

And here's some more randomness:

baked tofu on a big salad

seitan stirfry

mini crustless tofu quiches (made with zucchini instead of mushrooms)

the quiches with some paprika infused couscous

And now for the grand finale! My closer today is something I made up, mostly all by myself, with just a teeny bit of inspiration (just the herb combo) from a Turkish cookbook I have. I present to you... Baked Butternut Squash filled with Mint and Dill Rice! Oh, but it's so much better than it sounds. The addition of apples, raisins, peas, and slivered almonds really rounds out the rice, making it a little sweet as well as savory. And if you've never tried mint and dill together before, try it before you mock it. I didn't know how good it would be, but I was seriously just blown away by the flavor combination. You'll see.

all plated up nice and purty

you know you wanted a closeup of that rice

And now, for the recipe.

1 large or 2 smaller butternut squash, slice in half lengthwise

1 3/4 cups jasmine rice (forgo the brown here, ok?)

3 cups veggie broth or water

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup frozen (or fresh) green peas

1/3 cup apple, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 green cup raisins

1/4 cup slivered almonds (toasted would be good)

1 small bunch of dill, minced

1 small bunch of mint, minced (I'd say about 1/2 cup each here, or more, if you like)

1 Tbsp olive oil (plus more for drizzling over the squash)

2 Tbsp vegan butter

salt and pepper to taste

Start by placing the squash into a large baking dish and drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place into a 400F oven and bake for about a half hour.

Meanwhile, start your rice. Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet. Add onions, apples, and raisins and saute until onions are translucent. Add the rice, stirring to coat in the oil mixture, then stir in the broth or water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until almost all liquid is absorbed. Toss in the peas, almonds, mint, and dill (plus season with salt and pepper), cover the pan and leave to steam for another 5 minutes (if you were cooking this alone, steam it 10 minutes).

Remove the squash from the oven and spoon in the rice mixture. The squash at this point should be almost soft enough to eat. If it's not yet, then leave it in the oven until it is. Anyway, you'll probably have more rice than can fit in the openings, so just spoon it around the squash. Cover and put back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes, until the flavors mingle.

It's so good. You'll love it.

So that's it for my mega post. I'm going to try to start posting more often, now that things have quieted down around here, for the most part.

Oh, I almost forgot! Mom and Dad brought me down a ginormous growlab on my birthday! It stands about 5 feet tall with 2 shelves that have sunlamps over them, and it's about 5 feet wide, too. What should I grow? I'm planning on herbs (I already have 2 types of basil in my window, so that'll go in) like rosemary, thyme, oregano, dill, etc. But what else do you think? Cherry tomatoes? Cucumbers? Lettuces? Does anyone have any growlab experience and know what types of veggies would be good here? I'd love to do bell peppers, but I'm not sure they would work.

Well, until next time.....