broke ass vegan food

Oh how I love Saturdays.  It's 5:24 pm and I am sitting in my bathrobe and listening to The Postal Service on vinyl.  The television hasn't been turned on since my hunny left for work and it's been nice and quiet here.  Besides the records.  And I have time to talk to you!

Dinners recently have been a bit...creative, lets say.  After doing my Christmas shopping, I am totally broke until payday on Monday (not to say I spent a lot, I just don't make a whole lot of money, so what's left over after bills is never much anyway).  That means no running out to the store for this or that for any certain recipe.  We do have quite a bit of food around, but it's all ingredients to different recipes, it seems.  None of it wants to go together.  And we have zero fresh vegetables, which I can't stand.  Still, I'm pretty proud of my last two dinners!  

First up, chorizo by way of Jes at Cupcake Punk (recipe here).  I just happened to have almost everything I needed for this recipe on hand, so that worked out well.  I subbed in 4 grated cloves of garlic for the garlic powder (I'm out...sigh) and put a veggie bouillon cube in with my water and other wet ingredients since I don't have veggie broth powder stuff.  Here's how they turned out:

look how huge!

You can see some of them got a bit squished because this recipe makes a lot of sausage and my steamer is not big.  Like at all.  However, that doesn't really matter.  The verdict on taste?  Michael says this is the best sausage I have ever made.  And I agree.  It's wonderful!  We both really like the other sausage recipe I use, but this one had a spicy yumminess to it that was just perfect.  So thanks, Jes!  Everyone, go over there to her blog for this recipe because it is to die for.  Seriously.  

Anyway, I had some frozen peppers and onions in the freezer and a can of diced tomatoes, so we put that on top.  The bread you see is some flatbread I made that I'm not really happy with because it was kind of thick and chewy and not really the way I wanted it to be.  But it did its job of holding our sausage sammies together (sort of...it did kinda break after it cooled), so that's fine by me.

monster sammie!

Next time I make those sausages (because there will be a next time, oh yes), I will probably make 6-7 sausages instead of the 5 huge ones.  It was just...a lot of sausage to take in at once.  I ended up cutting mine in half lengthwise and then making the sammich.  So that means I could probably make 10 sausages, actually.  Not bad for not going to the store at all, eh?

Dinner last night was a bit more challenging, because it was freezing cold in the kitchen and I didn't want to spend a lot of time in there making different components to a meal.  This meant I needed to make a casserole, basically.  But without veggies?  Well, I found 5 baby carrot sticks and a small bunch of green onions in the crisper.  That had to do.  Here's how it turned out:

wild rice and tofu dish of nom nom nommm

I actually thought this was really good.  It has capers in it though, so Michael liked it less.  I liked it so much though, that I thought I would give you the recipe, in case you were in need of something that was yummy, but doesn't have a bunch of veggies if you don't have them either.  That's homemade tofu in there, by the way!  It was so good.  I swear, I want to only make my own tofu from now on.  It's so fresh and takes up flavor very nicely.  The only thing is that I can't get it to be super firm like the tofu I buy.  Any suggestions?  Let me know.  In the meantime, here's the recipe:

My Fridge Is Empty Casserole

1 cup wild rice

1 block of tofu (firm?), cubed (i didn't press mine because i was afraid it would fall apart, but press yours if you like)

5 green onions, sliced

5 baby carrots (or one regular carrot), diced

1/2  15 oz can of artichoke hearts in brine (not in that oily stuff the sometimes come in), roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp capers, chopped

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried sage

1/2 veggie bouillon cube

1 Tbsp vegan butter (EB)

1/4 cup white cooking wine

2-3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

juice of one lemon

2 1/4 cups water

Preheat oven to 425F.  Throw all that stuff in an 8x8 casserole dish and stir it up.  Put it in the oven and in about 20 minutes, stir it so that the bouillon (now dissolved) and butter (now melted) are incorporated.  Then leave it in the oven until the rice is done and the better part of the water is absorbed, probably another 30 minutes or so.  

My cooking time was a little wonky because I originally had it in there at 350F for an hour and the rice just wasn't cooking, so then I jacked it up to 450F for 20 minutes or so and it was done.  I figure a little less than an hour at 425F will be a fine cooking time.  But don't be afraid to increase the heat and cook a little longer if it's not done in an hour.  Just keep an eye out.

That sounds more complicated than it was.  Really, it took me 10 minutes to get everything in the dish (and this is while I was making it up as I went along).  Then just...wait.  If you have a caper hater in your house, take them out of the dish and then stir them in to your individual portion.  This is what I've been advised to do from now on, because apparently I've tried to sneak capers into one too many dishes.  Michael cannot be fooled!  He has, one might say, a sophisticated palate.  Meaning that he can tell when I'm being sneaky.  

Anyway, hope you are all having a lovely weekend.  Remember that it is possible to eat good vegan food even when you're extra poor around the holiday season.  

weekend food and my vegan weight gain

As I sit here huddled in front of a space heater drinking a huge mug of hot tea, I must finally acknowledge that winter has come to my town.  It snowed today.  Snow!  The thing about winter is this:  I combat cold weather with heavy meals.  And It's starting to show.  Michael calls this my winterfat.  It's time for me to admit to myself though, that I've gained 10 pounds in the past 6 months and most of it has been since October.  Bummer!  My fattypants are now just 'pants'.  Which honestly, it doesn't look that bad.  But I don't have any work fattypants and I can't afford to buy new ones.  So I think it's time for me to tone down on my winter eating, haha...  Seriously, guys, I popped a button on Saturday.  I take this as a sign.  

As such, I am trying to eat a little lighter.  The meals you are about to see are the end of my overindulgence.  Yeah, I'm still probably going to be cooking warm winter meals, but my goal is to eat smaller portions of the heavy stuff and fill up on veggies.  Plus, I really have to start exercising, even though I hate it.  Great!  Please gimme some love on this front, because I need motivation.  Pronto.  I mean, I'm weighing more now than I have in about 3 years, and I really just wanna tone up.  And fit into my pants again.  What are exercises that you guys do at your houses (sans equipment) to stay in shape?  There is a gym in my office building, which I will use about 3 times a week, but what else can I do at home?  Is there an exercise video that you swear by?  One that is sort of fun and will trick me into wanting to exercise?  Just curious.  

Anyway, this being a food blog and all, you probably wanna see some food.  Here you are:

First up is some biscotti that Michael made last week:

cookies...one thing i'm not going to be eating for awhile

They were so good.  I didn't help him at all, either.  'Cause I'm a jerk like that.  No really, I get really pushy in the kitchen sometimes, and this was one of those days, so I just left him to it, and he did a wonderful job.  The recipe is from Vcon, but I really can't be bothered to look it up right now.  It's supposed to have macadamia nuts in it, but he put almonds in there instead, which was a wise (and less expensive) choice.  Chocolate + almonds = bliss, yes?  Especially lovely when dipped in a cup of coffee.  

Next is evidence that I do eat salad:

i love veggies.

Except that this was totally cancelled out by eating an excessive amount of croissantdogs.  Bah.

And then!  I got a request last week for a curry!  I haven't made a curry since before October, because we were a little burned out on them.  This one has loads of spinach, carrots, peas, and tofu.  Oh, and coconut  milk.  Foiled again!

Served with brown basmati rice:

creamy yummy yum yum yum

Saturday I cooked dinner for my 2 brothers and their families.  Before I show you the food, let me show you what was on the fridge at Jimmy's (my oldest brother) house.

broc!  hilarious!

No, but the truly crazy thing is that my nephew, Charlie, drew the picture on the left on Election Day (Nov 4, as if you didn't remember).  The photo on the left was in the paper on November 15.  What!  My nephew is psychic!  Cool.

So anyway, this is what I made.  It's the casserole with a gross name that tastes totally delicious.

i made way too much food.

I don't know why I made so much, but Michael and I ended up taking almost an entire casserole dish of the stuff home with us, which we ate.  Believe me, this stuff never goes to waste.  And it was a hit, I think!  My oldest brother seemed a little skeptical about the 'brown bits' and the 'white stuff', and weirded out by the amount of soy in the thing, but nobody could deny how totally rad it tasted.  I don't know if any of the kids ate it.  They were in a separate room with open access to a trash can, so it's anybody's guess.  So...all in all, success!

My sisters-in-law contributed some loverly bread rolls and a totally rockin' salad with homemade dressing.  Here it is all plated up.

you'd think our family was italian, no?

Look at my brother's supercool beer glasses.  That's his name, Jimmy.  Awesome!

Last night, I found a stuffing recipe.  We based a meal around it.  The rest of the meal was great!  The stuffing kind of sucked.  But I admit to that being my fault since I added excessive amounts of fresh sage to it.  Bad idea!  Oh, also, it was mushy.  I like a dry stuffing.  So at least I know what not to do on Thanksgiving.  Practice makes perfect.  The veg with dinner was yummy though.  We found baby artichokes on sale at the store on Friday ($1.49 for a HUGE package of them, whaaaat?).  These were fun and tasty, but the instructions on the package as to how to prepare them freaked me out.  It stopped calling them 'baby artichokes' and just started calling them 'babies'.  Weird!

vegtastic

Sauteed up with some onions, spinach, grape tomatoes, and white wine.  So good.  We were also feeling in the mood for tempeh.  I didn't feel like inventing a marinade, so I used the basic broiled tofu recipe from Vcon, but used tempeh (boiled first) instead.  It was seriously good.  It's amazing to me what soy sauce, garlic, and lemon juice can do to something.  So easy!  So good!  So...yeah!

sunday dinners are the best

So now I'm off to reheat my tea (it goes from boiling to ice cold in 10 minutes in my apartment) and think of what I can eat for dinner that isn't going to make me any fatter.  I really want some lentils.  And squash.  Those are ok, right?  Jeez.  Now that I actually cook things from scratch, I have no concept of how much fat and calories are in things anymore.  I used to know the calories/fat of everything in my cupboard when I was omni.  Not that that was healthy either, you know.  I'm just saying...sometimes I miss knowing what the hell I'm eating, dietary info-wise.  And no, I'm not going to spend an hour on some website feeding in every ingredient of a recipe to find out the nutrition breakdown.  I'm just gonna use my common sense, ok?  Word.

'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!

Vegan Mofo day 10: my love affair with leeks

I've been home for 20 minutes and someone's car alarm has gone off a grand total of 4 times and counting, right in front of my house.  I'm tempted to go out and give that alarm something to go off about.

On to brighter topics:

i love leeks.

That's not my photo by the way.  I found it on the internet because I'm too lazy to go take a picture of the 2 leeks left in my fridge (that I'm tempted to cook up and eat right this minute).  I could seriously eat leeks 5 days a week.  And still be sad on the 2 days I don't have them.  Unfortunately, they are a bit expensive here (about $5-6 for 3 or so), and in my attempt to save money on groceries, leeks went out the door along with Morningstar Chickn Strips.  However, as a true leek addict, I must relapse every now and then.  Even if it means that my next grocery trip I'll need to buy the chickn strips, since they're Michael's favorite (not that I won't enjoy them).  And I found the perfect recipe for them.  Not that you probably don't already know about it, since it's been around for awhile.  I've been eyeing the Leek and Bean Cassoulet with Biscuits in Veganomicon since before I got it over a month ago.  I'd heard about it, and I wanted it, but my frugal ways prevented me from eating it.  Well, I caved.  I kept telling myself, 'Once fall hits, you are allowed to make this recipe.  It will be worth it.  It will be rainy and cold and that will be the perfect meal for you.  Just wait.'  

Well, I waited.  Fall came.  And it's been in the mid to high 70s and sunny and beautiful almost every single day.  Finally, I said screw it, I cannot wait another moment before I make this recipe.  Sunny fall weather be damned!

And I'm so glad.   

i want to see this in my kitchen more often

As you can see, I use the dark green parts of the leeks as well.  I think they are tasty and wonderful.  I fully ignore any recipe that tells me not to use that part.  I think people are crazy.  Luckily, Isa and Terry did not specify which parts to use, so I didn't have to feel guilty about going a little leek-crazy.  I put 2 huge leeks in this bad boy (well over the 2 cups it calls for).  And it was good.  

The whole thing was perfect.  I also have a mini love affair with thyme.  I used to not care about thyme, but recently I can't get enough.  This recipe was made for me.  Plus, just look at my biscuits!

the only word for this is glorious.

The only thing I changed about the biscuits was that I added about a teaspoon of cream of tartar to the mix.  I learned this from my mom and it gives biscuits this wonderfully tart flavor that was only enhanced by the fact that I let the vinegar sit in the soymilk (to make 'buttermilk') for a good half hour.  By the time I poured it into the dry part, it was almost chunky.  You might think this is gross.  I sort of did for a second, but then I quickly forgot about it once I tasted the biscuits.  They.  Were.  Perfect.  Next time I might use whole wheat pastry flour though, in order to make myself feel better when I eat 3 of these in one sitting.

topped with fresh thyme...i'm swooning over here.

Basically, I am in love.  Thank you, Isa and Terry, for inventing such a mouth-watering dish.  It came out perfectly (even though I had to use a sweet potato because I only had 2 tiny regular potatoes) and Michael loved it and we had the leftovers for lunch, which were just as awesome, and that fucking car alarm is going off again but I'm rising above it, trying to just imagine eating this for every dinner for the rest of my life.

*sigh*  I'm sad that it's all gone.  I might cheat and make it again next week, since I have 2 leeks left.  Unless I find something equally wonderful to put my leeks into.

On a side note, Michael ordered a soymilk maker and it arrived today.

this is like the vegan holy grail, sort of

We will be making our own tofu as soon as the million pounds of soybeans he ordered come in.  So get ready!  I can't wait.  I'm going to make herbed tofu, and it will be outrageously awesome.

To summarize:

leeks are the best thing on this planet.

soymilk machines are exciting.

kitties love fall, too:

lets start october with some october beans

Welcome to my first post of Vegan Mofo!  There are so many people participating this year, and I for one, am very psyched about it.  I plan on posting as often as possible (at least 5 days a week) and cooking up a gosh darned storm.  Starting tonight.  I didn't cook last night because Michael and I got sushi and chinese food (no pics...it was kind of visually boring).  However, the night before I made a lovely winter squash casserole and the october beans that you saw from the end of my last post.  It wasn't my prettiest meal ever, but it was made up all on my own.

mushy yummy warm in my tummy

It was basically just a concoction of 2 types of winter squash, a block of tofu, some onions & garlic, coconut milk, veggie broth, and curry powder.  Bake it at 425F for about an hour (maybe a little more) and you get a squishy, sweet, curry-y, spicy casserole.  The flavor was pretty subtle, but it intensified in the leftovers and made a nice lunch the next day.  

So, I cooked the beans.  This was my first time ever cooking fresh beans like that (besides plain ol' green beans)...  and the texture was sort of weird.  I dunno if I cooked them too long or not long enough, but I definitely added the salt too early (the skins were sort of tough).  Still, with a nice squeeze of lemon juice and some seasoned salt, they were pretty damn tasty.

and they turn purple when they cook, neat-o!

That's leftover mexicouscous in the background, which may seem weird for this meal, but...  the flavor of mexi was slight enough that it blended in fairly well.  Gimme a break, this was a use up what we got type of meal!

Tonight we're making stuffed peppers with a special potato/pea concoction from my childhood that I am attempting to veganize.  I've been thinking about it all week, and I think it can be done.  Oh, today is worldwide vegetarian day, too.  So.  Awesome.  But...  VEGetariAN.  cutouttheshitinthemiddle.

Oh yeah, also, I changed my layout.  Whaddya think?

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.