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:
14 comments:
Leeks, kitties, and biscuits?!!! Fabulous! I have a bunch of leeks sitting in my fridge waiting to be turned into delicious soup. :)
I agree leeks are just wonderful - but are expensive here too... but a few days ago I found two leeks and a whole bunch of potatoes in a discount bag at the organic stall of the market - this has given me the inspiration to use my leeks wisely :)
That is making my mouth water.
Your cats are so spooky in that picture!
This dish looks great, your cats are adorable and I covet your soymilk maker.
I LOVE Leeks too. I can't believe how expensive they are there!!
Your Cassoulet looks YUM!
so, wait. if I'm having a love affair with leeks too, doesn't it make for a very messy and incredibly complicated love triangle we're all having? my brain explodes.
i have never had leeks but I have been eyeing that casserole, too! i am going to have to make it when we finally get some cool weather. it is hot here, too. (i live in SC). awesome soymilk maker! i have the soyapower and i LOVE it. we save about 20.00 a week on soymilk since buying it. it has more than paid for itself.
leeks, huh? i'm not sure about them yet, but i guess i need to broaden my foodie horizon.
and i can't wait to hear about the soymilk maker... i'm thinking about putting one on my xmas wish list.
I love leeks, too. I made that cassoulet the other night (still have to blog about it) and it was so amazingly delicious! So so good!
I am so jealous of your soymilk maker, you have no idea!
That looks so tasty, I can't wait to get home and eat proper food again on tuesday!!
Oh and I now have soymilk machine envy! I've been eyeing one up every since I saw someone on the ppk making their own tofu and tempeh. I might have to ask santa for one!
your kitties are the cutest! i'm a sucker for black kitties. we've got 4 cats and none of them (sadly) are black. angry kitty (our feral cat - she hates us and lives off of anger and spite and everything mean in the world, hence her name) is a tortoise shell, she's the closest we're got to a black kitty. (sigh)
hooray for a soy milk maker! we've got one, too - although we don't use it as much as we should. i'm pretty damn lazy sometimes, and i need to just start leaving it out on the counter so it can scream "use me" everytime i see it. i think you can make rice milk with a soy milk maker, too - which also rocks.
the bean & leek cassoulet is one of my favorite recipes. one of the first ones we tried, too. your biscuits look so awesome, and i really like the idea of put'n a little cream 'o tartar in there. we're gonna have to give that a go. mmmmmmmmm! leeks = the best! and there's nothing wrong with using the tasty green part either. i can't believe more people don't enjoy it - 'cause they're really miss'n out.
maybe that person's car battery will die and then the car alarm will cease to be. that's freak'n annoying as hell. ugh.
happy fall times! wahooooooooooo!
That's a cute picture of your kitties.
I am looking forward to hearing about your experiences with the soymilk maker. I have been thinking of getting one, so I would love to hear about your experience with it when the soybeans come in.
jes - leek soup sounds awesome! good idea.
georgia - discount produce that include leeks?! our stores only discount things like wilty lettuce and old mushrooms.
megan - drool drool...our kitties are spooktacular.
tara - the soymilk maker is awesome, for sure.. we found ours on ebay for sort of cheap-ish.
jeni - expensiveness blows, for sure. especially since leeks are the best.
celine - messy and complicated is the only way to go in this kind of love triangle. but think of all the sexy possibilites!
virginia - yeah, i can't believe this stupid hot fall weather. it's like 80F here today. and we figured out that we can make 58 cakes of tofu for 32 cents each with the beans that michael bought! whoa!
miss v - you absolutely must eat leeks. it's like..a tastebud necessity.
shelly - isn't that recipe so good it makes your knees shake? guh. i'm hungry just thinking about it.
sal - proper food sounds like good food to me. and i can make my own TEMPEH with this thing? must investigate.
jessy - our black kitty (bill murray) is definitely the evil one. your angry kitty sounds awesome! you should totally use your soymilk maker more...we've figured out that it's gonna save us loads of money, if i'm not too lazy about it.
zoey - get ready, cause i'm about to blog about it.
I have the same soymilk maker and LOVE it! Where did you buy your 18 lbs. of soybeans from?
P.S. I agree about blogger sucking (sometimes). People who use Internet Explorer cannot see any of my sidebar. It just seems to have disappeared and I have no idea how to fix it! I'm at www.Iamglutenfree.blogspot.com.
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