Tuesday Twitter

I'm behind.
Went away for the weekend and it throws me out of sink, and out of the kitchen.

But check this out - 247 lb. Vegan!
You go girl!

Quote of the Week

Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia."
Joseph Wood Krutch

....truer words have never been spoken.

I Faked it this Weekend....

.....with fake sausage patties - Chickpea Sausage Patties to be exact. This recipe I found on the blog "EATAIR" . These were beyond yummy! And for once I followed the recipe and the only thing I would do differently next time is to double the recipe. 5 out of 5 forks on these. I'm dreaming of "Vegan McMuffins" as I type this. These patties would be perfect for that...but I served them with baked butternut squash and asparagus.

Then I made some balls....

...for pasta & balls. I use the "BETTER BURGER" recipe from "Vegan Vittles" and make them into balls. I usually double the recipe so I have extras to freeze. This time I change the recipe a tad...instead of 2 cups of TVP (in the double recipe) I used 1 1/2 cups of TVP and 1/2 c. of ground walnuts. I very much like the change, it added more flavor and they weren't as "gooey".

....and some baked seiten. I confess, I made them a while ago, in fact I've made a couple of times. This recipe is from "Veganomicon" - since everyone now has made the Chickpea Cutlets**, the Baked Seiten Cutlet recipe is the recipe before it.

Here's a photo before going into the oven.....

And the finished product.....

As stated, I've made these a couple of times. The second time I made them, I thought I screwed up with the wheat gluten and the "dough" was extremely a stringy glob mess- and of course I doubled the recipe. So I put that aside, and made another, single batch, better, but still had stringy globs in it. Well, I decided not to waste anything and cooked all 3 batches. They ended up turning out great- taste wise, just not as pretty as the above photos. Oh, and I save the broth from the baking process (freezer) to use again to make these...no need to waste. The cutlets were moist and tender with less mess then the boil method.

I really need to perfect my wheat gluten technique; I have issues of getting distracted and I think the problem arises when I don't mix immediately upon adding the wet ingredients. Or maybe I pour the wet ingredients in too quickly and not evenly. Any one has hints, pretty please let me know. The seiten was great as a substitute for the tofu in my lettuce wraps (April 13, 2007 post).

**Okay, don't totally BOO me, but the Chickpea Cutlets from "Veganomicon" were just okay for me. Goods even agreed with me. I do think they are a great base to work with. Sorry if I offend anyone.

The next new fake meat I'm going to make is Corned Beef from the blog- Everyday Dish. Yummy??? I'll let you know.

January 21, 2008 - Flower of the week

Well since my flowers from last week still look great, I did not buy new ones this weekend. So I'm posting the progress of my orchid producing a flower. I first spotted the stem on New Years Day. I'm very excited about this, I received the plant as a gift Christmas 2006. Well, happy Monday to you....

And the answer is.......

...A MOUSE!

But not this mouse, this a mouse from the yard- friendly little critter isn't he? The mouse in the freezer was a house mouse that died, we are assuming naturally (we would NEVER use any kind of poison). Here is how it panned out....

Last Friday I was digging in your freezer for vegan sausage that I needed for Sun. – needed to see if I had to go to the store. Well - I was digging, I come across the white package in Goods' sausage section.
I said “I know what this is”
a semi-startled/sad look comes over his face and he said “It’s not what you think”
I said “really – then what is it” as I had it in my hand
he said “a mouse”
I went “ewhhhhh” and gently put it back into the freezer (you have to have respect for the dead - but Goods says i threw it, but I don't believe him)
and then I said “well at least it was in the meat section”

I didn’t have to question why he had it in there- we had a hawk in the yard one day that was dazed and the only thing we had in the house was bacon, so Goods fed it bacon. Well a hawk guy told us that isn’t good for a hawk to eat (well it was better then nothing) and he said if you ever come across some fresh roadkill put it in the freezer and save it. So Goods was taking out x-mas decorations and found this mouse, dead, and fresh, so he put it in the freezer.

Here are some pics of the reason why we have the Popsicle mouse.
He was first in our front yard - very beautiful

Then I went into the backyard to do some work, and the hawk flew back there too. He landed on the cable line. He loss his balance and fell off, thank goodness some evergreens broke his fall. He ultimately landed in a row of dense hostas. He couldn't get out of them so Goods came to the rescue.
After Goods put him on the fence....

Eating his bacon...
After an hour or so he flew off. We pray that he is safe and sound.

So the tip of the week is.....Keep a mouse in your freezer for emergency hawk food.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK & A GUESS WHAT IT IS????

This is one of my favorite quotes:
Being vegan helped me realize I can say and do what I believe is right. That's powerful. -Alicia Silverstone


....And try and guess what is in the white package on top of GOODS' sausage- let me reiterate- GOODS' SAUSAGE- I have nothing to do with serving killed animals! Answer will be forth coming.

Food Fest

I wasn't exactly going to spend most of my weekend in the kitchen, but by the looks of it, I did. But really I didn't.

Friday's food was tofu stuffed spinach rolly things...not a real catchy title but they were really good. Everyone I'm sure has made these, one time or another.

On cooked spinach lasagna noodles I spread a mixture of:

3/4 of a box of firm tofu

assorted veggies: shredded carrots, green & red peppers, & onions.

approx 1/4 of nutritional yeast

seasonings: roasted garlic, Italian seasoning, pepper - I think that is all.

This made 6 rolls - perfect!

Some pics:

Then I poured this over it-

I love this sauce. I only posted a pic because I'm so excited to find a sauce that is tomatoeey, and not over powered by spices. I had to replace my favorite sauce because it had milk products in it. I was quite distraught over it- I use to bring cases of it back to Michigan from my hometown Altoona, PA. Oh, and by the way, I found this sauce at Costcos for under $6 for 3 jars! Much less then at the supermarket.

Then Saturday night I told Goods I wasn't really cooking - guess I lied a tad. But really are appetizers really cooking???? Goods made some cheese on the grill (all his) and served with some grilled flat bread. The dish that is bright orange in the left hand corner is "Cheese Nacho Dip" OMG, if you never made this- go do it now. It's the best, even omni people tell me how yummy it is.

Then I made some potato skins. I stuffed them (prebaked) with spinach, roasted garlic, vegan cheese and tempeh bacon I made from "Vegan Vittles". Being pretty much a tempeh newbie, this time I bought tempeh that had bigger soybeans in it- it just crumbled apart- tasted as good as the last time I made it; so that's all that counts but it would cause havoc in a sandwich!

This is something I did to the OUTSIDE of the potatoes before I stuffed them. I coat the outside lightly with oil, and sprinkle seasoning on it - it this case, garlic, onion powder & paprika.

I also so this with my bake potatoes before I bake them....just adds a little something.

Then Sunday we had a family kiddie b-day pizza party to go to, so I volunteered to bring a vegan dish for us vegans in the crowd...okay, it served more then just the two of us. This is a very easy dish to make. I stretched out premade bread dough (prefrozen, thawed and raised) and filled it with whatever I have- in this case, cooked spinach, roasted garlic (whole cloves), sun dried tomatoes, precooked in a little oil: vegan sausage, onion, red & green peppers; sprinkled with nutritional yeast and toasted walnuts. The walnuts are great in this, I never skip that ingredient. Add some choice spices and bam, you're done.

Pinch the sides together in the middle and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for about 30 minutes @ 350 - until brown.

I don't have a "finish product" photo, but it was delish. This is good warm, room temp or cold.

I mentioned above that I used some vegan sausage in this dish....it was really very good-

....but the only problem with them was that each link was around 250 calories! OY!

So after the weekend of cooking, I guess Guido was pooped.

If you are wondering WHY she is laying there, the kitchen has a heated floor, so when she is too warm from laying in front of the fireplace, she lays on the cooler heated floor....ahhh, what a life.

January 14, 2007 - Flowers of the Week

OY, it's Monday AGAIN.....

Friday - Tip of the Week

HOLY COW - WHAT A SAVINGS!!

A box of 12 Aseptic boxes of Kirkland Organic Plain Soy Milk
cost $ 10.59. That is a mere $ .8825 per 32 oz unit!!!!
AND the expiration date is Nov '08!

Warning, if you have a weak stomach,
don't open this link-

EEWWWWWW (click ewwwww), YUCK ICK! Kraft should be sued for grossness. (BTW I'm not sue happy- it's just a terminology)

Have a great weekend!

How to Murder a Young Coconut

...and a fine job we did of it.

I've been reading how great young coconuts are nutritional wise. I read a good many "Raw Blogs". I do try to eat as raw as I can, or really want to. Breakfast is usually raw, Lunch I shoot for 75% (but since it's winter, and I'm cold, it's more like 50% raw) and then dinner, not so much.

So back to the murder thing. I read a website "It's Awesome to be Rawsome" and Ms. Awesome (which I really think she is) demonstrates the RIGHT WAY to KILL a young coconut. Murdering and Killing are two totally different things as Goods and I show you.

As soon as Goods realised what I was doing in the kitchen, he came in and took the knife away from me...it was really for my own good. So my knife I chose wasn't cutting it, I didn't want to use my good knives so Goods went to get some tools from the garage.

Took awhile, but here's the coconut water:

Goods in action...and NOT with the proper killing tools-

Now try the chisel-
And finally Murdered (after he took it outside, wrapped in the towel and whacked it with the hammer)-

I know, not pretty, but we are young coconut virgins...and I don't think Ms. Awesome would be very proud of it......

My verdict- FUNKY. It really reminded me of coconut (go figure) cream pie. Very gel like.
Goods verdict - I can't believe you are eating it- doesn't it remind you of mushrooms ???(a huge dislike of mine).

So after the taste test I scooped the rest of the meat out and I used it in our breakfast smoothies the next morning. That was yummy! Now for the coconut water, I didn't try it yet- I thought I was adventurous enough for one day....I'm thinking coconut water and vodka tonight.
For me the young coconut is going to be an acquired taste, or really texture...I would buy more, I would also buy the proper killing tools too.

And why are young coconuts so good for you ask????

• Coconut water is identical to human blood plasma which makes it the universal donor. Plasma makes up 55% of human blood. By drinking coconuts we give ourselves a instant blood transfusion - info from this source.


• The coconut water is more hydrating to the body then water - info from this source.
  Like Nature's Gatorade!


• CALCIUM RICH!
  
• NO CHOLESTEROL EITHER!
  
• Many more reasons that you can explore in the mentioned links.

Quote of the Week

We all love animals. Why do we call some "pets" and others "dinner?" ~k.d. lang

I don't get it either....

and I don't think Lily gets it either.

Jan 9th Addition- Since this little post is pet related I would like to pay homage to one of our pet pond fish - Hot Lips. I found her dead in our pond today, she didn't survive her injuries she sustained when she decided to go swimming in the skimmer/filter box. May you swim with the big guys Hot Lips- I will always remember your little wiggle when you swam.

I really just don't get it (how people that love animals can eat them too) especially when something like this happens. I'm not ashamed to admit that I shed tears over Hot Lips. Most people will think I'm silly and will say "It's just a fish", but it just reaffirms that I am to be a Vegan, and the path I have chosen is 100% right for me.

Orange Soup

Well I didn't know what else to call the soup because I used carrots, butternut squash and sweet potatoes....oh, and orange juice.

THE RECIPE......

Prepared:
4 C. Diced Carrots
2 C. Cubed Butternut Squash (which I had left over from Veganomicon - Butternut Squash Rice
Paper Rolls - I love these things...I've made them twice so far! no pics though)
2 C. Cubed Sweet Potatoes

In large pot, combine above veggies with:
3 C. Water
1 C. Orange Juice
1 small Veggie Bullion Cube (optional, I didn’t add salt)

Cook until veggies are tender.

In the mean time- Saute:
4 tsp. vegan butter
1 C. Chopped Onion
3 Cloves of chopped garlic
1 tsp. of chopped hot pepper—I used Serranos (optional)

After the above has sautéed for a few minutes add:
1 tsp Curry Powder Seasoning (this had ginger, cinnamon, cloves etc. in it too)
1 Tbs. Fresh Grated Ginger (think 1.5 tsp would be good next time)
1 Tbs. of Dried Parsley
Fresh Ground Pepper to taste.

When the sautéing is complete, add 1/2 C. of Ground Cashews (measured before grinding) – Here, I used raw cashews, I think toasted cashews would be good too, or you can just leave the nuts out altogether….I’m easy like that.

Now add the sautéed mixture to the cooked veggies (no not drain).
Add 1 C. of Soymilk

With my emulsion blender, I love love this thing, I blended it smooth.
Tasted it, humm, Goods tasted it- I made the following additions:
1 C. of Orange juice
1 more Sweet Potato (I had one in the freezer just waiting to become sweet potato biscuits)

By adding the extra items, it tamed down the ginger that was a tad strong, and it you now could taste a hint of Orange in it, which I was striving for.

Then I heated again for 15 minutes. I served with a sprinkle of toasted pumpkin seeds and some croutons.

I give this a 4 out of 5 forks. I need to play with the seasonings some. I would make this again, but it won't be for a while, I made a TON.

I'll end with a photo of Guido playing with her imaginary carrot--really, she plays with a lot of imaginary things.

Okay- I'm almost ending with Guido.

If you are from the Detroit area, there is a restaurant in Grosse Pointe that we went to Saturday night that Goods and I both very much enjoyed. The name of the joint is "City Kitchen" I've included a link. The atmosphere was great, we sat at the bar- THE NON-SMOKING BAR! The whole restaurant is NON-SMOKING. The food was great, they went out of their way to make my meal vegan (even checking their pasta lables!) - I had a pasta with veggies in a wine sauce - sorry no pics THIS TIME. Oh, and I had a super spinach salad with jalapeno mango dressing. The people were extremely friendly, both the people that work there and the patrons.

Okay, NOW I'm ending.

January 07- Flowers of the week

Happy Monday!!!
It's going to be in the high 50's today here in Michigan- I'll be taking photos of my flowers growing outside soon...well okay in a few months. So until then, here are my inside flowers for the week. A real food post coming at you tomorrow.

Merry Belated Christmas

....and Happy New Year

And I'll be back soon with more Goods....
(and yes, we had a santa skeleton in our front yard)