Quote of the Week

The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?"

~Jeremy Bentham

Plan ol' good Veggin food

I've been craving French Toast for ages. None of the recipes that I came across really didn't seem appealing to me....but then I found this one!
Dreena's Fantastic French Toast! And that it is fantastic.

So on Sunday, after my 4 mile run OUTSIDE- OUTSIDE IN THE FRESH AIR, NO SNOW, SIDEWALKS CLEARED, - did I mention- OUTSIDE???? And can I mention that I ran 4 miles Saturday OUTSIDE...and now I will mention that I had to run on the treadmill, inside this morning because we got snow over night...okay, so anyway, Sunday I made the french toast.

Here is my naked french toast ~ before the maple syrup.

Recipe from her website (link above too)~

1 cup vanilla non-dairy milk
(note: I only have plain soymilk - I used that plus 1/2 tsp of vanilla)
2 tbsp flax meal
1⁄2 cup silken firm tofu
1⁄4 tsp cinnamon
1⁄8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1⁄8 tsp sea salt
1 tsp canola oil

8 - 9 slices bread of choice

2 - 3 tsp canola oil (or more, if needed, for frying)

Using a hand blender or in a blender (used this), purée the non-dairy milk, flax meal, tofu, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and canola oil until very smooth and thick (it will get thicker as it sits a little while and the flax absorbs some of the liquid).

Dip a slice of bread in the batter. Turn over and let it sit for a few moments to soak, then remove and place on a plate until ready to fry. In a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, add the canola oil when hot and reduce heat to low/medium-low. Fry bread for 4-6 minutes on each side, until lightly brown (try to flip only once so that the batter will set and brown nicely on the bread).
Serve with pure maple syrup.

Goods said that now he expects it every weekend. And don't we know "expecting" and it "happening" are two totally different things.

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Sunday we invited a friend (LM) over that has been spending a lot of his time traveling and staying in hotels for business...thought maybe he could use some good VEGAN food (or as LM says ~ Veggin)

Premeal (no pics)-
**Horseradish "Cheese"with crackers ("Vegan Vittles" recipe for crock cheese with horseradish added)
** Hummus and veggies

Main Grub-
**Garden Salad

**Freshly baked Light Oat Bread from Allrecipes.com~

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons margarine
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS
Add ingredients to bread machine pan in order recommended by your manufacturer. Use regular light setting.

This is awesome bread - so light and fluffy; I've made it before and will make in many times again.

**Fettuccine Alfredo with Veggies ~ recipe to follow

Here is my plate - kind of messy

LM couldn't believe that I was taking a photo of him eating.....

But Goods was all nonchalant about it, reassuring LM that it's okay, I do it all the time and that the photo will only end up on my blog.

LM stated that this was the best thing I ever made him....a tear came to my eye. But here is the recipe I concocted for the Veggie Fettuccine Alfredo

The Sauce-

Blend together with emulsion blender or other blender:
1 container of Tofutti Cream Cheese
½ c. firm Tofu
4 Tbs. of Earth Balance
1 C. Rice Milk
2 Tbs. Nutritional Yeast
1 Tbs. Dried Parsley
1 tsp. Sea Salt
1/4-1/2 C. of Vegan Parmesan Cheese
Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

Put in medium sauce pan.

Add one bulb of roasted garlic (we LOVE garlic)

Heat thoroughly. It's ready to use!

Veggies for in the pasta - I used asparagus, onion, carrots, artichoke, broccoli and roasted red pepper (homemade). Cook in a little olive oil until desired doneness.

Cook one package of Fettuccine (actually I didn't mix about 1 c. of cooked fettuccine upon assembling). Drain and rinse. Mix the noodles, veggies and sauce. TA-DA- Done.

**Dessert~
Vanilla Soy Ice Cream (homemade) with Carmel Sauce (from "Vegan Ice Cream Paradise" website) if you had room, they did, I didn't. I screwed up the Carmel Sauce because I apparently can't read directions...but the boys assured me that it was really good.

The Vanilla Ice Cream is just a variation of my new found ice cream formula-

2 C. Soy Creamer
(I think french vanilla creamer would be good here- next time!)
1/4 C. Powdered Soy Milk
4 oz. Tofutti Cream Cheese
1/2 C. Sugar
3 tsp. Vanilla
Chill above mixture, if you have time. In ice cream maker, put the “cream” mixture in and cycle for approx 30 minutes.

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That about wraps up my food production. I've been doing a lot of crafting - mosaic-ing anything that doesn't move....but I'll save that for another post. 'Till then - I'm out.

Feb. 25, 2008 - Flower of the Week

Happy Last Monday in February!!
Only 24 more days until Spring! Will that make the 4-6 inches of expected snow tonight more exceptable - NO! But there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Tip of the Week -

Don't eat any samples at Costco. Even if it is just a slice of apple.
Don't do it....unless you like to be sick for 2 days.
Trust Goods and me on this one...yes, both of us.

GET RED-DEE FOR DINNER!

Goods & I were invited over to dinner to his Bro's and SIL house this past weekend. In the course of chatting about the plans, I said to SIL- "oh- we should do a red theme party some day". Well SIL took the challenge, thus I too bring offerings of redness to the evening. What GREAT FUN!

For pre-meal food - SIL had some great Muir Glenn Black Bean and Salsa-
And per her request, I made Nacho Cheese Dip from Shmoooo's website - (close enough to red, wouldn't you say??). Love love this stuff....

Even their Granddog- DUFFY, got into the red theme.....here he is with Goods - a note, Goods is also adorned in RED, as was SIL and I.

First course - Tomato Basil Soup - from William Sonoma - SOUP cookbook. This was excellent, she used soy milk instead of the cow milk it called for....I'm waiting for the recipe from her.

Marinated fresh tomato salad...so nice and fresh, but we all agreed we really miss our garden tomatoes! Hey! Only 6 more months to wait!

Angel Hair Pasta w/ garlic, sundried tomatoes and roasted red pepper sauce. Loved the olives in it. It was a recipe that she concocted and it is definitely a recipe I'm copying from her :)

After all that food, someone was too pooped to party with her RED fish. This is another Granddog- Sarah.

So as we let the food settle in our tummies, we played a wild game of HI-HO-Cherrios (I know, cherries - I guess I should say RED cherries)

Not exactly sure what Goods is doing here, maybe just maybe Goods has come to LOVE HI HO CHERRIOS as much as I and he is showing it his affection. I love HI HO CHERRIOS- yeap, ask the youngsters and the adults, if we are going to play games it is mandatory that the first game is HI HO CHEERIOS. BTW, Good's Bro. won.

Then came dessert- Cherry Cheesecake "Ice Cream" -

Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream

***Does not get rock hard in freezer ice cream!***

(NOTE: I did modified a recipe from vegsource.com and came up with this)

2 C. Soy Creamer
1/4 C. Powdered Soy Milk
6 oz. Tofutti Cream Cheese
1/2 C. Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla
1 Tbs. Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

Chill above mixture, if you have time.

Cherry mixture:
Approx 1 cup of Frozen Cherries
1/2 C. of water
1 tsp. Vanilla or Lemon Juice
Combine in small sauce pan and bring to boil.

Combine:
2-3 tsp. Arrowroot
Add just enough Water to dissolve Arrowroot.

When the Cherry Mixture starts to boil, add Arrowroot mixture, turn off stove and stir well. Cool.

In ice cream maker put the “cream” mixture in and cycle for approx 30 minutes.
Add the Cherry mixture and cycle for 5 more minutes.

EAT!

What I really like about this ice cream, besides the awesome taste is that you can take leftovers out of the freezer and serve immediately! It doesn’t get rock hard- Now doesn’t that ROCK!

I have also made pineapple/ mango ice cream, instead of making the cherry mixture I just throw in, in the last 5 minutes, one cup of fresh mango & pineapple (cut in some pieces).
Totally yummy!

ALSO - When I was making the cherry cheesecake recipe I opened my Soy Creamer and it was BAD- so I used 2 C. of Soymilk and 1/2 C. of Powdered Soymilk.

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We had such a fun time! And it was such a fun idea. Maybe for St. Patties Day we will do a green theme! More odd-themed dinner will be in the future....the possibilities are endless.

Enjoy!

Feb. 18, 2008 - Flower of the week

OY, it's Monday again - have a happy one....

Who Needs Mojo?

Not with this service - Vegan meals delivered to your door.....

The Hungry Vegan - now this Rocks!

Where's the food???

I've been extremely uninterested in making food, even though Goods would say differently.
I think I lost my Mojo, maybe a mojito would help.

Even our neighborhood hawk is looking for food...

(on the brush pile in our garden- Goods built for the winter for the birdies)

Even Guido weighs nothing-

And Fluffy has resorted to threatening to run away to get food....

(not true always tons of kitty food out)

So here is some of the food I've made-

Spicy Peanut Sauce from VWV served over stirfry of veggies, preseasoned- prepressed tofu (see I told you no Mojo) and oriental noodles. Made enough for two dinners.

I love this sauce, I always make a batch of it for my lettuce wraps.

Whatever Bean Soup (made up as I went)...Mixed beans, veggie broth, seasoning, tomatoes & tomato paste, carrots and some other veggies- threw together and cooked in the slower cooker for 10 hours.

Another slow cooker recipe I made "What a Dal", from "Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker"

I served it in rolled up with fried potatoes & peppers and some fire roasted tomatoes - oh and a little "cheese". The concept was good but the "Dal" needed a lot more seasoning - we are "high seasoning" people. And the recipe stated to cook for 8 hours- well it was done in about 1/2 the time. It made TONS so the next night I made "Dal patties" - added some chopped veggies and more seasoning-

Then for dinner #3- the next night, we put the patties in buns and had "Dal Burgers" with all the burger fixings. I still have a huge container left of the lentils, they are going in the freezer, I'm lentiled out.

And lastly, I am fairly certain that I am the LAST person to finally make "Tamari-Roasted Chickpeas" from EDBV.

OMG- they are the best, LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Great with the baked potato I served with them. The organic baby zucchini that I got at Whole Foods was so sweet- excellent.

So that about wraps things up. Eating out a little bit more - have to give a shot out to the Majestic Cafe , in downtown Detroit, where I had the most kick ass Tempeh Sloppy Joe - oh and great hummous and all it's garlic loveliness! I was giddy with all their vegan options.

Until next time Ciao!

February 11th-ish, 2008 - Late flower of the week...

Due to technical difficulties (ME!) , the flower of the week is a day late....

I bought this miniture rose "bush" at the supermarket last week for $1.99!! Couldn't pass up such a deal. I will plant it outside in the spring.

They call it FAT TUESDAY for a reason....

Have you had your Paczki (pronounced poonch-kee) today????

(photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paczki)

I would have taken my own photo, since there are a couple of boxes of these in our office today, but they already think I'm a tad strange so I decided to "borrow" a photo.

Paczki are a Polish tradition, and since the Detroit Area has Hamtramck- we have Packzi day. They are made with flour (I'm sure bleached), sugar (white, bone chard I'm guessing), eggs, and of course, lard. Americans, however, added filling. Paczki now come in apple, blueberry, raspberry, cherry, custard (more eggs! ) and lemon filling.

Paczki fun facts- or not so fun....

• A typical 5 oz. paczki has 420 calories (and that is a small sized paczki)
• Also has 25 grams of fat.
• You would have to run 30-45 minutes to burn off one!
• They are fried, typically, in lard.
• I've never eaten one, even in my non-veg*n days.

This is one recipe I don't even care to try a veganize!

February 4, 2008 - Flower of the week

Happy 1st Monday of February! Spring is getting closer!!!

Friday - Tip of the week

And yet another reason not to eat meat.....Click here to gag.

Not sure if this is really considered MEAT though.