yes, that's me. in cartoon style. with my ladyfriend and cory. we'll see if the pic wants to work. i need to figure out how to post pics better, so people will want to stay on my page. ha ha ha.

i made the asian noodles from the sept. 05 issue of veg. times today. not too shabby. but let me instead tell you how to make my favorite cabbage salad.

i just love cabbage. don't get me started :)

yummy cabbage food
cut up some cabbage. mix with veganase and lemon juice. add salt and pepper. eat. this recipe can be enhanced with other raw veggies or nuts even. but i'm lazy.

Pita Nation

Last night I made 12 pitas. Don't ask why I didn't bother to half the recipie. Now I'll have to eat all my pitas up. But that's fine, for they are tasty!

The pita recipie came from veggieboards. Some yeast, tablespoon molassas, cup of warm water, 3 cups of flour, bit of salt. Proof, mix, knead, rise, divid, rise, roll bake at 350 for a bit--until they turn into pillows. Very fun.

So what did I do with my pitas today? Yeah, every meal involves a pita today.

Breakfast: peanut butter and jelly pita. Granted, sounds pretty boring, but I bought this awesome organic jelly at the co-op and it's soo good.

Snack: Pita with faux cream cheez, oven roasted squash (marinated in balisimic and oo), and garbonzos.

Dinna- "indian" influenced pita. Inside is 1/2 a can of garbonzos, 1/2 frozen califlower, curry powder, tumeric, peanutbutter, curry paste, and some chipotle powder with onion and garlic, cooked over low heat until hot and good. I added only a smidgin of all the spices/flavorings minus the curry powder, which i added a good tsp. It's pretty good but hot.

Chocolate Puddin'

So my ladyfriend has been hankering for some chocolate pudding recently. So I busted out Vegan with a Vengance (oh, btw, the best vegan cookbook I own! yum) and read off the "chocolate pudding" recipie as she made it in the kitchen. Now, mind you, this ladyfriend of mine does not cook. Her idea of dinner is a salad with a can of tuna dumped on top (or beans, when she makes me a salad). So this week has been a lot of me cooking and her help'n with the cooking. She'll soon be earning her merit badge! What a good little scout!

Anyways, the pudding was delishously chocolatly. However, it had the physical properties of that like slime-gel you used to get in the vending machines when you were a kid (am I dating myself?). Our ranking? It has some potential. Perhaps try some cornstarch instead of arrowroot next time. Or flour. Something. Something less...slimely....we'll save the arrowroot for the cheese!

Banana-Carrot bread

What do you do when you juice carrots? Turn the leftovers into bread. Duh.

Banana-Carrot Bread

dry stuff
1.5 c flour
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 c chopped walnuts

wet stuff
2 tb ground flaxseed
1/4 c oil
1/2 c water
1/4 c soymilk
1 banana and shredded carrot mixed to equal 1 c (if you use juicing leftovers, you might add a tb or so of water to the carrots to "moisten" them up)

Mix dry stuff in bowl. Put the wet stuff in a blender and blend until smooth. Mix. Bake 350 for 45 or so minutes. Or, if you're like me, you make this in your mini loaf pan and bake for 25 or so minutes.

rooty veggie soup with barley

I'm currently making some soup in the kitchen. It smells good, so I am gonna post the recipie while I'm still remembering what all I tossed in there!

veggies
1 each: parsnip, turnip, big carrot, leek, med. onion
2 each: celery (yumm)

seasoning
handfull each: fresh dill and fresh parsley
1/2 tb italian seasoning blend or other "green" seasoning. I use some organic blend that is more a salt replacer than italian seasoning. All Purpose I think it is called.
2 heaping spoons fake chicken powder (I buy mine in bulk at the coop. You might want to check to make sure whatever brand you use is reconstituted right for 1 qt water)
spinkle seasoning salt/reg. salt and pepper to taste

other
olive oil
water
1/2 c barley
1 tb miso paste

So chop up all the veggies to make little bit size pieces. Place in a soup pot (big pot) and pour on a loop of olive oil (about 2 tb). Heat over low heat for 10 or so minutes, until veggies are sweating (woo someone got a workout today!). Add chopped fresh herbs and the rest of the "seasoning" stuff and cook a bit more. Add rest of ingredients (water and barley) and cook over low heat with a lid on for 1/2 hour or so or until everything is soft and good. Taste and make sure you like the flavor. I ended up adding a smidgin of bals. vinigar and a tablespoon of red miso, disolved first and added.

'cheese' week

hi everyone! i've been out of town for a good long time. winter break and all!

I like to think of this week as "cheese week"--a week of "cheesey" vegan dishes! so stock up on the nutritional yeast and let's get cookin'

Sunday

mac'n'cheese. Now there are lots of fake cheese recipies online and i've tried a few. lastnight, i did an adaption of dragonfly's uncheese mix (from vegweb.com). I say "adaption" because, well, i didn't measure and I didn't really use the same stuff.

using my "scoop" (1/3 c measure)

3 scoops raw cashews
1.5 scoops nutritional yeast (ran out *boo*)
1 scoop arrowroot powder (or corn starch, but arp makes is "stringyish")
some garlic powder and seasoning salt (1/2-1 tb?)

grind that stuff up and mix 1 part to 2 parts water in a sauce pan. Heat and it will thicken, and then put on some cooked noodles. delish! I think the raw cashews really do it for me in this one!

Monday

tonight we are making a pizza. last night i was hangin' with my homies (or hoes, as we affectionatly call each other) and after some bar hoping and darts they wanted some snackfood so we went to the local pizza place. well, made me want some vegan pizza! i have to admit that pizza is the most perfect food, but conventional pizzas just aren't vegan friendly with all that dairy cheese and meats and stuff. So step in...vegan pizza!

da da da! i think it confuses people for me to be like "i love pizza i eat it all the time" and then never get it when we all go out.

I think i alreay posted about pizza. so i won't do it again

Thursday (lol, so much for "cheese week")

Tonight is mexi-nacho night. Delish! In an effort to make something mexicany and delish, the ladyfriend and I popped this together in the kitchen. I'll give the rough amounts, because I generally don't measure. BOO YA!

In frypan, add a bit of oil and some frozen (or fresh) pepper and onion blend (1/2 c). Cook until soft. Then add 1.5 c cooked rice, a regular sized can of kidney beans, some taco seasonings. Heat until hot and put in a bowl. Return pan to heat and add some salsa/water blend to make 1 c liquid. Add a heaping 1/2 c of that "cheese" powder blend mentioned above. Mix well, and heat until slightly thickened (you want it kinda runny, like cheese sause!). Pour over rice/bean mixuture in bowl and stir to combine. Delish! Serve wraped in burrito wraps or, heh heh, eat nacho style with some corn chips (like we did!).