Web Update

Red and I ended up in the Orange Park Mall food court for dinner tonight (Charlie's veggie philly sub for me, Sarku Japan steak and shrimp over fried rice for him); we had some shopping to do to get him ready for his next trip, and it seemed easiest to eat there. So the remains of the feast will have to wait until tomorrow.

Tonight, I'm starting the outline for my list of veggie eats in my area. Red has kindly allowed me to piggyback off his website (crazyivan.us, for those of you who might be interested), so the plan is to post it there to begin with. Although I might go crazy and buy my own domain name. I'm still in the very early planning phase right now, so we'll see how things go.

I don't know if I have any readers, but if you do follow me, and you live around Orange Park, Middleburg, or Green Cove Springs, Florida and you have a favorite store or restaurant that caters to veggie folk, please leave me a comment (I'm also considering doing Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach, Jacksonville Beach, St. Augustine, and Gainesville, but that's much further down the road). I'll put it on my page, and I'll credit you for your ingenious suggestions!

Thanks in advance, y'all.

The Verdict Is: Idiotic

I hinted in my last post about some fabulous ideas I had for my leftover pumpkin pie. Well, there it is, pictured in all its creamy glory. I scooped the pumpkin custard from the pie shell, whizzed it in the food processor with some parmesan cheese and savory spices, then folded in walnuts, shallots, and fresh sage. This was rolled into whole wheat lasagna noodles. The works was baked in a nice savory sage cream sauce (recipe here), then smothered in more of the same before serving.

If you're looking at the pictures and thinking "That looks f*$ing gross," you're two steps ahead of me, my friend. It was vile. I was hoping that the pie spices and sweetness would combine with the sage and parmesan into a sweet meets savory, Greek meets Italian meets Thanksgiving kind of medley. Instead it just had a multicultural flavor implosion that was also heavy as a rock (I ate one for lunch, and its still lodged very firmly in my gut). This should tell you how bad it was: I pitched the rest of the rolls as soon as I finished the first one. And I feel no guilt over the waste whatsoever.

The creamy sage sauce, however, is quite good. Boogie on over to Vegan Dad's blog and check it out. It would be excellent served over non-dessert filled pasta.

It's gotten pretty cold recently; we're supposed to see temperatures down near 30 (F) tonight, which is just insane for this time of year in Florida. Red and I took Bean and the dog for walk tonight, and our poor daughter had a bright red Rudolph nose by the time we made it home (don't worry, the rest of her was wrapped snugly). I need to check my plant covers one more time before I call it a night. I'd hate to finally have some lovely produce growing and then loose it to a freakish hard freeze in November. Dangerous as it is for plants, the weather is good for comfort food though: tonight was pork chop/chickpea cutlet smothered in the rest of the Thanksgiving mushroom gravy, red cabbage braised in dark beer with apples, and leftover mashed potatoes fried into potato cakes. Hearty and delicious.

Tomorrow: I finish off most of my remaining Turkey Day leftovers. And I promise, no more re-purposed pie.

Happy (Very Early) Thanksgiving!

We had our Turkey Day Feast yesterday night, and I must say it was a stunner. Cornbread dressing, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin bread, two kinds of gravy (vegetarian mushroom and turkey), and pies for dessert: pumpkin and pecan. And of course, the turkey for dinner. Despite my worries on Saturday, I didn't scorch it. Indeed, after Red got done carving it, I had to pop the legs and thighs back in the oven to brown them a little more (the breast was perfectly done, though). The Tofurkey roast was pretty good, but way too big and awfully pricey (at $14.95, it cost more than the ten pound bird everyone else consumed). I think next year I'll either gorge on side dishes, or I'll make my own vegetarian main. Vegan Dad has a tasty seitan roast on his blog that would fit the bill nicely.

The star of dinner, according to my mom, was the pumpkin bread. This was not a dense and chewy banana bread knock-off, but instead a very moist and somewhat fluffy offering that was great smeared with Kerry Gold butter (note: if you're ever going to splurge on a dairy product, make it Kerry Gold butter. It's so expensive and unhealthy, but it's worth every penny, calorie, and gram of fat). This recipe marks the end of a year-long quest I've undertaken to match the pumpkin bread served at the various Babara Jean's restaurants around the Southeast. As soon as I nail her spice combination, I'll have it; this bread mimics the texture and general taste almost perfectly, provided you leave out the corn and jalapenos. Run, don't walk, to Vegan Explosion and get the recipe.

I am still recovering from the two days of cooking and the post-feast food coma. As soon as I get myself back under control, I have some heavy experimenting ahead of me. I need to use up that pumpkin pie, and I have some non-dessert ideas that will either be ingenious or idiotic. I can't wait to see which one it is.

Speaking of idiotic, that Kashi pilaf pudding didn't work out at all. The sauce from the Happy Herbivore's recipe was deliciously caramel-like and rich, but the grains just didn't absorb any of the excess liquid. I ended up feeding half of it to the dog. Hopefully I'll have better luck turning dessert into dinner than I had turning dinner into dessert.

Leftover Magic: Limas and Pesto and Pulses, Oh, My!

Lemon Lima Spread

I'm just finishing up a snack break, as you can see. Since Red will be overseas for Thanksgiving, we're having an early celebration tomorrow. Since I'm mainly a cook-from-scratch gal, that means I have a lot of prepping to do today. The sweet potato casserole is done, and I also plan to do the dressing tonight before bed. Yes, dressing - I'm Southern, and for the most part we below the Mason-Dixon line do not stuff the bird. To loosely quote Charlie Daniels, I don't want to eat anything that came out of some bird's backside.

Anyhoo, I did get my act together earlier and put to use most of the fridge-hoggers. The pesto went onto a feta and tomato sandwich (delicious), and the sweet potatoes were supposed to be a side until I forgot about them in the toaster oven. They burned so black and sinister that I didn't even want to think about eating them. The Kashi pilaf may find a bright future in pudding - I'm thinking of bastardizing the Happy Herbivore's Quinoa Pudding - but I haven't done anything with it yet. However, the real star of my leftover makeover, has to be the lima beans.

These babies were the remnants of my experimentation with Tracy's Vegetarian Sausage recipe from A Veg*n for Dinner. That was quite good, but it still left me with half a can of limas afterwards. Red and I hate limas. I was afraid I might actually have to pitch these little nasties. Then I found a recipe for Lima Bean Spread, and now I'm reconsidering my stance on that palest of greenish beans. The spread is a lot like hummus, only with a slightly lighter flavor and texture. Quite yummy, but you definitely need to eat it with bread or crackers; as you can see, I tried it with carrots, too, and the flavors just didn't play together at all. Regardless of your dipping partners, give it a try if you ever have some limas to spare.

Tomorrow is the first year I'll roast a turkey without any intention of eating it (I have a Tofurkey roast for myself). I hope I don't continue my sweet potato karma and end up torching the poor dead thing. Wish me luck, everyone.

Leftover Magic: Bacon and Cabbage

I have a thing about letting food go to waste. Eighty some years ago, I would have been one of those Moms lecturing their kids to finish their beets because of all the starving children in China (that line of persuasion doesn't work so well today when you can turn on the news and see people in Beijing lounging in trendy coffee bars). Now, I'm the slightly manic woman who tries to use every last scrap of anything even remotely edible. I make soda bread or cheese out of milk that's about to sour. I make croutons or crumbs out of stale bread. I have a recipe for lemon curd that I plan to use if I ever have shriveled citrus in my crisper. When all else fails, I compost.

Still, things do quite often escape my eagle eye, and I end up with a few Pyrex lidded bowls with a short shelf life and no real purpose. Right now, since I need the fridge space for casserole dishes, I'm in the midst of a long-overdue clean out. Things aren't quite as bad as you'd expect - I've only had to pitch a couple of things so far - but it's going to take some creativity to make use of the remnants.

That's easy if you have a little divine inspiration. Like today - I was looking at the half head of bok choi I'd dug from my crisper, contemplating a stir-fry, when suddenly I remembered the tofu bacon tucked on the bottom shelf of the fridge. Bacon and cabbage - a riff on an old Irish favorite (though the good ol' Hibernian version doesn't involve Asian greens and flavored bean curd). I sauteed the bok choi, tossed in a diced Granny Smith apple for further taste and confusion, spiced it with a little paprika and coriander, and dumped it over some Kashi 7 Grain pilaf. The tofu bacon was heated in the toaster oven and crumbled on top.

It was very good, if a little dry. If I did this again, I'd boil down a little apple cider and white wine, or maybe some maple syrup and broth spiked with cider vinegar, and drizzle that over the cabbage before the bacon garnish. I thought about this during the cooking, but that was frankly too much work for a Friday lunch, so I resolved to enjoy the simplicity instead.

Now I need to get jiggy with about half a cup of roasted sweet potato chunks, some arugula pesto, a cup of lima beans, and the rest of the pilaf. Tune in tomorrow - same Housewife-Time, same Housewife-Channel.

The Sublime (and the Silly)

For those of you who haven't had the chance, you really need to hear Obama's victory speech. I'll excerpt my favorite bit right here:

"And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down – we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security – we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright – tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America – that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow."

Maybe you think it's crap, but it gives me chills. I hope Obama the President will be half the man Obama the Candidate seems to be.

On the lighter side, Red and I had a dinner only fitting for the night after a Democratic victory - Tortellini with Mushrooms, Sundried Tomatoes, and Arugula Pesto (get it?). I snatched the idea for arugula pesto from Susan over at Farmgirl Fare, but instead of using her version I incorporated it into the Classic Pesto recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance. Sorry, no pics (very ugly) but I promise that it was most mightily delicious.

(I should also mention that while I'm a rabid Democrat operating on a low-grade level of ecstasy right now, Red is an independent who took this entire election in stride. I doubt he even noticed our political dinner).

Anyway, here's to January 20, 2009. And to the end of almost two years of campaigning. And I think anyone, regardless of party affiliation, will reply with a hearty "Hell, yeah!" to that.

Get out there and vote, y'all

I cast my ballot early (almost two weeks ago, actually) but I know not everyone has done the same. So get thee to the polls tomorrow. I'll even let it slide if you vote Republican.

I'm still alive!

Oh, my stars, what a long time it's been. I blame it all on Red, who came home from Iraq around the same time I gave up the blogging ghost. I've been having too much fun being a wife that I've all but abandoned cyberspace. Boo. I need more discipline. This is also the reason that I have parts of three novels all languishing on my thumb drive right now, none of them anywhere close to being completed. Double boo.

Anyway, this is a catch-up post. It will be disjointed and annoying and not very informative. But I have old pics to take post and no good shots of my garden (which is actually doing something, praise the Lord and all his green-thumbed angels) - so be it. The good stuff will come later. I promise.

First of all, my last batches of vegan cupcakes:

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemony Cream Cheese Frosting

and Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache.

They were both pretty darned nice, but I have some changes I'll make next time I do them. There was a lot of crystallized ginger through out the Gingerbread Cupcakes - I think next time I'll either pulverize it so finely you'd never know it's there, or swap it for a little ground ginger, because the way it was turned out entirely too sharp for me. The Peanut Butter Cupcakes were the exact opposite - waaaaay too sweet and rich. That was my fault, since I added chocolate chips to the batter at the last minute. Next time, if I'm craving more chocolate, I'll mix some cocoa powder in half the batter and do a marbled effect. Though I haven't done any cupcakes in recent weeks, I have great plans to get back on the horse this coming weekend. This time I have my eye on the Sexy Low-Fat Vanilla babes (we've had entirely too much refined sugar recently, and it's now time to get back on the nutrition horse).

In other news, we also went on our first family camping trip. The Rotary Roundup was held on the weekend of October 17, and Red, Sprout, and myself were present and accounted for.

What is a rotary, you ask (as well you might). In this case, rotaries are converted auto engines made to fly experimental (ie, built from a kit or plans in someone's garage, not NASA style stuff) airplanes. Here's what a very nice one looks like:

One day, Red will have an engine like this, although his airplane will be different. Right now, though, we have a Jeep Cherokee and a tent, which we pitched near the grass landing strip at Laura and Tracy Crooks' place just outside of Bell, Florida.


We also had a new friend, who introduced himself while Bean took her nap on Saturday afternoon. He had decided to make his own base camp in one of my recently vacated Nikes. Friends aren't really good friends if they only like you for your shoes, though, so we bade him farewell shortly after Red snapped this shot.


So all in all the past two months have been highly enjoyable, if not very industrious (unless you count standard house cleaning - which I don't). I did get a whole shipload of planting done today and yesterday, which will soon be reflected in my Garden list. Hopefully we'll have some better light tomorrow and I'll be able to take some pics of my late-arriving produce. It's not much, but I still find it awfully cute. Hopefully you will, too.