Is That So Wrong?

Hello, hello, hello!

What do we have here? Why, it's a chili topped sweet potato! One of my favorite dinners!
About 4 hours before you have to eat, wash off your sweet potatoes and place them in the crockpot (I always make an effort to say 'slow cooker', but in my heart it's really a crockpot. I've decided to give up on the high-falutin' 'slow cooker' and just call it a crockpot from now on. It just never came naturally.).
Cook on high 4-6 hours or until tender. And, oh, man, are they ever tender! I have not found a better way to make a sweet potato!!! I usually do four, but I have a huge crockpot.

Anywhoo, after you've got that going, then a little before supper (less than an hour), make the chili toppin's and you're golden!

This time I did it this way...

1 big can black beans (25oz I think) undrained
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1/2 onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t ancho chile powder, cocoa, salt, cumin, garlic granules, oregano*
2 t apple cider vinegar
1 T oil

Saute onion in oil, add garlic, throw in spices, add tomatoes and stir and mix until most of the liquid is gone. Dump in black beans, cover and simmer. Uncover and simmer until thick how you want it and add the apple cider vinegar. Boom.

*didja notice how I did that, there? I just used 1 t of everything- hee!


And here is an unremarkable dinner, except for the tofu!!!
Wow, I liked this.
I used my bulk uncheeze mix I had made up, rice and broccoli as you can see, but let me tell you how I did the tofu!
First, I got out my water packed extra firm tofu out of the refrigerator and stabbed it open. Anyone else get a thrill from stabbing open the package and ripping down the sides with a knife? Just me, then? Hmmm... moving on....
Then I boilt it! Fer 10m! Just 'n like I always do!
Then, I pressed it. Wow, am I crazy or what, boiling, then pressing my tofu!
Then I sliced it in two and put half in the fridge and cut the other half into tiny little cubes which I then proceeded to fry the heck out of in 1 T olive oil with a generous dash of pepper and salt.
They were crispy, flavorful bits 'o goodness! Do it today!

Well, let's see, when I last left you, I was reading gosh knows what. I did, however, find solace in "Alas, Babylon". What a crackin' good book! One of the first apocolyptic novels, I thought it was fun to see how the genre started out. A leetle chauvinistic, but then, those were the times, I guess. We've come a long way, baby. But it was nice to read a normally narrated story, I really enjoyed it.

Then I started "The Rift" but stopped shortly after the gratuitious sex scene. The story was sort of jumpy and I wasn't really getting into any of the characters.

But then, oh joy, oh joy! "The Stand" which I had requested, came in at the library. Gosh, if I ever live someplace where the library is far and not right on my way to my daughter's preschool, I will be a sad puppy. Anyway, "The Stand" I got was the unabridged or whatever one and it's like, 1,000 pages long. But hey, so far so good! A little horror-y for my taste, but what do you expect from Stephen King. It's different enough from other apocalyptic stuff I've read that that makes it interesting. More later.

Oh, and this past weekend I was at Shepherd's Harvest Fiber Festival and now I want an alpaca. Is that so wrong? Actually, two alpacas, you're not supposed to keep them alone.

I thought this picture was so awesome, it so captured the day. Dudes in the back are using those big grills to make heart attack inducing burgers, dude in the front with the flannel. And people walking around with animals. I think those are alpacas but I don't want to tip my noob hand and get any comments informing me that they are llamas.