Does this book make me look juvenile?

Hello folks!

Well, nothing much exciting this weekend... lots of yard work, actually.

I thought I'd try boiling some water pack tofu, just like I boiled the silken tofu, to make scrambled tofu, and it turned out really well!! I kind of used the spices from this, and added onion and garlic granules because I was too lazy to chop (now, that's lazy!). No, actually, I justified it to myself by saying that the onion and garlic granules 'allow for the flavour to permeate the entire dish'. So there you go. Next time you don't want to chop an onion, just pretend you're making sure that all oniony goodness is equally distributed throughout the dish. Don't say I never did anything for you...

Scrambled Tofu

1 T oil
1 T Earth Balance vegan margarine
1 block extra firm water pack tofu
1/4 C nutritional yeast
2 t cumin
1 t salt, onion, garlic, oregano
pinch pepper, turmeric and paprika

First, boil your tofu for 10m. I just plopped it in a saucepan, added water to cover, covered it and put it on the stove on high. You should keep it at a low rolling boil so it doesn't get too crazy in there.
Meanwhile, boil your pasta (or rice or whatever grain).
Toward the end of your tofu boiling time, heat up your skillet to med high and melt the margarine together with the oil.
Drain the tofu and slice it into little cubes.
Plop into your skillet and gently stir around until the tofu turns golden.
Add your spices, then the nutritional yeast.
Place entire skillet into oven and broil on low while you drain the pasta.
Serve hot.

I thought the boiling and the broiling made the tofu easier to work with in a scramble, but I may just be delusional. How's that for a rousing endorsement? No, really, I think it kept the tofu from just crumbling into tiny pieces in the skillet which is usually how my scrambles turn out. Like mush. So yay! Broiling may have been overkill, but hey, it kept the tofu hot while I scampered about getting everything else set to go.


Here is a soup, much like many of the red lentil soups I am wont to make, but with 2 important differences! I know you are waiting with bated breath.

I made it in the crockpot AND I added a can of garbanzo beans.

I know, be still my heart.


Red lentil soup WITH garbanzos

2 C red lentils, rinsed
1 can garbanzo beans, undrained
6 C water
1 T olive oil
2 t cumin (say it with me now, KOO-min)
1 t coriander, sumac, salt and onion powder

Put the oil in your crockpot and let it heat up a little on the 'high' setting.
Add in the spices and mix around.
Dump in the lentils and mix.
Add water and mix.
Cook for a few hours until lentils are tender.
In a blender or food processor, blend the garbanzos along with their water.
Add to the soup and mix.
Serve hot.

This makes a lot of soup, but it is oh so good.


So I have been on a run of books lately that just aren't doing it for me.
First there was "Wave" by Walter Mosley. Yeah, that was just too creepy for me, couldn't handle it. Just not into creepy and I wasn't convinced it was going to be worth it.

Then, I started reading "Swallows and Amazons" which I am convinced is good, and I can't wait to read through the series with my girls when they get older, but it was just moving much too slowly for me right then. Will get back to that one.

Anyway, I was all excited when I started "The Years of Rice and Salt".
Meaty, adult fantasy fiction with lots to sink my teeth into!
BUT a) I was bummed when I found out Kim was a man and b) felt like I was going to be reading it for years. The characters kept changing every chapter and even though their names retained the same first letter (I think one kept being a 'B' name) I just could not hang. Loved the premise, SPOILER; reincarnation, just couldn't concentrate enough or get engaged enough to continue on (hey, I got through, like, half of the book, guys!).

What can I say, first, I want wholesome non-creepy entertainment, and I get it with Swallows and Amazons and then I complain it's too slow.
Then I want meaty adult fantasy and I get it with The Years of Rice and Salt, and I complain because it's too philosophical and hard to follow.
Bah.

So then I went back to another book I started (just a few pages) and now I'm reading that. It's not great, but "Flora Segunda" will do. I am waiting for the hammer to fall on this little girl who is doing all this crazy stuff unbeknownst to all her elders. Yes, it is Juvenile fiction. Does that make me juvenile? We'll see.

Graaaaiiiiinnnns.

Hey.

I made this, and it came out brown.

That's what I get for using pinto beans instead of Northern. My Target does not have northern beans, however. AND it tasted great!!

I also added too much water (I used 1 C soymilk and 1/2 C pasta water) and even though I simmered it on the stove for what seemed like forever, it still was a little soupy. My bad. I got a little ahead of myself, there.

Maybe next time I'll make it and add some browning sauce and call it pasta and gravy. Haha.

Or maybe next time I should just make it with white beans (gotta get me that pressure cooker) and add the water/milk a little at a time as I should have done!

Anyhow, my family loved it and ate and ate and ate it all up! I think this one will become a repeater!

1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 t salt
1 t garlic granules
1 t parsley
1/4 t pepper
1 C soymilk

1/4 C Earth Balance
1 C frozen peas
1/2 box pasta

Boil up your pasta.
Toward the end, dump in the frozen peas, let them simmer and then turn off the heat and cover until you're ready to drain the pasta and peas.
Blend up your beans, soymilk, garlic gran/powder, salt, pepper and parsley.
Pour into a saucepan, add the Earth Balance and heat until thick.

Oh, and I finally got my hands on "World War Z". Yay- a zombie book!! Zombie fans, unite! Do you know what the vegan zombie said? Huh, huh? Do ya? 'Graaaaaiiiiinns.'. Oh, ho, ho, I crack myself up!

Anyway, I was completely engrossed with this book and could not tear myself away. So fun to read!!!! Really, I think anyone would appreciate this book. For example, I would recommend it to my father-in-law, and I really don't think he has much interest in zombies. He's more of a civil war guy. But he would totally appreciate it!

It is also broken up into little sections, so if you have more self-control than I do, you could theoretically put it down and pick it up fairly easily. Thought provoking but not dense, it is a great read.

Actually Crispy.

OOooooh! Lovelies! Here we have SUCH a yummy dinner!! I got the idea from blah blah blah-ler, she made it sound so easy and good, and it was! Also, now I will always think of Doritos when I eat this dahl...

I made it in the crockpot, 'cuz that's how I roll... Um, actually I made it in the crockpot because it seemed like a good idea to let all that spicy goodness simmer away all day.

I probably should have dragged out the 'ol trusty skillet and really browned/fried those chickpeas up- I will try this sometime (and then of course skip the crockpot). That would definately up the Doritos effect.

2 15oz cans garbanzos, drained and 1 undrained
1/2 can diced tomatoes, drained
2 T oil
1 T freshly grated ginger*
1/4 t chili garlic paste (you know, the kind with the rooster on the front?)
1 t onion powder, cumin, garam masala, salt
1/2 t coriander, turmeric, garlic granules

Put the oil, ginger and salt and spices in the crockpot on high, and mix around until fragrant. Dump in the rest of the stuff, mix well and let it cook on high for a few hours, however long until supper. Make rice and serve. MMMmmmm.


*I've been scraping all the skin off the ginger with a spoon, then freezing it in a little ziplock in the freezer, then taking it out and grating it on my box grater and it works great! Yay, no more shriveled, sad mistakes of ginger left to moulder on the counter!

Here is a fairly uneventful supper. The most exciting thing was that I made crackers and doubled the recipe and they were more like soft crackers, if that makes any sense. Still good, though. I will go back to the original half amount, though, and make actually crispy crackers.

I finished "Smilla's Sense of Snow" and I don't know if I was just distracted toward the end or what, but I just could not stay interested. Isn't that wierd? It was, like, the culmination of all this stuff and ?dare I say it? it was sort of anticlimactic? I am so Western I suppose all with my need for dramatic endings and resolution. That was sort of the point of the author- no resolution, so I guess I'll just have to take my lumps, or however the saying goes... Really cool book, though. Pretty cool heroine! I wonder what the movie's like?

Jessica Seinfeldy

Hello. Here is some soup. It was good.

Split Pea Spinach Stew

Note that my stew looks nothing like the picture in that post...

1 T oil
1 onion, chopped
1/4 pkg frozen spinach
1 C split peas
1 t salt
1 t cumin
1/8 t cumin
1/8 t chili paste
4 C water (I also added 2 more cups at the end after I blended it)

Soak yer peas.
Saute yer onion.
add yer spices and salt and water, bring to boil and simmer until tender.
Blend.
Add more water.
Serve.

This was pretty good- the spinach lightened it up and I felt all ?Jessica Seinfeldy? (that woman who put out the 'hidden vegetables' book or whatever). Yum.

But, the big deal of this meal was as follows...

Maple Beer Bread

from Cottage Living (a great Canadian magazine)

3 C AP flour
1 T baking powder
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/4 C stout
3/4 C maple syrup

Grease a 9x5" loaf pan.
Mix dry ingredients.
Add syrup and stout.
Mix well (but don't go crazy or anything).
Pour into pan and let rest at room temperature for 20m.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375.
Bake 40-45 (mine took a lot longer) or until it tests done (stick a toothpick in there and if it comes out all gooey, stick 'er back in that oven!)
Cool in pan, then remove and cool on wire rach 10m.

Oooh, oooh! I have to say this turned out supergood! I have made beer breads before (with ww flour) and they were not as good. This rose up so nicely and was tender and sweet!!! Make it, make it, make it!!!! I think the 20m resting time was pivotal. Pivotal, I say.


I made a pot pie. We will not speak of this.

Still reading "Smilla's Sense of Snow" gosh, I really like this. She is the most awesome heroine. It's like turning into this crazy adventure. I rarely think about books when I'm not reading them, but lately I've been thinking things like, "Gosh, I wonder if Smilla will figure it all out?!?". Seriously.

Something To Hang On To.

Greetings, fellow creatures!

Above we have a yummy, scrumptious dinner, just perfect for having on a beautiful Spring day.

Crockpot Dump Taco Soup

1/2 C TVP
1 can corn, undrained*
2 large cans black beans (or 3-4 regular cans) black beans, undrained*
1 can kidney beans, undrained*
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained*
1 T chili powder
1 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
1 t cumin
1 t oregano, crumbled
1 t salt
1 T veg broth powder or bouillon (geez, I cannot spell that word! Spellcheck recommends boil lion when I check it) cube
2 T oil

Dump it all into your crockpot (I have the hugest size, I believe). Set on high for 5 hours (or even less, I imagine- just so the TVP has a chance to rehydrate and the flavors to 'meld'). Yah- it's that fancy.

Serve with cornbread. This one.

I thought I would make a more savory (read; one eigth the sugar), somewhat less oil version. It was not worth it. Now I know.

*I guess you could rinse and drain all the beans and just drain the tomatoes and then add back in roughly 6-8 C water if you felt like it, but I feel that goes against the laissez-faire attitude a dump soup should have.

Read ANOTHER mystery, what is going on?!? Actually, I just had to give up. "Glamorama" must reflect the ennui and uncertainty of our time through it's confusing, apathetic/psychotic hero and I'm sure I'm meant to realize all this pertinent stuff about our modern day life, but no. No thank you. I could not 'bond' with the protagonist and realizing SPOILER halfway through that he is crazy or something (still not sure) did not even help, even though it was interesting. Give me something to hang onto, dude.

So now I have started "Smilla's Sense of Snow" and although it is ANOTHER MYSTERY I find it engaging and interesting so far.

Blend Everything After The Stars

Hello, friends.

Here we have a favorite supper here at chez centrepullball. Camel Pockets. Oh, my. So good.
This time I divided the dough into 8ths instead of 16ths for EVEN BIGGER Camel Pockets! Yowza! Also, I used less pepper. Next time, I'm going back to 16ths. Much more manageable. Also, I am going to try and cut the oil down in both the dough and the filling. But really, you should try these. So supergood.

The giant Camel Pocket.

And another nice, quick supper. I can't believe it's taken me this long to sort of come up with a favorite mac and cheeze supper, I mean, mac and cheeze, so basic! But this is it. It's pretty much the New Farm Macaroni and Cheeze recipe, not baked. I just whizzed all the sauce ingredients in the blender with a Tablespoon of cornstarch, heated it (carefully!) over the stove and dumped it over the pasta when it was ready.

16oz uncooked elbows
***
3 T oil
1/4 C flour
1 1/2 C really hot water
1 t salt
1 t garlic powder
pinch turmeric
1/2 C nutritional yeast
1/2 t paprika
1 T cornstarch

Blend everything after the stars. Heat on stove, stirring often to prevent lumps. Meanwhile boil yer pasta. Drain pasta, mix with sauce and serve. Yuuuum.

Do you know how excited I will be to serve supper with fresh, local produce instead of canned or frozen, huh? huh?

Blank Blank with Blank.

Greetings, fellow peoples...

Here is an eclectic supper from a while back. It contains said predicted crescent roll samosas, some scrambled tofu, take II and some leftover baked lentils. Mmmm.

I tried the scrambled tofu with the silken soft tofu and it was a little more breaky and stuff, but still fine. The thing to do is to make sure you serve it hot, hot, hot!

I seasoned it with some garlic granules, salt and pepper and a pinch (tiny!) of turmeric. I had been getting freaked out by the turmeric I had in the cabinet since I've had it a looooong time, so I was happy to use the recently purchased at the coop turmeric. Apparently turmeric is a wonder spice, but I could not find much info on it's shelf life (some say it lasts a long time and can even extend the shelf life of other things, others not so much). Our coop has actual turmeric root, but I have not been brave enough to purchase said item, also, we do not use that much turmeric.

Here are some wonderful I-Don't-Have-Time-For-a-Yeast-Dough Whole Wheat English Muffin-ish Stove Top Buns. These were good! Thanks, River!

I think I added 3/4 C ap flour because my dough came out too wet, but that was the only change I made. These are great for a semi-quick weekend morning breakfast! So yummy! And I love me some whole wheat and flax action!


And here is what I did with the second half of my fake chicken flesh. I made some Saffron Chicken with Parsley. Oh, no, wait! No I didn't! I WAS going to make that, but then I couldn't find the parsley* so I made it without the saffron or parsley. For that matter, I made it without chicken, really. So I guess I made Blank Blank with Blank. Ha ha. No, I guess it was Fake Chick'n with Italian Seasoning.

Fake Chick'n with Italian Seasoning

1/2 pkg Morningstar Farms fake chicken
1/2 onion, chopped
1 T olive oil
1 T fake chicken powder dissolved in 1/2 C hot water
pinch citic acid (or if you are a normal person, 1 T lemon juice)
1 t Italian herbs (don't forget to pulverize this by rubbing it between your fingers)

In a heavy pot, saute the onion, then the fake chick'n. Add spices and fake chicken stock. Simmer, covered for 10m or so and uncovered for a bit, too. Sorry to be so vague, but it's not really chicken, so you don't really need to simmer it that long. Just let it go until the rice is ready.

Serve with brown rice.

*of course, mere minutes after commiting to the change in plans and having started everything going, I found the parsley. Maybe next time I'll make it with the saffron and parsley.

Hmph.

Hello, everybodeeee (said in best Grover voice)!!!!!!

Here (above) is some lovely Itiakiet Stew and Cornmeal Griddlecakes.

The stew came out pretty salty. Like, that is not a euphemism. And I only used 1 t salt, geez! If I make it again, I would probably double this and stuff.

Here's what I did;

1 can kidney beans
1 T canola oil
2 cloves garlic
tidge chili garlic paste
2 t cumin
1 T tomato paste
1/8 t cayenne
pinch citric acid
2 T peanut butter
1 t salt
2 C water

Blend ever thing. Cook. Bam.

As for the griddlecakes, well, I can't seem to find where I got the original recipe from, but the above link takes you to virtually the same recipe if you just leave off the fake ham thankyouverymuch. And, I was like, 1/4 C soft silken tofu?!? What? I should have just used egg replacer of skipped it altogether. I'm keeping the rest of the soft silken tofu to make scrambled tofu again. I'm hoping that as some of the liquid leeches off in the refrigerator it will miraculously become more like extra firm silken tofu. TMI?

Anyway the griddlecakes were good, but holy fried! Next time I think I will try baking them in the skillet as per so many cornbread recipes (ooh, remind me to make that second one sometime!)... so much easier.
And here is ol' standby, Baked Lentils. I think that by doubling it, I screwed up the lentil-to-liquid ratios or something- it came out half baked. Now, I may be half baked, but my lentils should not. Perhaps I will halve it next time, cook it longer or try a different pot or more water. Gosh, it used to come out just fine! Maybe next time I will just use red lentils!!! Oh, Serina recommends soaking the mixture overnight- good idea! For the record, I use brown lentils and maple syrup instead of honey. MMMMmmmm...

So, I read "The Thirteenth Tale" and loved it. So engrossing. Read it now. Also, I started "The Gun Seller" which is cracking me up. Great witty dialouge is keeping me interested. He toes the line between overdone and perfect and comes out on the perfect side, IMO. Both of these were sort of mystery-ish books and I am so totally not a mystery novel reader. Hmph. But so far so good. As you can see, I finally made it to the library. Happy me.

Pasta Water

Well, well, welcome.

Last night I made samosas. Mushy samosas. I cooked the potatoes too long... still good, though. Used up all those potatoes and now we have yummy samosa leftovers!

"Samosas" it's fun to type and if you look at it long enough it starts to look strange. The word, that is. The pic above might look strange, too, I haven't looked at it that long.

You will be seeing these again, wrapped in delicious crescent roll goodness...


And lo! Here is some pasta. I always hesitate to post these 'chick'ny' pics because when I look at them they look so flesh-tastic, but ah well... again, a good dinner. And quick!

I tried this newfangled 'use less water + start from cold' way of making pasta and it was fine. And yes, the pasta water is good! I feel like I should save it for making soup or something!

1/2 box 8 oz pasta
2 T oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 pkt morningstar chick'n
1 t herbes de provence/your fave herb
1/4 t citric acid/some lemon juice
1/2 t salt
few leaves kale/some spinach/broccoli

Boil up your pasta. Stir often to prevent sticking.

Meanwhile, in a large cast iron skillet, saute your onion. Add chick'n and herbes and citric acid and salt and chopped up veg. Saute until chick'n is brown, adding pasta water everytime it starts to stick. When pasta is done, add it to the skillet and mix well. Serve hot!




And finally, my most exciting thing!! Are you excited?!? I made tortillas.

A long time ago I made tortillas, and they were breaky and stiff. Like, not wrappable. What's up with that?

So I was bound and determined to find a good recipe, and I think I have.

Of course, then I read a bunch of scary stuff about Crisco, so now I'm all freaked out about using it.

Next time maybe I will sub in Earth Balance... we'll see.

I did like them enough to use Crisco again. They were soooo good and fun to make. I used my cast iron skillet (suprise) and heated it up real high and then counted 'one, two, three' flip, 'one, two, three' flip and 'one, two, three' off onto a plate. Actually, I had a friend help and that made it even more fun!

I also tried a new way of making tofu! Pretty exciting, huh? Scrambled Tofu.

I liked it becuase it did make softer, golden tofu. I could definately see this in a regular tofu scrambler. I just mixed it in with some spiced up black beans and it made a good burrito filling.

And topped it all off with cheeze sauce*.

1/3 C nutritional yeast
1/4 C flour
2 T oil
1 C water
1 T cornstarch
pinch citric acid
2 garlic cloves
1/2 t onion powder

Blend, heat and serve.

*This is a variation of Vegan Explosion's queso, which is gone for now... aww! So yummy!

Finished Brisingr. It got better at the end. Must. get. more. books!

Watery Glue.

Here they are again- soft pretzels!! Made these again, so good. I made up a batch of Bulk Dry Uncheeze Mix (note, don't make this in the blender unless you want cashew butter) and turned some of that into soup and then had good reason to make pretzels again. Is is so weird that I think pretzels and cheeze soup go together?!? I think not.

This time there was a sort of inadvertent 2nd rise due to baby sleeping issues and I think that this made these even better, so fluffy chewy and crispy on the outside. Also, I was out of baking powder for when you drop them in the boiling water and so I subbed 1 t baking powder = 1/2 t baking soda and 1/4 t cream of tartar... worked juuust fine.



And here was another sucessful supper- another repeat. Spicy TVP and black beans. This time I used 1 t ancho chile powder instead of the regular chili powder and whoa was that good! This supper was sort of strange in that I served it over rice and really, it should have been served with tortillas or something, but we shall ignore that and just call it 'dirty rice' or summat.

I am becoming entirely too dependent on my blender. I whizzed up the can of tomatoes (much to the happiness of the tomato hatah in residence) along with half of a super big can of black beans plus everything else, here, let me write it up for you...

1 large can of black beans, undrained, divided
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
4 cloves garlic
1 T oil
1 t ancho chile powder
1 t cumin
1 t onion powder
1 t oregano
1 t salt
***
1/2 C TVP

Blend everything in the first bunch - only dump in half of the can of beans. Reconstitute the TVP in 2 C boiling water (I nuke it for 5 m in the microwave in my handy dandy Pyrex 2 Cup measuring cup). Careful adding the TVP so it doesn't bubble over... add some salt in there...

Pour all the blended stuff into a big pot. Add the second half of the beans and the TVP. Simmer until thick.

Eat. Yum.
Okay, so the book gods answered my cries for rescue from Brisingr and I got an email from my library saying that "The Graveyard Book" was on hold for me! Oh, goodie!

I had seriously thought that I would not see this book until September or something... I was 47 on the hold list, I believe. Hm. Some peoples read fast or lots of people failed to get this or I don't know what happened, but WHO CARES! I got it!

I had started listening to the book here, which was wonderful. I highly recommend it. In fact, while reading the book I realized that I had enjoyed it much, much more listening to it. I just did not have the time... ah well. The reading went so much more quickly and this is a book you should linger over if at all possible. I cried at the end. Wow.

So now back to Brisingr. I am dogged, if nothing else. I realized what is so strange about this book is that the glue that holds the narrative together is very, very watery glue. It's like the author just thought up all the coolest scenarios/happenings/incidents and plopped them one after another, like beads on a string. I mean SPOILER the war I guess is the thing that "holds" (and I use that term v. loosely) it all together, but sheesh. Anyway, that's what is so strange about this book. I could put it down at any time and never return to it again and it wouldn't really bother me. Entertaining while you're reading it, but not gripping.

Strategy Strains.

Barley Stew

This was the stew that ate Manhattan! Or Cleveland! Or something! It was massive.

It also burned the bottom of my enameled cast iron pot (which is no biggie, has happened before). You can see a bit of the burney in the pic.

So, next time I would probably just use 1 C of pearled barley instead of 2.

But it was still good!

I kind of winged it based off of a few other recipes...

2 C pearled barley
1 T oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 T chick'n powder
6 C water
***
2 large potatoes, chopped small
2 large carrots, chopped small
4 C water
1 can butternut squash puree
1 t oregano
1 t salt
1/2 t basil
1/4 t thyme
1/4 t rosemary
2 bay leaves

In a large soup pot, saute your onion and garlic in the oil, then add the barley and chick'n powder, mix well and add water. Cover and bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer 30m.

Meanwhile, chop your potatoes and carrots.

After half an hour, add the potatoes, carrots, water, squash, salt and spices. Mix well, cover, bring up to a boil again and then lower heat and simmer another half hour or until tender.

Serve with fresh bread. Yum!


And here is a leetle experiment I did when I was searching for a quick supper.
I took a packet of onion soup mix (vegan, please!) and whizzed it up with 2 T oil, a package of soft silken tofu, a clove of garlic and a little water (maybe 1/4 C?). Tada! Sauce!

I had some bean balls (recipe in Veganomicon) in the freezer that I nuked and tossed in there with the peas and pasta too. It was pretty good!

So I finished "Scourge of God" by Stirling and I finally figured out what it is about these books that make my eyes glaze over- the battle descriptions!! Dude is into the strategy thing, like, a lot. For a person who is unable to AT ALL understand the lure of, say a game of Risk, (read: not a strategy bone in my body), I am unable to groove on Stirling's detailed descriptions of the war. I think I should recommend this to my father-in-law, however.

Anyway, that said, I did enjoy this last book in the series, but I'm thinking the strategy strains are what held me up in some of the other books...

Still reading "Brisingr" what can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment. Also, I have not been to the library.

I Will, I Will!

Hello fellow people!

It seems I cannot post without a greeting....

Well, continuing my exploration of baked goods, I recently made crackers!! The soup we were having for dinner was fairly uninspired, so I felt an exciting inclusion of homemade crackers would make up for any lack, and I was right!

These crackers were a cinch, and really quite good! You will never buy a cracker again! Oh well, perhaps you will, I know I still will, but I will also have to hand a great recipe for homemade crackers should I ever desire, and I know I will! Holy 'will's' in that last sentence!

Crackers

1 C flour
1/3 C Silk vanilla soymilk
1 T Earth Balance
1/2 t salt
1/2 t garlic granules
dash pepper

Preheat oven to 450.

Process everything except the soymilk. Add soymilk in a stream.
Roll out on parchment paper to desired thinness. Prick all over with a fork*.
Bake for 5m* or until lightly browned.

*see notes

Notes;

I rolled it out on parchment paper (remember to sprinkle a little water over your work surface and put the parchment paper on there- it anchors the paper) and baked it en masse on the parchment paper for a lot less than 20 m- should have kept track of the time!!! It was getting pretty brown on top. I also forgot to use a fork to pinprick the cracker all over so it got these huge enormous bubbles in it, but that was fun, too. Tasted juuuuust fine. Ripped it into chunks and served with soup, so yummy!




And here is the humble oat cake. These are really good with a hot cup of coffee! It's like shortbread, but with oats. They are sweet, like a cookie. Gee, I couldn't find my source for these online again, this was the closest I could find- d'oh!

Oat Cakes

2 C oats
1/2 C flour
1/4 C sugar
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1 stick Earth Balance
1/4 C cold water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Process dry ingredients. Cut in Earth Balance. Process until mixed and add water.
Scrape out onto floured surface, cover with flour (this is a sticky dough) and roll out thinly.
Use a biscuit cutter to cut circles, place on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 15 - 20m until browned.

Reading "Brisingr" just because it was in the house. Yes, I am just that desperate.

Way Strong!

Hello again!

Well, it has been tres busy here at chez centrepullball... but I am back at last!

I was in a terribly uninspired mood a few days back and decided to make... a casserole! Yes, folks, that Midwestern fave, the casserole!

I thought that if I doubled Esme's sauce and put a little more water in there to help the Minute Rice cook up, I'd have a fine dish. What I forgot to realize was that Esme's sauce is pretty solid as it stands and will cover a vast amount of rice/pasta/whatever so doubling it made it waaaaaay strong! Next time, back down to 2 T of everything!

1 3/4 C Minute Rice (you could up this to 2 C, I just ran out)
1 10 oz pkg frozen vegetables
4 cloves garlic
2 C water
1/4 C tahini
" miso
" soysauce
" olive oil
" nutritional yeast
" mustard

Blend everything except the rice and frozen veggies in a blender until smooth.
Pour over rice and veg in a bowl and mix well.
Pour into a greased 9 x 9" casserole or equivalent and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.


Here we have a wonderful lunch. I got a great tip from Margaret for smoother hummus! Just whip it up in the blender!! Whee! So I did and it was great! I used the big can of garbanzos I can buy at my coop (equals roughly 2 cans regular size) and added about 1/2 C of the 'juice' from the can plus the olive oil. Then, when that (plus the cloves of garlic, cumin and a tiny pinch of citric acid) were all blended, I added the tahini and it was all done! Smooooth!

I also decided that I wanted some flatbread to go along with it, something quick, and I found just such a thing in this recipe! Also, fried! I fried them for one minute on one side, then 2 on the other. Aghlaghlahgllll....

And so we had flatbread for supper to go with our Lentils with Bulgur Wheat and Caramelized Onions. This time when I made it, I made the lentils first, got the bulgur in there and then, while that was 'cooking' I caramelized the onions and then added the spices. Then I just mixed all the onions into the bulgur/lentil mix. It just keeps getting easier and easier and I can't say it makes a jot of difference as to the taste!

So I started reading "The Name of the Wind". Yay! It's good! No, for reals! If you like fantasy books with maps in the front of the book, you will like this, ah gah-rahn-tee!! I will cry when it is done and anxiously await the next book. Hooray for Wisconsin peeps!

Also I picked up the next book in that series I am sort of skipping along through, the Corvallis post apocolyptic what have you. We'll see how far I can make it through this one! "Scourge of God" or somesuch. I ?don't think? I've read it yet...

Rise up, pretzel!

Continuing the 'Tour of Dough Winter 2009" here we have pretzels which turned out to be more like 'knots'. Because I was too lazy to Google "How to Make the Pretzel Shape.", I just sort of winged it. Did not matter. They turned out so nicely! Perhaps on my next go. Served with some 'cheezy soup', (sorry no recipe).

I would not try making these pretzels without a nice, strong mixer, though. They dough is pretty stiff...

Just like the bagels, you boil these puppies, but, unlike the bagels, you don't have a specific amount of time that you boil them for- you just slide them in, they sink, and then you wait for them to rise up!! It's like magic, people! Oh, also adding the baking powder to the water is fun, too! It fizzes and bubbles like crazy. I am easily entertained, I guess!

Ooohh! And I got to use my new scale to divide the dough out so I'd have matchy pretzels instead of a hodge podge! Verrrrry nice!

Because the dough is sort of dry I had a hard time at first making the 'snakes' but I channeled my inner child and took myself back to my old PlayDoh days and it was fine. It also helped to take a break and lightly oil the baking sheets and preheat the oven while the dough rested under a damp tea towel. When I tried again the second time it was fine!

Soft Pretzels

I veganized the recipe by subbing Earth Balance for the butter and Silk vanilla soymilk for the milk. Also, I just baked these without any added salt and of course without the egg wash. They were still momentous.

I let them rise for an hour in a oven heated to 170 degrees, turned off, with a damp teatowel over the top of the bowl. Oh, and I didn't really let them rise a second time in their pretzel-shaped form.

Still reading "The Pacific" and started some non-fiction.

No knittin', no readin'.

Muffins!

We got this recipe from a co-worker of my husbands (I did veganize the butter and milk), so we'll call it 'Lowell's Bran Muffins'.

2 C bran flakes
2 C flour
1 T baking powder
1/4 C Earth Balance
1/4 C molasses
1/4 t salt
1 3/4 C soymilk

Mix it all up, pour into greased muffin tin and bake at 350 for 25m.

Next time I may experiment with either
a) using 1 1/2 C milk and 1/2 C molasses or
b) adding 1/4 C sugar.

They were good, but I like my muffins sweeter.

This recipe can be doubled.

My washerwoman's sprain has not gotten any better so on Friday I got a cortico-steroid shot in the 'ol wrist. Almost passed out afterward. Fun. The doctor said that ?this is a common reaction?

So no knitting, I am bereft. It's like this whole knitter's high from finishing my first sweater is going nowhere!! I had even started another sweater, but of course now I have stopped because I do not want to exacerbate things.

No reading, well, actually, some- rereading "The Pacific" by Mark Helprin. That's some good writin'. Nice short stories, mmmmm.

Browning Sauce and Liquid Smoke.

Hello! Well, here are a few dinners for you...
It has been a long tail end of winter here but we have been gloriously rewarded with some nice days, such a respite! I seriously cannot wait for Farmer's Market weather to begin once again! Begone canned/frozen goods!

Above is a pretty basic dish, but the TVP I made turned out pretty well and I like to think it would make a good Boca burger crumbles replacement. I usually boil up 2 C water in my Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave (takes about 5m) and then just dump in 1/2 C of TVP and let it set while I fry up some onions. Then I drain it in my trusty mesh drainer and dump it into the pan with the onions. Add some browning sauce, a few drops of liquid smoke, some paprika, pepper and cayenne and voila! Boca like substance. Oh yeah, and some salt.

I dumped some 'cheez' sauce atop that over pasta and dinner is born.

TVP ala Boca

1/2 C TVP reconstituted in boiling water
1 T oil
1/2 onion, chopped
dashes pepper, paprika, cayenne, browning sauce and liquid smoke
salt to taste

Cheez sauce

1 can pinto beans
1/4 C nutritional yeast
1/4 C pimento pieces or red pepper
1 t onion powder
pinch citric acid/1 t lemon juice/1/2 t prepared mustard
1/2 t salt

Blend. Heat. Serve.

And this, the piece de la resistance (um, I don't think I got that right)!

"Chicken" nuggets

firm tofu- I've been really liking the westsoy we find at our coop
shake and bake (see below)
egg replacer

Shake and bake

1 C flour
1 C cracker crumbs/bread crumbs
1 1/2 t sugar
1 T salt
1 t poultry seasoning
1 t Italian seasoning or your herb of choice (rosemary, sage, oregano etc.)
1 T oil
1 heaping t of chick'n powder

Whizz it all up in your food processor and pour it into a bowl. You can keep what's left in the refrigerator for another time.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and oil a couple of baking pans.

Cut up your tofu into 1" pieces. I cut mine longways into thirds, short ways into 1/4ths and then cut those pieces in half.

Mix your egg replacer with a little water until it's thick and drippy.
Dredge your tofu in this, then put it in the bowl with the shake and bake and get it all covered in that shake and bake goodness.

Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 350 for 15m, flip and bake 5m more.

So. seriously. good.

Good gravy!

2 C water
1/2 C flour
1 T chick'n powder
2 t nutritional yeast
1 t salt
1 T Earth Balance
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t dijon mustard
1/2 t balsamic vinegar
1/4 t garlic powder
pinch sage
dash browning sauce
drops liquid smoke

Blend it all up in blender, pour into pot and heat on the stove until thick. Boom. Gravy.

So I see here I have been on a browning sauce and liquid smoke kick. Crazy.

No reading- been knitting. No, really. Knitting is back, with a vengeance. They should make a movie.

Lovely.

Hokay, lets start at the top, shall we?

Here is Arroz non Pollo from "Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker" which is a very good cookbook, btw.

It was a good thing for me to try because it did things I would never do and it uses saffron, which I have but never know how to use! Okay, on the 'did things I would never do' front- well, let's just say it's busy. I mean, green olives, green beans, peas and chickpeas I would never put together in one dish. And to top it all off, some salsa in there too! But it was really good and simple and hearty. Win.

Wheat Berry Stew. This one turned out kinda weird. I was all excited to use my wheat berries, and I had some dried cannellini beans I used as well, so win there, but really, it was just odd. I added some stuff.

1 jar marinara sauce
1 jar's worth of water
1 1/2 C dried cannellini beans
1 C wheat berries
6 small potatoes, cubed
1/4 C nutritional yeast (just 'cuz)
1 T olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 T cumin
2 T soy sauce
1 T brown sugar
1 t onion powder (I was out of onions)
1 t turmeric
1 t paprika (a desperate bid to make it taste better)
1 t salt
dash pepper

The original instructions say to mix together and cook on high 8 - 10 hours. Mine was done sooner and took a LOT more water.

Cupcakes! Using vegweb's super moist chocolate cake recipe, which is my 'go to' recipe for cake. Hard to get out of the muffin tin, but oooh, so worth it! Plus simple chocolate espresso frosting. I just used fine ground coffee and some cocoa our friends brought back from the carribean. Wow.


Manwich using Boca crumbles. Used "Manwich BOLD" it was so exciting. Perhaps a bit more tomatoey. I could not fathom what made them bolder really.

Gnocci from Target. Made a cheez sauce using the cashew butter I got at the coop on sale. Your basic cheez sauce; cashew butter, nutritional yeast, onion and garlic powder, water, salt. I added a bit of citric acid and that tarted it up good! Pretty fun. Going to add citric acid to my cheez sauces from now on. Can't remember why I purchased citric acid- I know I had to go to some special ?brewer's? store and it was ?for a craft project? Hmmmm....

And finally, Cashew Garlic Alfredo Sauce which is so nummy. I upped the olive oil and the nutritional yeast to 1/4 c each and downed the water to just one cup. Also added citric acid, just a wee pinch (in lieu of the lemon juice).

Not much reading, really. Remember when I was all excited about having all these good books to read? Somehow they all evaporated. Like, one I hadn't remembered that I'd already read "The Pacific" by Mark Helprin who I really love. And "No one belongs here more than you" which went really fast and I liked it a lot. And "Everything Is Illuminated" - did I mention that one? Oh yeah, that I was sorta dense abuot what really happened. Watched the movie, which was fine, sorta have an inkling about what happened, but who can tell? The movie was supposed to have been different anyway.

So.

Enjoy the new digs, they are courtesy of my husband's tinkering- it was a lovely 'happy birthday' surprise!

Seitan, you dissapoint me.

Okay, so I made seitan again... this time I used the recipe for Breakfast Sausages.
See, I had this idea to use my clay pot to make some potatoes and I wanted to try sort of steaming my 'log' of seitan in there as I do not have a steamer and I thought this might be a nice alternative. If you are not aware, steaming your seitan is the new phenomenon. First it was baking, now it's steaming. Now I declare it's clay potting... it's like baking AND steaming! No, actually, I got the idea from Bryanna.

I made it pretty much as the recipe called for, tossed my potatoes with 1 T olive oil and rock salt right there in the clay pot, wrapped up the seitan in tinfoil, set it on top and BAM! there was supper. No, actually, I poured in 1/2 C beer, put it into a cold oven turned to 400 degrees and waited 1 hour and then BAM! had supper. Next time I would add more salt to the seitan dough. I was hoping for a markedly different texture using the clay pot cooker, but no such luck. I am always slightly disappointed with seitan. Seitan, you disappoint me.

Here is some red lentil soup and Moroccan bread. Can't find the link, it was a pdf...

The bread I baked on parchment paper on my pizza stone and it came out pretty crispy, not exactly what I was imagining (I was imagining a wonderful bread from a local restaurant Babani's- we actually had them cater our wedding and one sharp memory I still retain is of the waiters/caterers bringing out these large round loaves carried on their shoulders- sooo goood!).

Well anyway, it was still good, just not what I was expecting. Perhaps next time I will bake it on a baking sheet and for less time?

2 1/2 C semolina flour (I subbed in 1 C AP flour)
1 scant T yeast dissolved in 1/4 C warm water
1 C warm water

toppings;
1 T olive oil
1 T kosher salt
1 T sesame seeds

Mix the dry and wet. Knead until smooth. Let rest 15m then flatten into a 3/4" round on parchment paper.
Cover with an inverted bowl and let rise 1 hour or until doubled.
20m before rising time is over, preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Bake 35-40m.

Still working through "Embrace Me"- kinda dragging right now, but that may be because my brain feels like cotton balls right now. Or is that bowling balls?

Taunted.

Taunted (taunted, I tell you!) by visions of vegan ribz (don't click on that link if you've ever dreamed of vegan gyro, either!!!) denied to me on my recent trip to Milwaukee (but hopefully not next time) I decided to make my own! Of course, mine were not deep fried and accompanied by any vegan chive mayo alas, but they were still good.

Just like other times, I started out the same, but this time I added;
-HP sauce
-a little pepper
-more salt
-some Kitchen Bouquet
-used half tahini and half peanut butter
-added 1 T of toasted sesame oil to the dough/mix
and when I basted them with BBQ sauce I coated them in oil first.

I also baked them covered for 30m, covered them with oil and sauce, flipped them and then baked them uncovered for 10m. This resulted in a tastier, not as tough rib.

Still reading "Embrace Me"- as I get to know the characters more, it's easier to read. Great characters. Can't wait to see how she ties it all up.

The Carb Edition

So, I made bread. My standard recipe, but of course, I couldn't just MAKE it again, I had to fiddle. So I added 2 things. First, a baby food jar of carrots. Yes, you read that right. It does not change the flavor, just makes the bread a golden color. Woo. If you are really wedded to the idea of golden loaves of bread you should do this.

Secondly, I added 1/8th teaspoon of powdered ginger. I did this because I read somewhere that it is a dough enhancer. I was skeptical, but you know what? It really worked!! I really think it made a difference, especially because I used both vital wheat gluten and potato flakes (okay, so I added THREE things 1/2 C potato flakes if you are interested) in this loaf and that usually makes for a super dense loaf, but this time it wasn't as dense. Finally, a use for my powdered ginger!

Oho! Aaaaaaand, I also made English muffins Saturday morning and they were splendiferous!!! I got a recipe from my friend Maggie (Hi, Maggie!) and it. turned. out. wonderfully. So happy!

Maggie's English Muffins

4 C AP flour
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2- 1 2/3 C lukewarm soymilk
1/2 t sugar
1 T yeast
1 T oil
cornmeal for dusting

Mix flour and salt. Start yeast in a bowl with soymilk (I use vanilla soymilk in all my cooking and baking -gasp-and never really notice any vanilla taste) and sugar. Stir in oil. Mix dry and wet, beat until soft and just holds it's shape. Add a little flour if needed.
Cover and let rise 1 hour or overnight in the refridgerator (this is what I did) until doubled.
Roll out to 1/2" thickness.
Cut out circles, dust with cornmeal and place on baking sheet, cornmeal side down to rise, covered with a damp cloth for 20-30m.
Cook on a medium hot ungreased skillet for 3-4m on each side until golden brown and cooked through.
Can be frozen.
Do this now.

And what we had for dinner last night. Kind of a strange supper, but it was so nice yesterday it was sort of a reminiscent move because we always have hummus and pita on our summer picnics. I've posted my pita recipe before, this time I added a pinch of powdered ginger, just for kicks. Some of the pitas made lovely pockets, so we'll call this a win.

And my hummus recipe is also up, this time I used 1 t sumac, so now you know my secret hummus ingredient. It is quite tasty.

Read "Everything Is Illuminated" and enjoyed it, just confused as to what exactly went on. I am dense. Netflixed (yes, I just used that as a verb) the movie, maybe this will help clear things up.

Finished "Eat, Pray, Love", as I told a friend of mine, made me want to run off to India. Husband says no. Awwww! Good book, loved her honesty. V. inspiring.

Started knitting a sweater. Cannot say more for fear I will jinx myself.

Am now reading "Embrace Me" and finding it very emotionally draining or something? Have to stop and put it down every once in a while, which I hardly ever do with books (see: incredibly fast reading pace).