Great Caper Bake

This, I thought, was reaally good!! It's Isa's Cesar Salad Dressing from Veganomicon, baked.

I have these capers I bought a long time ago for some reason I can't quite remember (pizza was involved somehow?) and so I've been wanting to use them in something. Well, I looked and looked and found cesar salad dressing recipes. But I didn't have any tofu. So I made this and it was great!!

This is Isa's recipe halved without the tofu. Am I weird that I just took dressing and made it a sauce? And I find it humorous that I look for a recipe to 'use up my capers' but it really only uses 1 t of capers. Next time I'll double it and make a 9 x 13" casserole, plus it was so good, I'm glad I've got lots of capers now!

Great Caper Bake

2T whole, slivered or sliced almonds or 1 T almond butter
2 cloves garlic
2 T olive oil
1 t capers
1 T caper brine
1/2 t sugar
1/2 t prepared dijon
1/4 t pepper
1/2 t salt
1/2 C water

1/2 pkg. Morningstar Farms chick'n strips
1/2 16 oz box or 3 C uncooked pasta

Blend sauce ingredients. Place chick'n strips in a large bowl and pour sauce over to marinate while you prepare the pasta.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Boil water and then pasta.
Drain pasta and add to sauce and chick'n, mixing well.
Pour into oiled 9 x 9" casserole.
Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 30-35m (sauce should be thick on the bottom or mostly absorbed).
Enjoy! (8 points per fourth).

SOON! Soon! we will have our CSA delivery!!!! I cannot wait! Veggies, ho!

Minimal knitting. A few 'wedges'. No reading, sorry folks.

I was recently introduced to the work of Swedish artist, Carl Larsson, and I particularly liked this picture- it looks like someone has just left their knitting.

Eating Rajmah

Last night we had... yes, I know I need a new opening line!
Hmm, how about, 'After a rousing bout of Uno...' (we did not play Uno) we ate Rajmah. Kinda sounds like we ate some poor hapless guy, don't it? But no cannibals are we. Rajmah is an Indian dish made with kidney beans. Susan already did it. But I found a recipe that uses canned kidney beans, of which I had many. I doubled everything except the spices, didn't add salt because the canned kidney beans had salt and I added 1 T sugar because it was pretty tangy, I don't know why. It was pretty good and after eating it for a while, I really liked it (?it had to grow on me?).

Rajmah

2 cans kidney beans, drained
1 can tomatoes, drained
2 T oil
1 onion, chopped fine
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t Trader Joe's ginger jarred (was this the tangy culprit?!)
2 t coriander
2 t cumin
1 t tumeric
1/2 t chili powder
1/2 t garam masala
bay leaf
pinch cardamom
pinch cloves
pinch cinnamon
1/4 t pepper
1 C water

Saute onion and garlic, add ginger and spices. Add tomato and beans, cover with water and simmer until thick.

I called one of my favorite yarn shops yesterday to see if they had more of the yarn I'm using and they did, so I asked them to hold it for a week. I wasn't sure if I'd have enough to make this short rows scarf I'm working on. So I told myself that if I knit like the wind for one week, then I'll use up the skein I have and know whether or not to get the second.

Well, I then proceeded to rewind it into a smaller centrepullball than the centrepullball I'd already wound, checking to see if the repeats of color made enough for another length of scarf, which they did. Hey, why are you backing away like that and shaking your head? Hey, where are you going? Come on, now, don't you wind into a centrepullball skeins of yarn that are already made to pull from the center? What? No?

Anyway, it turns out that I have enough yarn for a whole 'nother repeat plus a little more. So I should have enough. But I'll still try to knit like the wind this week and see where I end up. So no reading, probably.

Everytime I make rice lately I end up pondering something while I stir and stir the rice with my fingers under the faucet in the wire strainer- I read somewhere that if you rinse the rice, you rinse off all the vitamins and stuff they spray onto the rice, but if I don't rinse my rice, it makes a terrible mess in my rice cooker*. This conundrum is completely representative of so many things in my life I can't even tell you. Next time I think of one I'll tell you and call it 'the white rice conundrum'.

*Not to mention the fact that I SHOULD be using brown rice anyway!! And the fact that I'm wasting water as I wash the rice under running water!! Agh!

More, more, more!

Well, this weekend I made lentil walnut dip and pancakes (amongst other things*).

First the pancakes. I used my standard go to recipe for the pancakes from vegweb- Easy Pancakes. Except, this time I really broke with tradition and *gasp* didn't wait the recommended 5-10 minutes between mixings, hey! I didn't even mix it twice, really, just folded the chips in after blending everything in the blender.

Seriously, it takes 2m or so on one side to cook, then 1m or so on the other, twelve pancakes, do the math, starving kid and husband... not gonna happen.

And guess what? The world did not collapse around me! Ha ha, no, really they turned out fine. The first few pancakes are always kind of strange anyway, right? Right?!?

Easy (Blender or not) Pancakes

2 1/2 C AP flour
2 T sugar
2 T baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
2 1/2 C soymilk
1 T veg oil
1/4 C chocolate chips

Dry, then wet. Or just dump everything (not the chips!!!) in the blender and mix, stopping to scrape sides.
Do not overmix or they will be rubbery.
Fold in chips.
Cook on med high (I start at 6, then 4 then 3 as the skillet get hotter).

One time I reserved 1/4 C of the batter and added 1/4 C applesauce and 2 t cinnamon and then used it to pour swirl patterns into the freshly poured pancake. Fancy.

Lentil Walnut Dip

















The dip was gooood! I had this veggie soup I'd frozen that I thawed out and then added some teeny tiny stars pasta to it that I had gotten at the Mexican grocery. But it was a pretty light soup, so the dip and crackers made for a really nice lunch.

Then I turned the dip into casserole, but I blogged that yesterday.

This weekend we worked on the garage and I had a chance to organize my stash a little. Still needs work, but I'm one step closer.

No reading. You guys are going to think I'm some sort of book dilettante or something. Must. finish. Distraction.

Must get more yarn! Must get fun new spice to try experiments with! More later!

*we tried these smoked apple sage sausages and were they ever good and juicy!!

I Can Has Drape?

Well, last night we had casserole. Yes, my favorite thing to do with leftover sauce is make casserole, you got a problem with that?
I had made Lentil Walnut Dip, which, by the way, was great, it just made a lot, so...

















Lentil Walnut Broccoli Casserole

11/2 C lentil walnut dip
1 C plain soymilk
2 C rice, uncooked
1 T oil
1 onion, diced
1 t salt
1 package frozen broccoli, thawed and stems removed
1/2 package fake chicken, cut into small pieces

Saute onion, chicken. Cook rice. Mix dip with milk, salt, onions and broccoli. Mix rice in when done. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30m and 10m uncovered.

This was kind of bland. Hearty, yes. Filling, yes. Wholesome, yes, pretty much. But bland. So next time I'd add !more oil!, more salt?, garlic and some spices. Now, what spices go with lentils and walnut? I imagine things like sage and thyme. But really, this was mostly a way to use up that dip and get a supper out of it- mission accomplished.

I stopped reading Distraction with much excitement when SPOILER the author let slip that the protagonist was going to screw over his love interest.

In the world of short row scarves there is excitement! I finally have knit enough to determine that the scarf will have nice drape!!!! Isn't that cool?!? And the prognosis for "Does she have enough yarn to actually pull this off?" looks good.

See ya!

Business As Usual

Well, this was supposed to have looked a lot different than it did, folks, but I ran out of time! It's Kibbeh and it came from this post. What I ended up serving was the mixture before you let it cool, knead it and mix it and then shape it into ovals. What can I say... I have two small children? Yes, that's it.

Kibbeh

1 C red lentils
2 1/2 C water
1/2 C fine grain bulghur (#2 grade)*
2 T olive oil
1 onion, diced fine
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 t tomato paste (I used 1 T ketchup, I cannot tell a lie)
1 1/2 t paprika (could have used more)
1 t tarragon
1 t salt
pepper to taste
1/2 t lemon juice

*or grind it in a coffee grinder

Ideally you are supposed to cook the lentils in the water until they are mushy (20-30m), meanwhile sauteing the onions and garlic, and then dump the lentils over the bulghur and let that set for half an hour. But I was in a hurry, so I nuked 2 C of water 'til boiling (5 min in my microwave in a 2 C pyrex measuring cup) and dumped that over the bulghur while the lentils cooked. Then I drained the bulghur and dumped it into the pot where I had mixed the onions, garlic, spices and red lentils and cooked it until it was thick.

You can make lots of different kinds of kibbeh- with potato, in a tray, with pumpkin (scroll down, it's in the comments), or even in soup.

I even found this recipe which made me curious about sumac, and got me thinking about those sumac growing up at my parents-in-law! I call ultimate locavore if I grind my own sumac and use it!

Well, that's it for today... no reading yesterday and some knitting. Making some progress again after changing it all up one more time.

Well hello there...

Last night we had Esme's sauce with brown rice and edamame.

Esme's sauce

2 T tahini
2 T miso
2 T soy sauce
2 T olive oil
1/4 C nutritional yeast
1 T prepared mustard (I used dijon 'cause I'm fancy like that)
1 clove garlic, minced fine

Mix together and heat over stove. Add water to get sauce consistency you like!

Distraction continues apace. Suddenly there has been a reversal! Actually, I was thinking about it and it is an interesting question to consider whether things in our world will continue on like they always have amid dire predictions, or if, finally, some of our actions will come home to roost and the world will be very changed for our children. We feel a lot of guilt and possibly premonition about our future and so I guess that's why apocalyptic fantasy is fun/cathartic.

Ahem, I have changed the knitting pattern yet again. I would lower my eyes in shame except that I make no apologies for wanting to try new, fun things. Dudes, it's my hobby! So now I'll be experimenting with a new stitch for a bit to see what that gets me.

Oh yeah, so last night there were no bowls left in the house, and my husband likes to have a bowl of cereal sometimes before bed. So I come into the livingroom and see this measuring cup with a spoon in it with traces of soymilk there in the bottom and I look at him and say "Using a measuring cup for your cereal, huh?" and he says yes and then I say "Desperate times call for desperate measures." and then I realize what I've said is sort of a pun so I go, "Measures, measuring cup, desperate measures! Get it?!? Ha ha!". I hope you have enjoyed this moment in our lives.

Spicy Black Beans and corn tortillas

Last night we had spicy black beans with corn tortillas and refried beans. It was really filling and good! I got tired of looking at that Maseca in my refrigerator and not knowing what to do with it, so I improvised a tortilla recipe using my flatbread/tortilla recipe (left out the brown sugar, only used 1/4 C oil) and it turned out well! I found the spices from a post on vegweb but of course I couldn't find it again for the love of me!

1/2 C TVP (or you could use Boca or even tofu, frozen and crumbled)
1 can black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 T chili powder
1 t cumin
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1 t oregano
1 t salt
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T oil

Blend/food process together 1/2 of the can of tomatoes and 1/2 of the can of beans.
Saute onion and garlic, add spices and TVP and mix well.
Add to the onion and garlic the other half cans of beans and tomatoes and the blender ingredients.
Cover and bring to a boil, uncover and lower heat and simmer until thick.

Corn tortillas

1 1/2 C AP flour
1 1/2 C MaSeCa
1/4 C oil
1 t salt

Mix together, then slowly add water until it makes a ball; I used roughly 1 1/2 C water, your mileage may vary.
Make into a ball, flatten out a little and cut into eighths. Roll out thin and cook on a hot skillet until bubbling up and then flip and cook other side until brown spots appear.

Finished the exit wounds book- double meh. She ends the story with this wide open hanging open type of deal, you never find out what happens with the characters- lazy! No, I mean, it really bothers me. Maybe I'm supposed to all just 'decide on my own' what the rest of the story is, possibly she's trying to empower me or something, to free me from the restraints of the traditional reader/story constraint, but really? please. Lame.

Started Distraction by Bruce Sterling- it's ?I think? supposed to be sort of canonical sci fi, like really early good stuff and so far it's pretty good- different than recent sci fi, but that's to be expected. Mostly it's an exploration of what might happen in America if certain things (the internet, freedom of information) exploded. Pretty masculine. But I like it. I'm kind of waiting for a twist or I guess the climax of the story.

In knitting news, still cranking on the scarf, actually knitting it now instead of just trying to find a satisfactory way to knit it. Am afraid I will run out of yarn. Should have left provisional cast on on so that scarf can suddenly be a cowl.

Cheazy Hamburger and Mac

Well, there it is in all it's glory! I made my standard 'hamburger helper' recipe with the new golden cheaze sauce and it was good!

1 can beans (anything but black)
2 C water (one can full)
1/4 heaping C nutritional yeast
1/4 C pimento/chopped pickled red bell pepper
1/4 C ketchup
1 t onion powder
1 t salt
1/2 t yellow mustard
Blend.
1 onion, chopped
1-2 packets Boca ground beef
1 T oil
Saute.

6-8 oz pasta

Add blended ingredients to sauteed. Add pasta. Bring up heat and simmer until pasta is done and sauce is nice and thick.

Makes approximately 4 C at 26 points total to give you 6 points per cup.

Started a new book, it is a comic type of thing called exit wounds by rutu modan. Kinda dark so far.

And of course I didn't keep the knitting the same. But NOW I think I have the perfect pattern. Enough so that I'm continuing on past the first section, which I swear I have ripped out 20+ times. That pink yarn was looking preeeety fuzzy.

DIY Shrinky Dink Experiential

We just did this and it was so fun!!!!!!
First, get your #6 plastic and cut it into reasonable pieces with no imprints or anything.
Then, get your magic eraser and scrub and scrub them...
















'til they look like this;



















Then color! We used some permanent markers and some colored pencils. The colored pencils gave a much more iced/blurred/frosted look than the marker.


















Haha, oops, yes that is my coffee mug...


















The color will look like hardly anything, but remember, as it shrinks up, the color will concentrate.

Now you can cut and hole punch holes in them. The hole punch sized hole makes a perfect small hole for a jump ring.























Bake at 350 degrees until they stop shrinking- they will contort and curl and look all crazy but do not fear! Eventually they settle down! I used parchment paper and they came out all nice and flat.
Now you can sand them or whatever! Those sharp corners are sharp!




















The second one from the left was the colored pencil one and it's design was less sharp. I colored on both sides and got a cool layered effect from it! I really liked the marker ones... if you cut out quarter sized circles, they make nice stitch markers or zipper pulls!



















Woo! Have fun!

Ribz Redux

Okay, I changed my mind... writing and saying, especially, ribz, with that zzzzzzzzz at the end, is just too fun!

Let's see, what else did I make this weekend? We went to the farm and I made a Baked Lentil casserole, but doubled it and added some other stuff to jazz it up, like onion powder, garlic powder, onion soup mix, grape jelly!, and veggie broth. Much better. Put that over rice and shazzam! it's an easy, good casserole. At least I think so. Next time I make it maybe I'll make it with molasses for the honey, or maple syrup!

I also used the rest of the pumpkin almond sauce mixed with some spaghetti, put it in a casserole, put some bread crumbs on top mixed with sage and paprika, drizzled it with some olive oil and had a nice spaghetti bake. Also easy.

I might give up on the fire book, because it's so boring to read about these characters that I've already met. Their backstory is just not that gripping when you're like "Oh, yeah, I knew that about Juney." or "Oh wow, so that's how Mike and Signe hooked up.". It sort of loses the romance when you already know the outcome. Perhaps I will start yet another book.

I have been knitting, and ripping, and knitting and ripping the short row scarf and think I finally have something I like, but talk to me tomorrow. Not too many stitches, nice shaping, complicated yet mindless in it's own way. Oh, plus I thought up a baby cardigan that might be fun. I know, how is this a knitting blog with no actual things to show, right? Sorry peeps. So far I'm keeping everything under wraps. You'll just have to come here for the food.

aaaand...casserole!

So last night I did what I said I'd do with the rest of Lachesis' Alfredo Sauce and made a casserole. I was so pleased when it turned out!! It was a rainy, stormy night and a casserole pulled out of the oven seemed just right.

Green Bean Casserole

sauce;
1/2 C Earth Balance
2 C soymilk
1 pkg extra firm silken tofu
2 T white cooking wine
2 T onion powder
1 T garlic powder
2 t salt
1 t pepper
pinch nutmeg
2 T cornstarch

Mushrooms, 5-6, diced
1 can green beans
1/2 onion, diced
1 T oil
2 C minute rice
1 pkt Boca ground beef
1 1/2 C water

Blend all ingredients in blender except cornstarch. Make a slurry of the cornstarch with a little water. Pour blended ingredients into medium size pot on stove. Heat. Add cornstarch and bring up heat, stirring constantly until thick and just bubbly.

Use 2 C of the sauce and reserve the rest for yummy, yummy pasta.

Mix 2 C sauce and sauteed onions, Boca and mushrooms, a can of green beans, and 2 C minute rice. Add 1 1/2 C water and mix well. Pour into oiled 9 x 13" pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes covered, then 20 minutes uncovered or until browned.


Tried again to work the short rows scarf with larger needles using garter ridge, just could not make it work. Even though garter uses more yarn than stockinette, I'm sticking with it. Trying a new way to proportion the stitches over the needle, back to garter. We'll see how this works out.

No reading yesterday.

Hit me with your best shot

Last night I tried Lachesis' Alfredo Stroganoff and it was gooooo-oood!

Alfredo

1/2 C Earth Balance, softened
2 C unsweetened soymilk (I used powdered that we keep around for baking/cooking)
1 pkg extra firm silken tofu
2 T white cooking wine (I used red 'cause that's how I roll, no, that's what I had)
2 T onion powder
1 T garlic powder
2 t salt (cut this down to 1 next time)
1 t pepper (cut this down to 1/2 t next time)
pinch of nutmeg
2 T cornstarch

Blend except cornstarch. Mix cornstarch with approx 1/4 C water. Heat sauce on stove. Add cornstarch mixture and bring heat up, stirring constantly until thick and just starting to bubble.

Serve over pasta.

This made a TON, like 3 1/2 C at 3 points per 1/4 C. It is rich.
I think I'll use the rest as a sauce in a casserole.

Every morning I see this guy on my coffee (yes, I drink instant).
Doesn't he look smug?
Or is he grimacing, because he knows he'll never get $15 mil like this guy...

Tried a new stitch for my short row scarf, hated it, back to my beloved garter.

Blog if you want to...

Last night we had Dan's Saturday Night Special.
It does not matter that the picture above is slightly blurry, because this is not much to look at, really. But it's good and fast. This is a further riff on the Cheaze Sauce I tried.

Dan's Saturday Night Special

1 can white beans (I used cannellini)
1/4 C + 2 T nutritional yeast
1/4 C pimento/cooked sweet red pepper
2 t chicken flavor powder
1 t lemon juice
1 t onion powder
1/2 t prepared yellow mustard
1/2 t salt
2 C water

Blend in blender.

1 onion, chopped
1 T oil
1 can corn
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1 C minute rice
1 pkt Boca ground beef

Saute onion, add corn, onion, rice, ground beef and sauce and mix well.
Bring to a boil, covered. Lower heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring often, until rice is just tender (10m or so). Remove from heat and cover 5m or so. Serve right out of the pot. Mmmm.

Gave up on Jackfish. Started Dies the Fire by Stirling. Whee! Escapist literature (well, literature may be a stretch)! The question is, would YOU survive if suddenly electricity and guns didn't work? Practiced your swordplay lately?

I am thinking about trying this seitan, but it sort of seems intimidating... for more information about developing your gluten, see here... uhhh, gee. I get sort of flummoxed when recipes give me options but don't tell me what the difference might be. It's like, oh crap, if I don't allow the gluten to develop overnight in the refrigerator, then my seitan will be subpar!! Oh noes!! But if I do refrigerate the seitan overnight to develop the gluten, then I need to cook it longer in the crockpot because it's cold, but how long!!! Augh! Then I have to remember to tell myself to chill out. And I found this recipe and maybe I'll sort of mix 'n match or something.

I am now contemplating new stitches for the short rows scarf. No, I could not leave well enough alone, you know that!

Do you grok me?

Where to begin, where to begin?

Weeel, tonight, we had hummus and flatbread. Not much, but good. I personally find the flatbread to be sooooo yummy! I tried something different with the hummus- instead of 2 cans garbanzos, I did 1 can garbanzos, and 1 can cannellini beans (white kidney, you could use any white bean). It was cool.

Elizabeth's Quick Yummy Flatbread

1 1/2 C ww flour
1 1/2 C flour
1 T brown sugar
1/4 C + 2 T oil
1 t salt

Mix all ingredients in mixer, then add 1 C water 1 T at a time until it forms a ball and cleans the sides of the bowl.
Roll out into a snake and divide into 6.
Roll each sixth into a flat circle and cook on skillet until bubbles start to form (1-2m) and then flip and cook 1m.

The night before we had pasta, fake chicken and broccoli with... wait for it... sauce. Tried a new one, it was pretty good.

Pumpkin Almond Sauce

3/4 C pumpkin puree
1/4 C almond butter
1 pkg soft silken tofu
2 T nutritional yeast
1/2 C water
3 t vegetable broth powder
1/2 t salt
pepper to taste

Blend. Heat on stove. Makes approx 2 C at 17 points total.

The pumpkin was left over from some pumpkin muffins I made Friday morning. They were pretty much the same as ones I've made before. I was going to be all different and make a loaf, but then ran out of time so it was muffins again. MMmmmmmmmmmmmuffins.

I also made Camel Pockets this weekend.
















Not much to look at, huh? Well, here's the money shot, as they say...

















Camel Pockets (makes 16)

1/4 C oil
2 onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 t salt
1 t pepper
2 t cumin
1 t coriander
2 T parsley
2 T paprika
1 pkg firm tofu, frozen, then thawed
2 cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
2 C water

crust;
5 C flour
2 C water
4 T yeast
1 T + 1 t salt
1/2 C oil

For the crust;
Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Mix all ingredients in mixer. Knead 3m in mixer. Place dough in oiled bowl. Place dough in oven, covered with a towel and turn off oven. Let rise 30m. Knead on floured counter until smooth, divide into 16 and roll out into circles.

For filling;
Saute onions, garlic, add spices and crumble in tofu. Add beans and water and simmer until thick.

Preheat oven to 425.

Place 1/16th of filling on half of the circle, wet edge and fold over (like a calzone) and seal. Place on an oiled baking sheet and bake for 15m.

These are my favorite. I thought I found them on vegweb, now I can't find them. Of course halve the recipe if 16 seems extreme.

*When I get home from the store, I stab the tofu package with a knife (just the top!) and stick it in the freezer right away. Then I am committed to making camel pockets. The morning of, I dump it into a sink of hot water and wait until it is thawed. I am sure somehow you could nuke it.

Okay, onto something else.

Reading Jackfish, it. is. so. hip. The guy actually uses the word, 'grok' as in 'to grok something' (to know it, understand it). There are parts where his descriptions are so awesome and it just takes you right there, but I'm not sure I'm going to hang with this one.

My wonderful husband went to the library and got me the other Stirling book, the something something fire one, AND IT'S THE PREQUEL to the one I read!!!!!!!!!!!! Can I tell you how irritating I find that?!?! They should make it mandatory to number books so you could tell which one was first in the series. Aaaaugh! Not like I mind reading it, I'm sure I'll enjoy it, it's just that I made every effort to get the first one and then the next and now it's all backwards, wah!

Starting a (suprise) short row scarf. You will love it.

Oh, I'm Sorry...

I went to the doctor yesterday, thinking I had a sinus infection, but no, it's allergies.

I'd almost rather have had the sinus infection because then I could take antibiotics and have done with it!

Anyway, he did the normal check out my throat, my ears, then he's like "Let's take a look inside your nose." to which I responded something like, "Sorry. Fun for you, huh?" all apologizing for his having to look in my nose. What kind of weird response was that? I always trip myself out with my odd behavior when I'm at the doctor. Since when do I apologize to you for your having to do your job? Next thing you know I'll be sitting out on the curb waiting for the garbagepeople/persons just so I can say "Oh, gosh, sorry about all this garbage, what a drag for you...". Humph.

Esoteric thumbs

I tried this recipe last night and it was good! Kinda reminded me of Real Chili
in Milwaukee... gosh, I didn't know that place was so unique!
Anyway, I made some mods, but of course. Halved it, and used Boca ground beef.

Red Bean Chili

2 pkts Boca ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T oil
1/2 C water
1/2 t onion soup mix
2 T chili powder
1 1/2 t cumin
1 1/2 t cocoa powder
1 C diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 t salt
1 t cider vinegar

Saute onions, then Boca, then garlic.
Add 1/2 C water mixed with 1/2 t onion soup mix (I used this instead of veg broth).
Stir in the chili powder, cumin, cocoa and tomatoes. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 10m.
Add the beans, salt and vinegar, mix well. Simmer uncovered 10m.

I don't think the 10m has to be done twice, really, as we're not dealing with real meat here folks. So this was a quick meal that was satisfying!
Next time I'll try it with beer instead of water/broth.

Finished The Protector's War- yes, there is a sequel, something something Fire. Will have to see if our library has it. Can't wait, now I'm all invested in these characters.
Started Jumpfish, about someone from Atlantis. It's nice in the sense that it's not so gripping that I want to read and read, so I can actually put it down (and knit!).

Started messing around with the thumb part of my pattern, thought I could improve it, but I don't think I've invented anything new, alas. Thought I had this clever way of doing it differently, but actually, what I have works best. I guess I could pick up the wraps or something, but now that I'm wrapping the wraps tighter, it doesn't show as much (the wraps). Esoteric enough for you?

Bread and Soup

Yesterday I made Crockpot Corn, Bean and Coconut Soup

2 cans black beans, undrained
1 can tomatoes, undrained
1 can corn, undrained
1 can coconut milk
2-3 cloves garlic
1 t cumin
1 t liquid smoke
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ancho chile powder


Blend tomatoes, cumin, liquid smoke, salt, ancho chile powder and garlic.
Pour into crockpot.
Add beans, corn and coconut milk*.
Cook on low 3-5 hours.
Serve with bread.
Makes approximately 7C at 2.5 points a cup.


*Trader Joe's makes a nice one that's pretty reasonable as far as calories go...

Still reading The Protector's War. It's getting veeeerry close to the end and I don't see it all wrapping up, so I'm guessing there must be a sequel?

Got great pics from my test knitter, so cool to see my pattern knit up by someone else!! It lives!! Mwa-ha-ha-haaaaaa!

Barn down!

We were gone over the weekend, so it was with surprise that we read an email from our CSA; it turns out that the storm we had at my in-laws (dime sized hail) was down here in the cities as well, and blew down the (old) barn at the farm our CSA rents! Perhaps we will have an actual and true barn raising!!! No one was hurt (although a hen and a cat are unaccounted for) and I am guessing that what crops they had in were short enough that they didn't blow down or get too damaged. She said everything out in the field got a 'power wash'. This weekend is 'planting day' and I can't wait!!!

My inlaws had a visit from some bears- 2 yearlings. They took down quite a few bird feeders and dragged them off into the woods. One we were never able to recover! I guess that a week or so before she mates, the mother drives off the yearlings so our guess is that this is probably what had happened. You can log any bear sightings here.

So we visited a little Mexican grocery this weekend and it was full of crazy stuff like pigs feet (augh!) and dried shrimp but also lots of spices I'd never seen, like chamomile flowers and tamarind and lime? Anyway, I bought a few things.

















This is savila, not to be confused with salvia.

















And these chips were okay, but kinda gritty.

Well, we had leftovers last night, so nothing to post.

I continue to be sucked into my book, when I should be knitting, knitting, knitting. Must wind my yarn into a centrepullball first, then get started. We'll see if I make any progress.

Super Specialized Sock Sewer

Did you know that they make these special little needles now that you can use to kitchener your sock with? Made by Chibi, just like my good old standby needle, seen above, they are thinner and shorter and jabbyer.

It was a little weird, because I'm used to the longer length and I kept 'losing' the needle, but I guess if you really felt like your old tapestry needle was too big, then you should get this.

I just started reading The Protector's War by Stirling, and it's really good!!!!!! So far he's weaving all these threads together of the different groups that survived and I forsee a big climactic ...something... coming. Why didn't anyone tell me there was a whole post-apocalyptic subgenre in sci fi/fantasy?!?!?! I look forward to lots of enjoyment ferreting out the good from the bad there...

Maybe I'll bake some bread today for the week to come.

Ciao!

bringing you the strange

Mmmmm...
Last night we had Cheeseburger Macaroni.
Aghghlaghl...

Here's what I did;
1 16oz box farfalle (bows, you know)
6 T Earth Balance
1/2 C flour
2 C water
1 1/2 t salt
2 T soy sauce
1 1/2 t garlic granules
pinch tumeric
1/4 C oil
1 C nutritional yeast
1 pkt. Boca ground beef

Cook pasta.
Get the rest of the ingredients ready and at hand.
Mix the 2 C water, salt, soy sauce and pinch tumeric, and nuke in a microwave safe thing- uhh, I use my Pyrex 2 C measuring cup. Nuke for 2-3m; do not let boil over.
Melt the Earth Balance over low heat. Wait and wait and wait for that butter to melt.
Mix in the flour a little at a time, whisking constantly.
Slowly add hot water a little at a time, whisking* constantly. Cook until it thickens and bubbles. Add the oil, nutritional yeast and Boca. Add one cup of the pasta water if it's too thick.
Drain the pasta (don't drain real thoroughly) and dump everything together into a large bowl and mix well.
Oil a 9 x 13" casserole and pour in the stuff.
Bake, covered at 350 degrees for 15-30m. Leave uncovered for 10.
1/8th = 8 points.

*A good whisk is essential, people. I had this rubber coated monstrosity that we'd gotten in an effort to save our teflon pans and last night I just bailed and used the metal attachment one from our mixer. Smaller, better.