Miss me?

No?

That’s okay.

Even I don’t know what I’ve been doing since I made lasagna!

The cider is still in the carboy fermenting away. We’re about to bottle in in the next couple days.

ummm. . . .

So, not a lot of food happening in my life right now but defiantly a lot of adventure. I’m in the process of planning my wedding. It’s set to take place in Las Vegas (who’d’ve thought?) in June 16th, 2011. It’s really been a furious rush to get everything planed while I still have time to breathe. . . . and before any other forward-thinking, type-A bride gets there before me.

No way, sister! I’ve got the location, hotel reservations, photographer, reception site, menu plan . . . .Yeah.

I’m waiting for my dress to come in along with a brooch I ordered from Ebay and then it’s down to the sundry items like welcome bags for our guests, favors, ribbon for my shoes, and music. We’re doing that ourselves.

Oh, and invitations. I’m working on that too. I’ve got a super secret plan that I might not be able to pull of in time. . . More on that later.

I’ve become part of a really neat online community called Offbeat Bride. These ladies are amazing. I’ve been so incredibly impressed with their creativity and kindness I can hardly believe it.

I feel like I’ve gotten a lot out of the way but, somehow, I feel like I’ve got so much left to do.

BUT ENOUGHT ABOUT THAT!!

I’m making my mom a sweet scarf for Christmas! I saw pictures of a beaded scarf online that I liked but I had to pay for the pattern. Yeah right! So I found as many pictures as I could find and attempted to figure it out myself. (The only logical option!)

So, from the pictures it seemed that the scarf was knit up in a garter stitch with little pyramids of beads at each end, thusly:

This is just one example of the NUMEROUS photos I found online. I wasn’t especially thrilled with the garter stitch option because the one I’m making is of a more dressy yarn and I wanted it to have more visual interest than just wiggly lines. I opted for a seed stitch instead and I’m really happy with the look. Because of the stitch pattern it also changed the way the beads look as well. instead of the solid looking lines of beads running the length of the scarf, every other bead is hidden by the stitch pattern. Finally, I used a much smaller bead. On a sport weight yarn I chose a size 8 bead which is about the smallest bead I could fit on.

YARN PORN! (Watch out now!):

So there you have it.

Want some directions?

You will need:

1 hank (100 g) sport weight yarn
3 colors (or whatever) seed beads, size 8, 20g each
Size 6 needles

Slide 40 beads close to the end of your yarn.

place your slipknot for a long-tail cast on after those beads and cast on 5 stitches.

Slide 10 beads from the tail and 10 beads from the main yarn up and cast on a stitch to hold them in place. cast on 4 more for a total of 5 stitches. bring up 10 more beads from each side. Cast on 5 more stitches and repeat until you have 4 sets of beads and 5 sets of 5 stitches each. For the second row, follow the pattern:
k,p,k,p,k, place 10 beads, k,p,k,p,k, place 10 beads, k,p,k,p,k, place 10 beads, k,p,k,p,k, place 10 beads, k,p,k,p,k

you should be at the end of the row now. Flip your work over.

Follow the pattern again, placing 9 beads instead of 10. Decrease the number of beads by 1 each row until there is only 1 bead left per set.

The pattern should be as follows:
k,p,k,p,k,(pb),k,p,k,p,k,(pb),k,p,k,p,k,(pb),k,p,k,p,k,(pb),k,p,k,p,k

Um, so, I haven't figured out how to take it off the needles, yet. I'm sure I'll figure it out, though. (nervous laughter)

Technorati Tags: knitting,beaded scarf,seed stitch,wedding plans

Three Sisters Lasagna

Look who was stuck to my screen by nothing but a breeze!

It’s fall for sure and this got me thinking about Thanksgiving and gardening and all kinds of stuff. There’s been a lot of talk on the internet lately about “The Three Sisters”: corn, beans, and squash.

I had some leftover lasagna noodles from the Food Not Bombs thing on Sunday, some black beans that I had soaked overnight fro no particular reason, some random vegan cheese, and about 4 pounds of carnival squash from my CSA so I decided to do some kitchen improv.

First a picture, then the recipe:

Serves . . . . a bunch. . . maybe 8

2 lbs carnival squash (or whatever)
1t pumpkin pie spice
1/4 c milk
salt and pepper
*************************************************
2 cups black beans (post-soak volume)
6c water
1/2t cayenne
1/2t cumin
1/4t garlic powder
1 bay leaf
*************************************************
1/4c butter 
1/4c flour
3.5c milk 
2t Emeril's Southwestern Seasoning
*************************************************
1 package no-boil lasagna noodles
1c frozen corn
appx. 1/2c cheddar cheese
appx. 1/2c mozzarella cheese
appx. 1/4c parmesan (I used my own home-made stuff)

1. Preheat your oven to 375*. Cut the squash in half, seed them and place them, cut side down on a rimmed baking dish lined with parchment paper. Bake for an hour or until tender.

2. At the same time, add the beans, water, cayenne, cumin, garlic powder and bay leaf to a pan. bring to a boil then drop down to a simmer for about an hour or until the beans are tender. add more water as necessary to keep the beans covered (I didn't need to add any).

3. Meanwhile, Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Sprinkle in the flour and whisk until smooth. Slowly whisk in the milk. Keep whisking until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 15 min(?). Once it's thick enough, turn off the heat and add the SW seasoning. Taste it, see if you like it. It should be creamy and just a little spicy.  Set aside to cool.

4. When the squash is done scoop out the flesh and put it in a blender with the pumpkin pie spice, milk, and a little salt and pepper. Blend until smooth, taste, adjust seasonings to your liking. set aside.

5. When the beans are done, drain any excess water and set aside.

6. Now we build: In a 9x13 pan, put 3/4c of the sauce. put on a layer of noodles.
        Spread 1/2 the squash evenly on top
        1/2 cup more sauce.
        another layer of noodles
        spread out the beans and corn next
        1/2 cup more sauce
        cheddar cheese (I found the sliced kind and I used 5 slices)
        noodles
        the rest of the squash
        1/2 cup sauce
        noodles
        remainder of the sauce
        mozzarella and parmesan
7. Cover with foil and bake in a 400* oven for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 more minutes. I like my lasagna kind of crispy on top and dry around the edges which is why the baking time is so long. If you like your lasagna softer just shorten the uncovered time to your liking.

I made this in the morning and stowed it in the fridge for the day and had Mr. Crow throw it in the oven just before I got home from work. The house smelled AMAZING and I got to eat dinner right away! It was spicy and sweet and creamy and so delish! I don't usually pull "real" recipes out of my ear like this so I'm kind of anxious to have someone make this. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

The Great Cider Adventure

With this year’s farm share I’ve been getting apples. Big apples, smal apples, red apples, yellow apples. . . .I’ve been shoving them in drawers, in the fridge in bowls on shelves. . . pretty much anywhere i could put an apple I had one. With a literal bushel of apples squirreled away in my tiny kitchen I was seriously in need of room for, well, everything else.

Mr. Crow had since bottled his beer and, with all the larger equipment free, we decided to make some apple cider; hard apple cider! Here’s what we started with:

I used my apple corer/slicer tool to cut up each apple, tossed it into the Blendtek and made raw apple sauce. We then squeezed out all the juice using a small bag made out of bed sheet type material. Leaving us with 3 gallons of cider, and all this stuff:

 

 

 

 

 

I pasteurized the cider, added champagne yeast and now it’s in a bucket in my closet.

More to come!

Curry Night

I had a pile of new stuff from the farm share and I had no idea what to do with this stuff.  But with hunger in my belly and a can of curry in my pantry anything is possible!

I got this cool looking curry jar from Whole Foods the other day:

So now what? well, I got this bag of swiss chard and I got some sweet potatoes, aaaaaand some TVP. . . That’ll do!

So, yeah, no recipe here, just sauté everything until it’s almost done, dump in the jar of curry and heat through. I got mine on a pile of jasmine rice. The curry’s mild spice went really well with the sweet potato sweetness. Highly recommended.

Caramelized Onion - Butternut Squash Soup

I’ve decided that, when possible, I’ll separate my posts by dish so that I can find my recipes in the future. I can’t seem to remember to tag my entries so this seems to be the next best option for now. So, obviously, today’s entry will be about the GREAT soup I made for dinner the other night!

Mr. Crow really loves French Onion soup so, when I got a butternut squash from the CSA and i found this recipe it’s as if the stars aligned. I got this book from the library so I’ll post the recipe here. I do want to encourage you to check it out, it’s full of really great ideas and soup is cheap!

Serves 6

1T butter (Earth Balance)
2-3 T olive oil
4 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 sm/md butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
1/3 cup port wine (I used a dry white)
6 cups water (i used Better Than Bullion no beef)
2 parmigiano-reggiano cheese rinds (I used 1/4 c Nooch and 1T awase miso)
salt and pepper

1. over med-high heat, combine the butter and 1 tablespoon of the oil and sauté onions, lowering the heat as the onions start to reduce and lose their liquid, eventually becoming golden brown and caramelized (sweet tasting and no longer crunchy). 20 to 25 minutes. Keep stirring and scraping the pan often to keep the onions from sticking and to incorporate the browned bits that form on the bottom of the pot. You might need a bit more oil as you cook (I didn't). Stir in the garlic and squash and sauté another 5 to 7 minutes, then deglaze with the wine.

2. Add water (broth) and parmesan rinds (don't add the nooch/miso yet). and bring to a boil. Lower heat, partially cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

3. Stir in the nooch and miso. (You have to wait until now! You don't want to kill all those good enzymes, do ya?!). Season with salt and pepper.

4. NOM!

Let’s See What The Card Has For Us Today:

Well, firstly, it looks like a couple dinner recipes from last week. As you know I had a ton of tiny sweet peppers from the CSA. I had NO IDEA what to do with them since I’m not terribly in love with peppers. After poking around the internet for a while I found some bruschetta recipes but, of course, they call for cheese. But that got me thinking. A lot of times in sandwiches I like to substitute hummus for cheese because it satisfies the salty creamy thing that cheese likes to do. So, I ended up with this:

We took a baguette and sliced it up, brushed it with olive oil and then toasted them in the oven. Meanwhile We sautéed the peppers. then it’s just building them: toast, hummus, peppers, and a dash of paprika. yum-yum!

 

At some point after this I wanted breakfast and I wanted something hearty:

Behold The Breakfast Burrito! There’s scrambled tofu, red peppers, Daiya Cheddar, Gimmie Lean sausage, potato cubes, onions, Tofutti sour cream and hot sauce!! Yeah!!

Then there was this little gem:

This is a “before” picture of the vegan version of Giada’s Classic Lasagna. man I love this lasagna. I use the ricotta recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance and for the “mozzarella” on this one I used Sheese. I like Sheese quite a bit. It’s tangy and salty and, even though it’s not especially melty, it’s still pretty creamy. mmmm. Anyway, here’s an “after” picture:

Next is the farms hare pickup:

So, the melon smelled too much like cantaloupe for me to try it. . . man, I hate cantaloupe. 

Here’s a picture of our Sunday brunch. I wasn’t hungry but Mr. Crow wanted pancakes. . . . he really, really did. He ate the whole batch by himself.

Typically, when we make pancakes we use the recipe from Vegan Yum Yum. they’re super easy and delicious!

Also, with all these apples lying around and Sunday being Appleween and all I decided to make apple butter and this apple pie:

Yes, yes, it looks really good, thank you. HOWEVER! I used the wrong kid of apple for sure. The crust came out fab but the apples inside were still crisp and they released so much juice (even after sitting in sugar for 20 minutes before being put in the pie) that I had to dump it out. . . . the juice, not the pie. We still ate that.

The butternut squash got made into risotto:

We found the squash a but underdone in this recipe. i think we should have cut it smaller but it was still great and I’d eat it again. We substituted the parmesan with nooch and about a tablespoon of awase miso. That miso made a great addition and I’ll be adding it to creamy, “cheesy” dishes from now on.

FARM SHARE AGAIN:

Here are some close-ups of the cooler elements of Saturday’s share:

Sunday we went to Cincinnati to have fun with my mom and her husband! It was great! We went to Ikea and Jungle Jim’s! What a day. Mr. Crow drove there and back so I got to get a TON of knitting done in the car and my life will never be the same. It was amazing to keep myself busy and not get car sick!

Here’s some pictures of some things we got:

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At A Loss

How does anyone go through the process of defining what’s important; where to hold on to the passions of youth and how to weed out the childish ones while leaving some to, hopefully, blossom?

As a sociology student I learned a lot about how bad the world can be. I rely on myself and on my loved ones to show me how good it can be.

I have a confession. I am an armchair activist. Yes, when you take a measure and follow bad back it seems to distill down to money but, for me, is that enough? So my shopping at thrift stores and not eating animals  shrinks my carbon footprint and reduces the demand for suffering in both the human and animal population (because when you buy with dollars you’re condoning the process) but I can’t help but feel like it’s not enough, that my knowledge is woefully inadequate to be able to make a good decision about what food, clothes, or whathaveyou to buy. I get this paralyzing sense of dread every time I go shopping that everything I touch is suspect. “How can I buy anything!?” The sad part is I know that this feeling is true. Everything is suspect.

And yet, I still buy things. Pushing myself to willful ignorance or blinded by shiny stuff (those who know me know about that) I buy things; things I need and things I don’t.

“So,” I thought to myself, “If you’re not happy get off your rear and get going!” I started thinking about what I’d like to do with my life and I decided that I’d like to make “making a living while making a difference” my motto.

I applied for a job at PETA hopefully but knowing I would probably not be hired because I haven’t volunteered in quite a while and, of course, that was the case. They were very gracious about it.

I then resolved to get my volunteer on. I sent messages to a number of organizations and, the ones I heard back from, the message was a little off-putting. One thanked me for my interest in volunteering and than asked me for money (if I wanted to give money I would have just clicked “donate”). The other asked me to drop my their events any time (I’m at work) or email for an office orientation. I sent an email right away and never got a reply. I found this rather discouraging. it also made me a little cranky. Here I am offering my time (which I value greatly) and you can’t do me the (barely a) courtesy of a reply. . not even a “thanks but no thanks” one?

Discouraged, I continued to explore my options, met a freegan, read some anarchist literature, and considered the words of The Buddha.

It’s not a big secret that I don’t like my job. it depresses me to go to work every day. The only thing that makes it bearable are the awesome people I work with. I don’t know whether to consider this a weakness or a sign.

“It is from desire that suffering arises.” This is true on a number of levels. On a macro scale, the desires of developed nations harm developing nations economically, environmentally, and a million other ways. On a micro scale, Most people don’t like their jobs (fairly mild but I still consider that suffering) this leads to stress, ill health, broken families. . . Even the reason why we get jobs in the first place. . . Why do we want that stuff; nice cars, big houses, electronics? Do we need it? Do we need it the distraction?

On the other hand, I do like getting paid. It takes the pressure off Mr. Crow to support my fruit and veg habit. Also, we’d like to have a house someday relatively soon and I’ve dreamed of making friends with my backyard chickens since I was 13. I want to have a house so I can be free, garden in my yard, feel a little more self sufficient. I need money for that. We need to be able to maintain our car, pay for vet and doctor bills when needed, and we like to go out to eat. None of this is possible (or, at least not as easy) without my having a job. Also, I like to be busy. I don’t want to not have a job. I find that equally depressing.

Sam had to go to the hospital this week. He had crystals in his urine that blocked his urinary tract. We were able to pay for all of his medical expenses and not even feel it. The last time this happened (he seems to be prone to this condition, poor guy) I didn’t have enough money and the hospital i took him to offered to kill him because it was cheaper. I don’t have words (except for bad ones) for that experience but . . . well, I think that's pretty clear. To sum it up, my making money is a good thing for everyone from the tallest to the smallest.

I feel like I need reconciliation. I’ve got this dichotomous war going on in my head. I don’t like my corporate job but I need money. I need money for things that I don’t want to want and yet do. I can’t decide if I need to shake of the veil of ignorance or draw it closer to my face so I can more easily see through it.

I’m not ready to be uncomfortable.

I Won The Quick Fire Challenge

I get immunity in the next round! Yeay!

Last night we decided to go to Jeni’s. We finished brewing beer around 9:45 and we thought we should eat dinner before heading out for dessert. I had less than an hour to make and eat dinner and get to Jeni’s early enough not to be that person.

I had dinner on the table by 10:02. oh yeah.

Brown rice pasta springs with golden garlic chickpeas, home made tomato sauce and sundried tomatoes. it was delicious!

As far as the past two weeks and the goings-on therein, i must turn to the pictures I’d taken to jog my memory. Who can remember so far back in time?!

So, Let’s see. . . First is last week’s farm share. I got overzealous and took the picture minus the carrots. . . but I DID get carrots too.

We’ve taken to going to Knead after picking up out fruit and veg. check out what we ate:

We do so enjoy our Saturday mornings.

At some point during last week I got overwhelmed by the amount of plums I still had in my fridge. So, upon deciding to make plum sauce to feed my obsession with fried Chinese stuff I washed 4 pounds of plums. see:

I now have 4 pints of plum sauce! yeay! Now all I need to do is make a MASSIVE amount of eggrolls.

Also part of the plum-fest was this plum kuchen. Here’s the top":

And here it is flipped over:

It would have been better but I used gluten free APF and it turned out chewier than we’d like. Ahh well. win some lose some.

Let’s see. . .what’s next. . .

SWEET POTATO HOME FRIES!

Here’s out most recent pick up. We’re planning to use the peppers tomorrow: stay tuned.

We went to Knead again, too:

 

Here’s a carrot and red lentil soup with some spicy Indian flavor that we made on Sunday for lunch. We stirred in some sour cream to mellow it out and it was really nice.

And, for those of you who were paying attention, here’s some pictures of our beer making adventure:

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Tonight, Mr. Crow made some new kind of Pho it was spicy and had ginger, brown sugar, cinnamon and stuff in the broth.

 

I’m never leaving the blog this long again. Sheesh.

White Light, White Heat :: White Carrots, White Green Beans

So, yeah, I made dinner tonight and the veggies were white and the rice was green. Weird, hu?

I wasn’t feeling very well tonight so I just kind of threw some stuff in a pan and called it dinner. I had an avocado, carrots from last week and beans that needed to be eaten and I had no idea what to do with such a strange mixture of ingredients. so I looked at a bunch of recipes. . .

String Beans with Garlic

garlic green beans

spicy garlic green beans

. . . And while I was browsing I saw a recipe for Green Goddess Rice which I thought was a good idea. Then I found a recipe for Asian glazed Carrots that I thought sounded good but I don’t have a grill and I didn’t want to wait for them to marinate for 30 minutes since the rice was already done cooking. (obviously not my most “together” night in the kitchen)

So i used the “marinade” for the carrots and, after blanching the carrots and beans for about 5 minutes, I sautéed them in the sauce until  they were caramelized and delicious. Oh, and I was inspired to add some red pepper flake from the spicy garlic green bean recipe.

Also, last night I had Mr. & Mrs. Mc over and we ate KITSUNE UDON!

Recipe:

vegan dashi

kitsune udon

Make it. It’s good.

What Have I Been Up To?

Well, let’s see. I’ve taken up running for starters. I’ve just completed week 2 (and a half) of this schedule from Runner’s world magazine. Yes, for now I am on the treadmill but with the keeping track of time the way they want me to it’s just easier. . . .plus my running costumes are essentially pajamas and I don’t want to go outside like that. However, I don’t want to buy “real” workout clothes until I can actually determine that I’m sticking with this. That will be my 8 week reward. For now, though, every day I sweat my butt of (mostly because it’s hot and I’m indoors) I wish it were only this easy:

Also, Mr. Crow and I had a bit of an adventure. I requested to leave early from work on Wednesday and, generous as they are, they gave me the whole day off. Then, because I got the whole day, Mr. Crow also asked to be let out early and HE got the whole day too! So, with two days off in a row on our hands we decided to take a trip up to the Canton/Massillon area to visit family and friends HOORAY!

Here’s me, ready to go!

We saw Our good friends Mr. & Mrs. K and Mr P. was there too! What a cool surprise!Then, on Thursday morning we went to visit my mom and she took us to a great new bakery up in that area where I ate the most upscale PB&J I’ve ever eaten: cashew butter and fig jam. It was billed with Gruyere cheese but I got it with out, obvs.

For dinner The Ks and we went to Vegeterranean. No more words. Just pictures:

The shine still hasn’t worn off of this experience. Outside of being able to order ANYTHING off the menu that sounded good (and it all sounds good) the very best thing about going here was that I could eat dessert that i didn’t have to slave over. Even vege-friendly restaurants NEVER have vegan desserts. The video evidence that had me stating I would do a flip (and inevitably show my underwear) if all the deserts were vegan was lost in a mysterious fashion so I’m just going to abstain and mention again that I was really excited.

Then it was Friday. We bought a batard at Hazel and brought it over to share with Mr. and Mrs. M. We brought over olive oil and Italian seasoning and Mrs. M. soaked some sundried tomatoes in olive oil. mmmmmmm. I also brought some “cheese” I made form raw cashews. I made it pesto flavored and it was generally liked by all but Mr. M. I think I added too much water, though and it was more like cream cheese than chevre. It wasn’t much to look at but it tasted good on crackers. Here we are! Look how cool:

This brings us to last Saturday’s Pick-up:

With the cabbage, carrots, and sweet peppers, we made a stir fry with tofu, onion, and peanut sauce:

Other things that made it to the table this week were:

Not much to say about simple spaghetti and meatballs except that this was us using our homemade sauce.

These are some GREAT enchiladas. I don’t know if they’re like “real” enchiladas but I’d strongly suggest making them when you want a fast and delicious dinner with a nice spicy kick.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 pound gardein “chicken”
• Salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons cumin powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon taco spice blend
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 can refried beans
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
• 4 canned chipotle chiles in adobo, seeded and minced
• 10 8”tortillas
• 1 can enchilada sauce
• Shredded Daiya

Directions

Coat large saute pan with oil. Season gardein with salt and pepper. Brown gardein over medium heat, allow 7 minutes each side or until no longer pink. Sprinkle gardein with cumin, garlic powder and taco spices before turning. Remove gardein to a platter, allow to cool.

Saute onion and garlic in the same pan until tender. Add corn and chiles. Stir well to combine Add beans and saute 1 minute.

Pull gardein apart by hand into shredded strips. Add shredded gardein to saute pan, combine with vegetables.

Microwave tortillas on high for 30 seconds. This softens them and makes them more pliable. Coat the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch pan with enchilada sauce. Spoon gardein mixture evenly into each tortilla. Fold over filling, place enchiladas in a pan with seam side down. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and Daiya.

Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F oven until cheese melts. Garnish with sour cream before serving.

Yeay Recipe!

So this brings us to yesterday’s pick-up:

I always thought my favorite way to have watermelon was blasted into “juice” in the blender but I added a splash of lime juice yesterday and my eyes have been opened. Do it. And, supposedly, if you’re in a party mood, you can add some vodka.

Aaand, I got a new cookbook called Vegan Soul Kitchen. I had some tempeh in the fridge and a baby cabbage left so I made this:

This is tempeh “ribs” with carrot-cayenne coleslaw on cibatta. it was delicious. More to come from this book soon. There’s a Creole grits recipe that I’m dying to try.

And finally, some goofy stuff: