Reading Between the Lines

I opened the door to walk out and get the paper in this godforsaken heat at seven in the morning, and this fellow was staring at me. First of all, it must have taken him all day to get up the gigantic hill in our back yard to our FRONT door. Omg. Poor creature. 

Then, working in the book biz continues (to my utter shock and dismay). At times, my intermittent dealing with the public slowly erodes my faith in the future of humanity. Not that all book lovers are dealing a blow to my sensibility of our plight, but let's say if I have one more seventy year old woman ask me to look up five erotic-romance titles for her while she steadies herself on her walker, well, I think I might just leave the whole entire job behind with utterances of "WTF?!" I cannot make this up. I wish I could. But nope. When I come home and share these stories with DH, he laughs hysterically, shaking his head in disbelief.

Vegan Feel-Good Chili with Everything (cooking to help heal--isn't that what all cooking is anyway?)

I needed to spend the entire afternoon in the kitchen. It began like all chili making endeavors: a glug of oil, spoonfuls of cumin, coriander, some mustard seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric, salt and the pile of veggies I had carefully spent the last half hour chopping and mincing. I literally just kept pulling out veggies from the crisper and methodically went through them with the knife: zucchini, onion, carrot, garlic, green pepper, celery. Then poured in a can of black beans and a can of kidney beans, then two cans of tomatoes--one sauce, one diced. And finally, added a bag of my favorite vegan crumbles (Beyond Beef). With the aroma of cumin and my heavy-handed scoops of some favorite chili blends (okay, it's Penzey's), my kitchen began to heal my soul. 

Low and slow--the way all chili should be cooked, the way all souls should heal. 

Quickly, while one eye was on the pot of chili, I whipped up a batch of brownies, too. 

Easy Vegan Veggie Pot Pie with Puff Pastry Crust (comfort food cooking. . . simple knitting)

I will give this pot pie recipe one thing, and that is, it came together in a snap. My prep work consisted of pulling a puff pastry sheet out from the freezer and putting it in the fridge while I went about sauteing an onion, some mushrooms and garlic, adding a can of tomatoes, then opening a bag of veggies, pouring in some ready-made potato leek soup (oh the horrors! but hey, that's life right now) and a smattering of seasoning, close it up with the pastry top, bake: ta-da! 

My Mother's Stuffing Recipe: Gratitude Entry Number 328

Today, I went for a run while DH hiked. We each had a dog in hand. 

Nary a soul on the trail. 

It was heaven. 

Solitude. 

Cool day, crisp breeze off the Mississippi River. 

I logged three and a half miles. Frankie lead the whole way. 

She's now sixteen months old. 

Such a big girl. 

Vegan Potato Kale Cauliflower Soup with Bernard Clayton's Dinner Rolls (let me catch you up on what's happened. . .)

It's soup season. I could eat it year round, but soup's appeal really begins to nestle in my bones around late October and runs all the way through til April. I blame this soup on my sister. She visited last week, and during one of our many "excursions" around town--(and there were many), we stopped in at Foundation Grounds Coffee in Maplewood, Missouri. They have vegan options on their menu! Yay! I had a bowl of their potato kale soup--a very restorative and nourishing break, with a cup of their hot chocolate. So. Good. I couldn't get the soup out of my mind and my food memory backlash wouldn't let go. So here I was yesterday afternoon trying my hand at the same soup, only this time, going into our garden for fresh kale, tossing in some cauliflower we had on hand and aromatics of onion and garlic for good measure. In total this soup has six ingredients give or take. The hands on time is minimal for such a ridiculously good soup. So simple. I needed simple as I am experiencing my first full-on cold. Or maybe it's a light case of flu. Whatever I have, it's rendered me light headed and low-energy. So soup making was something I could handle. Well, and then I craved bread. 

 Never one to ever, ever serve a bowl of soup without crusty rolls or a loaf of bread, I opted for one of my old time favorites: I whipped up a batch of Dinner Rolls from Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Small Breads. Love this cookbook. 

When I bake these, I modify the recipe quite a bit to my vegan/whole grain style of baking.  

If you'd like to make these rolls with less "hands-on" time, place all the ingredients in a bread machine. It's much quicker. I make these at least once a week.

They bake up superbly, crusty and are pure heaven. Freeze the left over rolls for the next night.

 (*My god it's taken me an hour to write this first paragraph, cough, cough, sniffle, sniffle.) 

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Brownies (and why I run. . . with Frankie)

The pumpkin craving kicked in and I began a search for what I'd bake. Not that there isn't a billion options with regard to pumpkin. I have pumpkin recipes galore within the hundreds of cookbooks scattered around this house to last me the full month of October and then some. Thumbing through the stacks yesterday, I was sure of one thing, the cinnamon and ginger were coming off the spice racks. Finally. 

I have old recipes cut from magazines stuffed in files as well. Add an internet search on top and I became a "frenzied overwhelmed baker"! 

I finally settled on my direction and ingredients. 

I would go "brownie" with my pumpkin. 

Vegan Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Rosemary Pecan Cookies (September flew by. . .Milestones and Knitting Markers)

I bake a batch of these rosemary cookies at least once a month--when I remember to trim my rosemary. The cookies are delicious, aromatic and, of course, filled with chocolate. Lately it's been all I can do to keep up with my garden. The late summer heat wreaked havoc on everything from the tomatoes, to the lawn to even the oregano--which tolerates everything. While I was doing some container plant housekeeping I discovered hidden underneath some erstwhile yellow pear tomato plants a little bush of rosemary I had tucked into a container as companion plant with thyme and lemon balm. After trimming back the vines, here was this gorgeous, full rosemary plant flourishing. I pinched off a stem and inhaled the piney aroma. I had to bake something with this now. 

Late Summer Reflection

This morning I woke at five a.m. Never happy to be so rudely introduced to a new day, I obliged my body's biological demands (as many women my age do on any given morning), deciding going back to sleep would render me useless. I'd be a wreck the rest of the day for having squandered a perfectly good morning on trying to catch a few extra winks. I love my sleep and am an early-to-bed-girl. 

Mornings are me time. Ever so quietly, I read, I write, I read some more. It was quite beautiful this morning. The full moon was peeking out from behind the clouds in the west, and the sun was barely beginning to rise in the east. I try to keep as quiet as possible for fear of waking the sleeping dogs: 

Let sleeping dogs lie--I remained true.

Vegan Peach Cobbler with Crunchy Muesli Topping (revamped from the Amish. . . and my new "coloring book" obsession)

 I had two bowls of this peach cobbler last night. First bowl was my test picture (does that one count)? I HAD to eat it or the ice cream would have gone to waste. Second bowl was right before bed. No regrets. I have to tell you peaches are one of my most favorite fruits. When this time of year rolls around and my kitchen counters and fridge are full of summer veggies and stone fruits, I am in heaven. Cobblers are one of those desserts that even a non-baker can master. Using an old passed down recipe from my mother's cookbook collection, this cobbler came together in a snap. 

It's ridiculously simple: eight ingredients. No stand mixer required. 

Vegan Buffalo Chik'n Chickpea Salad with Fresh Peaches (from the sewing room. . .with love, Frankie)

This dinner salad is quick, cool, yummy, satisfying and PERFECT for when it's Hot as Hades like it's been here in Missouri. And folks, it's been that way for a looong time now. I am no fan. 

It's a good thing I love salads for dinner and would eat them every night if I could. 

What attracted me to the recipe I riffed on was the inclusion of peaches.

 Peaches and Dinner=Love. 

Vegan Texas Sheet Cake for Two (eat chocolate: feel better. . . and Frankie's first year)

Well. I needed chocolate. You know how when you usually bake a Texas Sheet Cake, you're obliged to bake with an overly large thirteen inch cake pan--with a TON of leftover cake mocking you the rest of the week? (Nibbling away here and there until five more pounds creep up on you? Seriously, now that I'm in the "over fifty" range--if I look at a cake, I can feel my thighs growing.) Not so with this cake. It takes a six-inch round springform pan, less temptation--more reason to love, and viola: cake for two! Perhaps a more appropriate name for it would be: Rhode Island Chocolate Sheet Cake. (Okay, I have dibs on this name for my future restaurant.)

 It's delicious, moist, chocolate-y, nutty and cinnamon-y. Pure delish. Serve it with some vegan ice cream and really get your dessert fix on. But not five pounds worth, 'kay?

I found a wonderful little baking book: Dessert for Two by Christina Lane in the book store quite by accident a few weeks back (or maybe the book found me). Although not vegan in its design, you know I've never met a non-vegan recipe I couldn't veganize--I'll be busy baking from this book for 

awhile. 

Soaking Rains. . . Sewing Myself Sane (and Frankie is eleven months old today!)

The last time I saw the sun, or the last time I can recall seeing it, I spent a lovely, albeit, very hot day in the yard: mowing, pruning and . . . picking some delicious black raspberries for my smoothies later in the day.

 It's been horrible ever since. 

The weather forced me into needing some indoor therapy and productive days in My Sewing Lair. 

Days of happy harvesting and romping through the woods for good fruits.

Long . . . ago.

We're veering off the track of food and recipe sharing for a while. I have to be honest, I've been a single lady here at home a lot these past few weeks and finding solace in other areas of creativity--like sewing. Eating, not so much. (Though I did whip up a big batch of chocolate chip cookies and munch on those little guys regularly. I haven't completely lost my cooking/baking mojo.)

Nothing like a trip to the fabric store to cure what ails you, right? I've shopped for fabric lately more than I have for food. I can go hours and hours sewing. It's meditative to me. Time seems to slip by and suddenly. . . it's almost five in the afternoon. 

Vegan Strawberry Crumb Tart (and. . . under my WIDE brimmed hat in the garden)

This is what you get when you bring home a 2 lb. tray of strawberries and are home alone all week. The strawberries were obviously going to find a home in a smoothie here and there, but not 2 lbs., worth of them. What is marvelous about this delicious, nutty, cinnamon-y treat was the time it took to prepare it. Let's just say, by the time you've read this post, you could have made this already, okay?! I go for simple cooking here lately. And when I glanced in the freezer and saw the almonds and pecans, I thought nothing of throwing them in the food processor with a little vegan butter, some sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and whipping up a nice little mini-tart shell (it took seconds, really!). The aroma from this baking was enough to satisfy my craving for something sweet, baked in quaint little ramekin and out of the oven ready to serve: crunchy, tart, sweet and yummy.  

Strawberries are a fruit favorite of mine going way back. I was the kid who'd order an ice cream sundae, "hold the whip cream. . .more strawberries." However, there's a limit to when I'll consume a strawberry. I won't eat them in the middle of winter unless they've been frozen by me during their peak months of May and June. After that, it's as if the strawberry never existed. (It's the same for tomatoes, though I do allow for some "Italian" canned varieties to enter the home in the dead of winter--a girl's gotta have her vegan lasagna.) We've moved so far off the Eat Seasonally path that I find it disturbing shopping in February and March surrounded by the same produce I saw the previous July. . . in the same places! We are a spoiled, rotten food nation. But that's okay 'cause when I want an avocado, I want an avocado.

Here is the beauty of making this Strawberry Crumb Tart: just put the nuts you have on hand in the dish and you will be fine, trust me. After a few pulses, you'll have this sticky, crumbly mixture--perfect for pressing into the ramekins. Then toss your filling with a bit of sugar, lemon zest and nutmeg, top that with a bit more of the crumb mixture and there you have it! It's delish. Go crazy and mix the strawberries with some blueberries or cherries, it's all good, I promise.

Vegan Quinoa Tacos with Black Beans, Corn and Guacamole (the veggie plot is ready. . . tomatoes beckon, asparagus not so much)

I blame this meal on Hillary. And the media. If I see her one more time ordering "that" food, I swear. Were there moments when I was ready to cave-in, get the car and go forth in dark sunglasses to my favorite lunch spot? Absolutely. But cooler heads prevailed and my own food pantry beckoned, and here's what we had instead. (Let's hope the media can spend the next year and a half focusing on something more relevant than Hillary's attire and sunglasses at a "refueling" stop from her campaign bus.) 

Don't. Get. Me. Started. 

This dinner came together in a snap and was only a two-pan clean-up. I love quinoa. Maybe even more than rice. (I've been known to combine the two!) I've been cooking a lot more lately with grains. Or at least trying to incorporate more of them into our dinners. I would typically go with lentils in my vegan taco dinner--but this proved a very worthy dinner entree. The next day, we had them for lunch--cold. No re-heating necessary. Really good. Tons of protein, fiber and iron. Skip to the bottom for the recipe.

Vegan Eggplant Almond Enchiladas from Moosewood (a puppy drama moment involving chocolate...gaahhhh!)

I swear, if it weren't for the Moosewood cookbooks in my collection, some nights, there'd be no dinner. I mean that literally. When the pull of kitchen apathy strikes, or major puppy trials--I find inspiration in their recipes. These eggplant almond enchiladas have earned a place in our dinner rotation (when I can find a "decent" eggplant in the middle of the country, in the middle of winter/early spring!). Say what you will of the combo eggplant/almonds--it works and it works deliciously. I'll tell you up front, there are a few pots and pans needed to bring this delicacy to the table in all its glory--small price to pay to do this right. You'll make your own enchilada sauce (which is no more than cumin/garlic enhanced diced tomatoes), then there's the toasting of the almonds, and the eggplant filling--which from a "throw together" standpoint is really not that big a deal, I mean you're already in the kitchen, right. Make it worth while and bring your cooking self out. 

Vegan Banana Bread Pudding Crumb Cake that Happened by Accident (eat cake, ice foot, get better. . . a running nemesis strikes and honesty about the past catching up to you)

 

This is a happy accident cake. During our major snow storm this weekend, an incredible urge to bake using bananas overcame me. I have scads of recipes for banana this and banana that--mostly in bread or muffin form. Then there is my other favorite form: cake. I'm a little behind on my recipe "trying"'--that is, I cut recipes out, stuff them in a folder and wait for a moment when I'm not lassoing training a puppy, to try and file them into my very stuffed three-ring binders. Well. Whatever. I just remembered cutting a recipe out, banana something and crumbs were involved. It actually was supposed to be a coffee cake--you know, something you'd have for breakfast. Does this cake here look anything like a coffee cake? My eyes say no. But, my curiosity said, Well, there goes two perfectly over-ripened bananas into a cake that didn't quite come out a cake. . . until my first bite and I was like, whoa--what just happened here? DID I JUST ACCIDENTALLY CREATE A VEGAN BREAD PUDDING. (Which I will admit has been missing from my life since our pre-vegan days. No regrets, just some taste buds that have food pang memories working.) And there it is.  

Pistachio Cardamom Shortbread Cookies (perfectly "crumbly". . . for this winter slump)

Sometimes a really good cookie can rescue me from a really bad day. We woke to bitterly cold winds, temperatures in the single digits--and only expected to climb to the teens--and a layer of new snow on the ground. (At least we don't have a hundred inches of snow, things could be so much worse)--I shouldn't complain. Then there was a rambunctious puppy under foot whose only desire in this world involves chasing, running, and gnawing. Little can be done to keep her "down" and quiet other than wearing her out with games of indoor hide and seek and little short trips outside. I was desperate for a break and thought she would find her chew-bone more exciting than my leg, arm, kneecap or hip--so I began pulling together the ingredients for this amazing shortbread cookie. I love, LOVE, love these.

I whipped these up in no time, before my second cup of coffee, even! They were almost too easy. 

Vegan Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies with Extra Chocolate Chips (and a smidgen of hazelnut flour I had left over from a "flour-buying" spree: Love. These.)

I took our food pantry completely apart one afternoon. I re-sorted, re-arranged and basically brought some sanity into the kitchen. In my journey to creating a much neater, more organized life, I discovered I had amassed four different flours (aside from your basic all-purpose and bread flour). So really, I had like eight flours on hand (plus two gigantic bags of slivered almonds!) Why? I remember having this really crazy notion in November (when we all have visions of a "Jimmy Stewart" kind of holiday): "Wouldn't it be great to make ALL kinds of cookies this Christmas with ALL kinds of different flours!?" That'd really UP my cookie baking game!. . . And then the really busy time of December and reality of life/puppy raising set in and here I was in January staring at four bags of flours I had no idea what to do with. The hazelnut flour spoke to me the most. I was NOT going to let this bag perish. 

It's Been too Quiet. . . But I Like it That Way (knitting/sewing over food right now and a Frankie moment)

It's difficult blogging during these winter months. So much of what keeps my attention lately has little to do with food, but more to do with keeping busy, not focusing too much on the news and generally taking a hibernation approach to life. This weekend DH and I ventured out "quickly" on a short jaunt that ended up taking up half the day and him saying to me when we got home, "This shopping stuff is exhausting and sucks the life right out of me." Really? Welcome to my world, sweetie. Someone must run the household. Someone else must go to work. I really try not to drag him along when there is shopping to be done, but this go around, he actually wanted to see a gadget "in person" at the Big Electronics store, so I indulged his wish and out the door we went. We wear hats, glasses and plenty of hideaway outer wear to keep most people from approaching us. We wish a sign could dangle from around our necks reading, Caution: Introverts Entering, No Interaction Required! Amazon is our most favorite place to shop, if truth be told. But that requires a delivery person to bound up to our door and creates another whole set of anxiety (aside from the Jehovah people--omg, don't get me started). But I am completely off track in what I was originally going to talk about.

Vegan Spice Cookies with Chocolate and Zesty Citrus Glaze (How the "Problem" of Christmas Gets Solved)

The miracle of Christmas for me isn't what you might imagine it would be. The real miracle is that I make it through the C-R-A-Z-Y. This is my second round of cookie baking. The first round of cookie-palooza went out in boxes and packages. I love doing this and it sort of makes me happy--for a bit. Then there is the second needed push I have for that little extra that I set aside for just us--and when I find it, I know it. I found it in this cookie. For what it's worth, I am thrilled I took a little extra time to "find" just the perfect, newest cookie recipe to try. Thrilled because this cookie--filled with warm cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg and then chocolate!, and citrus--met all my criteria for a superb trifecta of delicious and solved the problem of blah-Christmas-cookie-baking doldrums. (And kept me from going nuts chasing a five month old Pyrenees puppy out from under the Christmas tree for the one hundredth time. . .Gahhhh!)