Splendid Sustenance
Archive for May, 2008
May 23, 2008 at 8:53 pm · Filed under Cookies, Easy Peasy, Sweets, Veganomicon
It refuses to warm up here in the northwest but that isn’t stopping me from making ice tea and pasta salad, I sure as shit am not sharing with mother nature however, she gets NOTHING. I cracked open about 20 cookbooks today to see the different ideas for macaroni salad. Most of them I wouldn’t touch with a 40 foot fork, but I was able to piece meal one together that turned out really yummy. This is close to the one in Veganomicon but I nixed the radishes and sugar, plus they use way more vinegar and I am just not down with that.
10oz bag macaroni
few tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 cup Veganaise or regular Mayonnaise
1-3 tsp Agave nectar (go easy here to start, I only used 1 tsp because I don’t like things sweet) you can also use sugar but you will need more, maybe a tablespoon to start
2 carrots, shredded
1/2-1 cup fresh or thawed frozen peas
salt and pepper to taste
Start some water boiling. Meanwhile in a large bowl mix the vinegar, Veganaise, agave nectar. Add the carrots, peas and 1/4 tsp salt or to taste. Boil the macaroni until it’s tender and then drain and rinse until cool. Mix the macaroni in, cover and put in the refrigerator to chill. Mix it a few times while it’s in there so the dressing saturates everything evenly.
This is VERY light, not heavy like many macaroni salads. The flavors are subtle and I noticed I could even taste the pasta which is unlike most dressing dominated pasta salads, that was a huge plus for me. I could see this being good with some sort of simple dried fruit, like currants, in it too.
Now for dessert. I made these amazing cookies the other day, they are sin. I tried to veganize them by using apple sauce in place of the eggs, they tasted amazing but they spread a bit more than I would like so I need to adjust something. I am pretty sure it’s the fat (I used shortening) that makes cookies spread, so that might be the problem and not the apple sauce. I’ll try again and get back to you. Feel free to throw me any advice.
I felt that my thighs were not big enough tonight and sandwiched some Rice Dream in between two of these bad boys and ATE.IT.ALL. Yes I did thank you very much.
May 22, 2008 at 8:53 pm · Filed under Books, Random
Having two new books by two of your favorite authors lined up next.
I am currently reading The Book Thief. Have any of you read this book? It is supposedly for young adults which I don’t understand why at all, it definitely does not read like young adult fiction. I am half way through it and with each page turned I find myself more in awe.
I can’t believe I have 2 books I am dying to read lined up, that so rarely happens. What’s even stranger is having had such incredible luck with all the books I have been reading lately, I can’t remember the last book that wasn’t a page turner. I imagine I have just jinxed myself, crap.
May 18, 2008 at 10:26 pm · Filed under Random
I promise this is not turning into a garden blog, it’s just that my yard/garden is all encompassing right now with all this warm weather. Oh god the warm weather. I feel much like a bear coming out of hibernation, scratch my belly already. Whoa, anyway….the garden is alive, we have emergence!
What you are looking at here is beets, carrots, blue lake beans and jack-o-lanterns emerging. The pumpkins are on the far right there, by the end of the day you could see their leaves. In this photo you can just see them breaking the soil. Pretty amazing.
I am not even shitting you when I tell you the tomato plants grew at least 3 inches yesterday. Not.Even.Exaggerating.
I can’t WAIT to eat this garden. Warm weather=bliss on so many levels.
May 11, 2008 at 5:25 pm · Filed under Random
Spring is taking her sweet ass time getting here in the NW which I suppose isn’t that abnormal but after the long gray winter your vitamin D deficiency starts to show, and it just doesn’t go with anything. I decided I would get my containers going, I am not going to sit around and wait for warmth and sun that just doesn’t exist. I get this crazy itch to plant when April hits, it is all encompassing. I want to spend hours at the garden store, and sit on the deck and imagine all the plants in their mature state. I want to make sun tea dammit, is that so much to ask? Mother Nature isn’t entirely cruel though, things are blooming despite the chill and lack of sun.
Here are my planters on the front porch…
That green pot in front is the proud home to a blueberry bush, I think I have to wait 3 years before it gives us any fruit though, sort of not fair.
I am using Sluggo this year for the first time, I really hope it works because I would just rather not see them at all…shiver. The vines are emerging too…
I scattered a bunch of wildflower seed in this bed and they are all sprouting, I’ll post a another picture when it is all filled in. We really just have two more yard projects and that is it, one more vegetable bed and a few planters for the back deck. We have quite a bit of general maintenance to do, I am thinking we need a flame thrower to get some of the weeds under control around here.
I’ll be back later this week with some food to share. For all you moms, I hope your day was lovely and you did exactly what you wanted to do!
May 8, 2008 at 6:17 pm · Filed under Easy Peasy
Hubby got one of the vegetable garden boxes built this past weekend. It seemed a bit strange seeing as it didn’t climb over 50˚f all weekend, well maybe it did but it sure as shit didn’t feel like it….COME ON SPRING, STOP BEING A BITCH! Phew, so I got a bit over zealous and planted tomato starters and quickly realized they were not going to be happy unless I made them a little greenhouse…
Think that will work? I have a frost cloth over it at night as well. I just want it to warm up a few degrees, I’m sick of this 40s-50s crap. We planted Blue Lake beans, beets, carrots, garlic, and carving pumpkins in this box.
Owen did the honors on this label.
Not sure what is going in the next box besides corn and pie pumpkins, I should plant some sun seeing as there is a shortage around here. So the garden is on it’s way and I am excited to tend it.
…………
In other news I finally won a Pyrex divided casserole dish on Ebay…
I love it, it is beautiful. This is what it comes to, what excites me. It used to be the new Slayer album coming out, now it is dishes. At least it is black, that has to count for some sort of punk point, somewhere.
…………
Enchilada sauce that rocks.
I am still fiddling with this, if you experiment please share your findings.
3 tbls good chili powder
3 tbls flour
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder (definitely experiment with the amount here)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
3 cups low sodium veg broth (or low sodium chicken)
1 8oz can of tomato sauce
salt to taste
Mix all the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add just enough broth to make a thin paste.
Add paste to sauce pan with the rest of the broth and stir constantly over medium-low heat until sauce thickens. Slowly add tomato sauce. Then slather whatever it is you want enchilada sauce on. I opted for refried bean and cheese enchiladas, but you could put this over a burrito or tacos just as well.
Not sure how appetizing that looks, rest assured it was damn good.
