To Do

Usually I spend my weekends cooking up a storm, but last week was so busy that by the time this weekend rolled around, I had a to do list a mile long. It was warm enough to take the plastic off the windows and take down the awful curtains that broke and wouldn't let any light into the house. It was also warm enough to take the kitten outside on a leash. The cutest thing ever was when the dog, Hannah, took the leash out of my hand and started pulling the kitten along! (but she pulled so hard that the safety release broke her collar open and she tried to escape.) The kitten also tried to climb in the drier every time I went into the basement to do laundry.

***I should take the time here to note that although I complain about to-do lists, they are probably my favorite thing in the world to make and update. And I go insane without one. I think Mike hides my lists sometimes, just because he knows I enjoy rewriting them.***

Among sewing curtains, patching holes in the wall, cleaning out the fridge, and vacuuming (until the vacuum cleaner stopped working...great.), I didn't end up cooking much of anything. By Sunday night I was famished and ready to order in Thai food- Except the restaurant I really wanted to try was closed!

I really shouldn't be eating out anyways because I'm trying to reign in my food spending again. My food budgeting goes in waves, really. I have elaborate plans for budgeting and stick with it diligently...until it works and I have extra money. Then I allow myself to spend more. Then I'm back where I started. Right now I'm spending about 15% of my disposable income on food (yes, I track it). While this is more than most Americans spend, it's about average for folks from other (over)developed nations. So considering I eat nearly all organic food, I'm not doing that bad. There. I rationalized my grocery spending.

So anyways, here is what I ended up making on Sunday:
It's Tinkyada gluten-free pasta with my favorite "Parmesan tofu", zucchini, broccoli, and a lemon-red pepper sauce. The tofu I just tossed with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, nutritional yeast, and red pepper and then baked at 450 for about 20 minutes. It puffs up and gets really crispy and reminds me of when I used to eat Parmesan cheese and it would get brown and crispy on garlic toast. I didn't write down measurements for how I made the sauce, but I know that I deglazed the pan with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, crushed red pepper, salt and hot water mixed with arrowroot. The sauce thickened up nicely and coated the pasta. Mike thought it needed some tamari, but I liked it with just a bit more red pepper.

I also made the chocolate-chocolate chip-walnut cookies from Veganomicon- but with oat and barley flour instead of wheat. WOW! These are really good cookies! I just love the flavor of oat and barley flour. Sadly, I cannot share them with my gluten-free buddy... but I can share them with Mike and my newly wheat-free pal. And I'm sure they won't last long.