Grilling Time!

Tonight we celebrated Memorial day like most Americans- around the grill. I love grilling outside. Ever since I was a little girl, my dad has trained me to cook food properly on the grill. I remember feeling both terrified and thrilled when my dad would douse the charcoal in gasoline and throw in a match. WHoooosh! We would sit and talk or I would play until the flames died down. Then he'd grill some steaks (always marinated in teriyaki sauce) or maybe some red snapper.

Today I was kinda bummed out because we decided not to get the bright and shiny nice new (used) car that I LOVED. I know it was the right (read: frugal) decision, but I still stayed in my pajamas until noon and wallowed in my own pity. So the point of this is that I needed a good cooking assignment to cheer me up. Mike called to say he wanted to grill out and that was all the inspiration I needed.

Let's start with the veggies. I stuffed some button mushrooms with leftover Cashew Ricotta (from Veganomicon) and marinated some locally grown, organic asparagus in lemon juice, olive oil, coarsely ground salt and black pepper. These cooked up really fast on the grill and the mushrooms were the best. This is one case where I was thankful that the kids won't touch any type of fungus. More for us!


I wanted hotdogs, but didn't want to go to the store (although I ended up going anyways to get a great vacuum cleaner that Mike dumpstered at the Co-op), so I made some. These are loosely based on the Spicy Italian Sausages, but I cut the recipe in 1/4 and added a cup of mashed lima beans, omitted anything spicy, and added liquid smoke. They turned out a bit more moist and less dense- just what I was looking for! Since these have wheat, I marinated some tempeh in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, tamari, and maple syrup for Mike.

I also baked some Southern Style GF Cornbread to go with my meal and with everyone else's desserts. You see, the great rift between myself and Mike & the boys is how we like our cornbread. I like mine savory- preferably with jalapeños, but I'll settle for green chilies. They like theirs as dessert with maple syrup.

The real star of the dinner was the Rhubarb Lemonade- thanks to my awesome friend Sarah.
She sent me this recipe from Food Network Canada (along with a SIGNED copy of Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan) last year, but I had just used the last of my rhubarb when I got the recipe. Now that the rhubarb is back, this was first on my list! It's really as simple as 6 1/2 cups water, 3/4 cup sugar, and 4 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb boiled until the rhubarb is soft, then strained. Then you add the juice of 1 lemon and chill. The super cute idea that I didn't get a chance to do tonight is to skewer some blueberries and freeze them to use as a garnish/stir stick for the lemonade!

This drink has a really unique flavor that only rhubarb lemonade could have- it's delicious! I also made some plain rhubarb sugar syrup at the same time, so look for that coming up soon.

Chocolatey Goodness

I'm probably not going to be eating chocolate for a while. No, it's not Lent... or a fast... or a protest in honor of mistreated cacao farmers... or even a new vow of food snobbery. I'm just disgusted.

Today we left the house for about 4 hours to go in search of a new car. The Golf is slowly dying with its bad transmission and is getting really bad gas mileage because of it. We could get a new transmission, but it would cost about as much as the value of the car...so we're pretty sure about a '03 Saturn station wagon. Anyways-

When we returned so that Mike could get ready for work, we opened the door to something like 10 dark brown puddles across our living room and kitchen. The TV remote control was sitting in the middle of one of them. And the place REEKED of chocolate.

After tiptoeing around on the few spots of clean hardwood floor, I discovered 4 empty bags of chocolate chips.

Why yes, so kind of you to ask. Those are the Tropical Source chocolate chips I special ordered a case of. And, yes, they are something like $5 a bag.

Those chocolate chips have been sitting in their cardboard box in our kitchen for weeks and Hannah hasn't so much as sniffed them. For some reason today she decided to open the box and eat half of the remaining bags and then vomit them up all over my house. If you're a bored dog who hasn't had her walk yet today, I can see how this might be appealing.

No need to worry- Hannah has a good gag reflex and tends to either vomit up or poop out all the harmful things she eats (chocolate, ibuprofen, condoms, pens, etc.). By the time we got home she was wagging her tail and prancing around.

She had a slight mishap later tonight when the remaining bit of chocolate ran its course. But what's one more steaming pile of chocolate on the floor after cleaning up ten?

Hannah's doing fine, but I'm not so perky. Our house smells like vinegar sanitizer and chocolate and I can't even imagine wanting to bake brownies.

Quick Dinner

Here's a quick posting of our dinner-It received rave reviews from the kids and Mike (and me). But best of all, it was really quick and easy to make and contained tons of veggies.First I started some 100% buckwheat soba noodles cooking (I like the Eden Organic brand). I tossed some cubed tofu with tamarind puree, sesame oil, lime juice, ginger syrup (made by The Ginger People- It's just cane sugar and ginger), and salt. I set the oven to about 450, but didn't preheat it- I just baked the tofu for 20 minutes or so- eventually it made it up to 450.

When the pasta had about 2 minutes left to cook, I threw in about 2 bunches of asparagus (we got some free from the co-op that was wilty on the ends). After 2 minutes, I rinsed the pasta and asparagus in cold water to stop the cooking. Then I heated up our biggest pan and threw in 1/2 a nappa cabbage sliced thinly, 2 grated carrots, the asparagus, the pasta, the tofu, tamari, peanut butter, lime juice, tamarind puree, and ginger syrup. I really just needed to melt the peanut butter and heat the pasta back up after rinsing...so you could just skip this step and make it a cold dish with raw cabbage and carrot.

Yum! I just wish there had been leftovers.

updated: Mike just informed me that there WERE leftovers (I had to rush off to work after dinner). My wish has been granted!!!

Mmmmm...Lunch

Ever since I was a little girl I remember starting the day by thinking of at least one thing to look forward to that day. If we weren't getting back our math tests that day or if it wasn't jump rope day in gym, I'd usually end up looking forward to my lunch. Of course, lunch was usually chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes & gravy, and chocolate milk in those days...


Tomorrow I will be looking forward to a repeat of today's lunch: A nappa cabbage, broccoli, and carrot salad (and lots of almonds, too) with a spicy sesame-flax dressing. For dessert: a gluten free version of the Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcakes from VCTOtW. The salad is super easy to pull together the night before or in the morning before work. I just thinly slice the cabbage and chop up the carrots and broccoli. In a separate container I splash in flax oil, hot sesame oil, tamari, and rice vinegar for an easy dressing.

The cupcakes are a big hit around here- I don't think the boys even noticed the cayenne pepper in them (and I tend to be heavy handed with the spice in Mexican Chocolate). To make them gluten-free I just subbed rice flour for the wheat flour, corn flour for the almond meal (I didn't have any), and added 1 tsp. of xanthan gum. They turned out great! Oh, yeah. I also added a sprinkle of chocolate chips on top because it sounded awesome- and was.

Thai Eggplant Soup and the Garden

Okay, I'm done complaining now. I broke down and went the Western medicine route for my pink eye and it's already feeling better. Since I couldn't go anywhere today, I spent a lot of time watching TV, cleaning, and did a little cooking.

A week or so ago I splurged at Penzey's and got a ton of spices I've been wanting (ancho chile powder, sumac, and Mexican oregano, for example). I finally broke open the dried galangal and lemongrass tonight with a Thai eggplant soup.

Spicy Thai Eggplant Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried galangal
1 tsp dried lemongrass
1 dried cayenne chili pepper, crumbled
1 tsp ancho chile powder
1 Tbsp. ground coriander
a few grinds of black pepper
2 inches of fresh ginger, finely grated
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed
5 cups water
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 veg. bouillon cube
2-3 Tbsp. tamari
2-3 leaves of collards, sliced thinly

Heat olive oil in a soup pan over medium-high heat. Add the spices, fresh ginger, and eggplant and cook for 1 minute or so (don't burn the spices!). Then add water and all remaining ingredients and bring soup to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes, until eggplant is very tender. Use a spoon to smash the eggplant a bit. I think this soup is awesome- spicy and a little sour and a little salty (but my taste buds are a bit off right now, so you might need to tweek it).

Last weekend I got the garden almost all planted- and most importantly, I laid out our new drip hoses! I am so excited about these.
You can see the rhubarb coming up here and the garlic is going strong!
I do still have to plant the kale and potatoes, but I think everything else is in. I can't wait to start eating from the garden!

On the brighter side...

I suppose not being able to smell isn't all bad. For example, when I go into the basement I can't smell the gross dank smell that usually hovers around the stairs. And I can't smell anyone's body odor, including my own (I'm pretty sure it's rank, though). And I can't smell the dog's cabbage farts or the stinky garbage!

I consider chips and salsa to be medicinal, both for emotional comfort and sinus-clearing capability. Today I ate about 16 oz. of homemade salsa that included 1/2 a raw onion, 6 jalapeños, and 4 cloves of garlic. I couldn't taste it, but I'm pretty sure it killed any germs in my body. I also picked up some rue and fennel eye drops that a co-worker recommended for my eyes. The pink eye that was in my left eye (and cleared up yesterday) has spread to my right eye now.
I know this post is already a far deviation from my usual subject of food. And I'm about to take it further. I really love gross stuff. Like I LOVE picking the cat's eye boogers, scratching dandruffy scalps, and picking scabs. So here's a photo for all who share my disgust/love.

I got these after 5 minutes of laying down with my eye shut and a warm compress applied. I can't wait to see how gross it'll be in the morning!

Smelly

Perhaps one of the most frustrating things for a food-obsessed person is to lose the sense of smell/taste. I ate plain balls of wasabi yesterday and didn't taste a darn thing. I have to remind myself to eat because no good smells prompt my hunger. Mike suggested I challenge someone to an old fashioned habanero-eating contest today. I just might do that.

I'm sick of being sick!