Tuesday, March 31, 2020

...Tuesdays with Julia...

...we made two recipes with Julia...first the Vegan Fricadelles de Veau Duxelles...which is just a variation of the Fricadelles that I've made before...
...and then Babette over at Vegan à Montréal inspired me with her Sauce Brune Style Maison...

...and I'm so glad I made the sauce because it was so delicious...

...and all of the particulars for the patties are at Vegan Fricadelles de Veau Duxelles...

...and for the sauce at Vegan Sauce Brune aux Fines Herbes/Vegan Sauce Brune à Tarragon...

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, March 30, 2020

...3.30...Over the weekend...

...well...we stayed home...which is fine...
...I watered all the houseplants...
...that tall raggedy looking plant is the avocado tree I grew from seed...he's probably really looking forward to getting back outside for the summer...and oddly...we have to keep him locked away from kitten as she will eat his leaves...poor thing...
...I made some more masks...
...on Saturday...we took everything out of the freezer...I was amazed at how many partially used bags of vegan meat subs there were...
...so we sorted and organized and put everything back...it should still be a while until I have to venture to the grocery store...but when I do...our local Food Lion is offering curbside pickup for $3...you place your order online and then just pull up and pop your trunk...they will even sign for you...so I'm definitely going to try that out...
...amongst the frozen stuff was this tiny little baggie of blueberries...so I'll be adding those to some vegan yogurt...and a half of a container of black beans...and a leftover vegan cornbread...I'll just eat the cornbread with some bean soup this week...it will be fine for that...
...and I added some corn and salsa to the black beans for a nice dip...waste-not/want-not...

...one thing about this pandemic that I hope stays with us is an appreciation for all the food that we have access to...as we are super-aware right now and don't waste anything...
...and then on Sunday...one of our parishoners used his connections...and ordered a BUNCH of toilet paper from a restaurant supplier who has it in stock...and you know most restaurants are closed...and then he just gave it all away...

...he sent a message out to the congregation that everyone could come and claim 3 free rolls of TP...it was a drive thru affair...no one got out of their cars...and he devised an ingenious pool stick with a stopper on it to maintain a safe distance from the people in their cars..

...reminding us all that the Church is not a building...and of our interdependence and connected-ness in this pandemic...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

Saturday, March 28, 2020

...3.27...dinner and a movie...

...still going through the cupboards...I found a can of coconut milk...actually already out of date...12/19...but I'm not too worried about it...I'm using it anyway...
...I got some peppers and chick peas out of the freezer and cut up an onion...and started those cooking together...
...then I cooked a sweet potato in the George Foreman grill...the best way to cook them now...
...got out a few spices...you can tell I'm not really following a recipe at all...
...this is the out-of-date coconut milk...
...it looks just fine...
...so I poured it in the pot...
...and added the sweet potato...
...and this was one of the best curries I've ever had anywhere...so delicious...I'll have to try and recreate it so I can have it again...

...and the movie was just about the MOST STRESSFUL movie I've ever watched...well except maybe Alien...or Speed...arghhh...both of which I watched with the Man...without knowing the ending...but this time I did already know the ending because it was in the news...that Alex Honnold was the first person ever to free solo El Capitan...and I'd had the Free Solo in my queue for a while...

...not sure the Man was very engaged though...I saw him looking at his phone several times...but maybe he just needed to look away for a bit...he's a lot more afraid of heights than I am...haha...and even knowing the outcome it's quite a cliff-hanger...haha...

...what have you been watching lately?...

~Have a lovely weekend...

Friday, March 27, 2020

...Friday Favorites...Droste Cocoa...

...I ran out of my regular supermarket organic cocoa...and I certainly don't intend to make a trip to the store for it...so the Man found this Droste Cocoa and thought it sounded good...and we ordered a box...
...there was an interesting paragraph on the back of the box about the Droste Effect...the effect of a picture recursively appearing within itself...ad infinitum in theory...
...anywhoo...it makes a delicious cup of cocoa...but I needed cocoa to make my tofu chocolate pudding...so I'll be making some more silken tofu for that...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, March 26, 2020

...3.26...What I Ate in a Day...as a Vegan...

...one thing I've noticed during this stay at home ordinance is that food has become a great source of entertainment...it's kinda fun and exciting to see what we can use up out of the freezer or cupboard...
...breakfast was some generic organic bran flakes topped with raisins and homemade granola...

...I had climbed up on a chair and gotten all of our cereals out of the cabinet where we keep them and this box of bran flakes had gotten pushed to the back up against the wall and was out of reach...so...it may have stayed there past its expiration date...but now we'll use it up...silver linings everywhere...
...I made some peanut butter cookies to use up some crunchy peanut butter...maybe bought by accident or for some recipe...but we don't eat it on sandwiches or crackers so making cookies with it is a good way to use it up...
...I thought I had posted a small batch peanut butter cookie recipe before...but I can't find it...I'll come back and post it if I do...
...lunch was one of my big bowls full of leftovers...Mac and cheeze, collards, saurkraut, tomatoes, baked tofu with BBQ sauce, and some leftover sweet potatoes...
...afternoon snack was some avocado from the freezer on toast...and an apple...and tea of course...
...and for dinner...I got a couple of frozen chunks of yellow-eye beans out of the freezer...it was hard to tell what kind they were...I had not labeled the bag...and I thought they were pintos...but yellow-eyes were even better...
...some more greens, sauerkraut and a cornbread muffin...

...what did you eat yesterday?...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

...3.25...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...the call went out from our local hospital that they are in need of masks for their nurses...and they sent this pattern...so several people from Church collaborated (online...not in person)...to get some masks made...
...it's really easy...the pattern is a 7.9 inch square...
...I just ironed in the pleats and seams...
...using some quilting cotton that was already in my stash...I didn't go out...
...and then because the directions specify all cotton for sterilization...I grabbed some mercerized crochet cotton...also from stash...
...and just chain stitched some ties...and threaded them through the open ends of the pleats...
...easie peasie...and here's a goofy photo of me wearing one of the masks...(the only kind of photo of me apparently...wink-wink)...
...also...I've finished the princess sole of the navy sock and started the decreases...
...and in other news chez Affectioknit...our sweet granddaughter is now a 1/2 year old...Our Airman's birthday was during the summer...so we celebrated 1/2 birthdays at his school so he could have cupcakes and a party too...

...what's in your workbasket?...I plan to make another dozen masks today...

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

...3.24...Tuesdays with Julia...

...we made a delicious scalloped potato dish...Vegan Scalloped Potatoes, with Milk, Cheese and a Pinch of Garlic...
...titled Gratin Dauphinois...and Julia says this is her favorite...and all of the particulars are over at The Vegan Version...

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, March 23, 2020

...3.23...Weekending...

...well...we've made it through our first week of home-stay...and it's been just fine...we've not ventured out at all...so the weekend seemed odd...with no trip to the grocery store and no Church...things may get a bit same-y around here...
...we had a pancake breakfast on Sunday morning...which is really rare...
...and then because I'm still trying to go through and use up things from the freezer and pantry before we need to go to the store...I found another bag of home grown peanuts that were given to us last fall...so I shelled those...
...and roasted them...
...I watched them more carefully this time...so they didn't get too done...
...and put them in a pretty dish for snacking...you can see Kitten in the background...doing what she does best...haha...
...other than that...we've been watching the news A LOT!...and talking to friends and family on the phone a lot too...this little sweetie loves to FaceTime with her grandmommy and Papa...she smiles and coos and reaches for the phone...

~Wishing you all a safe and healthy start to your week!

Saturday, March 21, 2020

...3.20...Dinner and a Movie...

...we have been doing a pretty good job of eating from the freezer and pantry during this quarantine...eventually...I'll have to go to the grocery store...but not yet...

...so except for the rice...which came from the pantry...everything in this meal came from the freezer...beans, corn and greens...I had even frozen the cornbread...and it was just fine...

...the movie was an old one...it showed up in the Amazon queue...Roman Holiday...it's a sweet and pretty predictable romantic comedy...

...what have you been watching lately?...do you find you're watching more TV now?...

~Have a lovely weekend!

Friday, March 20, 2020

...recreating restaurant favorites at home...

...while we are all pretty much confined to our homes...we may be missing some of our favorite foods that we normally get at restaurants...

...last night the Man recreated a Cuban dish that he is fond of...and y'all know how much I love going to the Greek restaurant...and my favorite thing there is the fresh hot pita breads...

...the Greek pitas that we get at the restaurant are nothing like the split pitas that you get at the grocery store...they are tender, fluffy and hot off the griddle...and they are usually vegan...

...we found this recipe at Philo's Kitchen...and followed it to make some delicious stay at home pitas...
...pretty straightforward...just mix up the dough...and let it rise...
...then...when it's ready...heat a skillet and lightly grease it with some olive oil...
...separate the dough into little balls...
...and roll it out...to about 1/4 inch in thickness...
...make some pricks in it...my little Pampered Chef roller has a built in little fork...so handy...
...then just cook in the skillet until you see little brown spots...
...on both sides...
...these are so good hot out of the pan...we had ours with olives...
...these ones are so...so good...
...but they are delicious with vegan tzatziki or hummus as well...

...have you been recreating any favorite dishes while you're homebound...

~Have a lovely day!