Friday, August 31, 2007

Noodle-O's

Remember the 'chicken' soup base I brought back from vacation...


The Man-Cub wanted some chicken noodle soup to take to school in his thermos - this was really yummy!

The directions are for three Tablespoons of the soup mix and 1 quart of water - I halved that and used 1 1/2 Tablespoons and 2 cups of water - but we found that a little too salty and added some more water - so it's probably closer to 3 cups of water...

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Harvest Moon

This is not 'technically' a Harvest Moon (The full moon that occurs nearest the autumnal equinox) - that will probably be the one at the end of September. But it is harvest time here and this one was very pretty and orange as it rose in the east - it's amazing how fast that happens - just in the time it takes to go and get the camera - you miss the perfect shot of the moon on the horizon...

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

More With Less


One of our parishoners (a very thoughtful one) gave me an old Mennonite cookbook called the More-With-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre. It's still available:
http://www.amazon.com/More-Less-Cookbook-Janzen-Longacre/dp/083619103X
I've been reading through it - it's by no means vegan or even vegetarian - although a lot of recipes are vegetarian or easily veganized. The main premise of the book is to reduce your own grocery spending by just 10% so that you can use that 10% to reduce hunger in the world. It's an admirable goal and fits in with my desire to buy locally and just consume less...

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Really AWESOME Vegan Soymilk Ice Cream!!!

I don't know what to say - I'm at a loss for words (I know that's hard to believe) - this is just about the MOST DELICIOUS thing I've ever made...

I took Mom's (or maybe Nanny's) old churn Ice Cream recipe and veganized it - SUCCESSFULLY!

This is soooo good:

First I made a batch of soymilk - I needed 9 cups of cream/milk so I made one 6 cup batch the regular way (this is milk) and then I took 3 cups out - washed everything and added 3 cups of water to the soymilk already in the maker and then processed a new batch of soaked beans (this is cream).

Mom's/Nanny's Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream:

To make 1 gallon of ice cream:

5 cups soymilk - I just used the extra thick soymilk
2 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup flax seed goo - just boil 1/4 cup of flax seeds in 1 cup of water and strain through sheeting - you'll get a clear slimy goo - I used this in place of the 4 eggs in the original recipe.

4 more cups of soymilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine Sugar, flour and salt in saucepan. Gradually stir in soymilk. Cook over medium heat approximately 15 minutes or until thickened - stirring constantly.

Add the flax seed goo and stir well - I used a wire whisk.

Refrigerate for 2 hours and then combine with remaining soymilk and vanilla.

Pour this into your freezer.

We got this hot pink freezer on sale at 'Stuff Mart' - you know how they sale all the "summertime" stuff for like 1/10th its regular price the week before school starts.

I'm setting it up in the laundry - because it's very loud.

The motor stops when the ice cream reaches the correct consistency and the booklet tells you to "harden" your ice cream at this point by either adding more salt to your ice and covering with newspaper or by putting it in plastic containers in the freezer - I did the latter as I'm not going to be eating it all at once...

this is the creamy goodness at the end of churning...

this is the finished product - after "hardening" in the freezer - I have four of these quart containers - YIPEE!

topped with chocolate syrup and black walnuts and a little soy whip that I picked up during my last trip to civilization...
You've got to try this...

Monday, August 27, 2007

Pies and More Pies

The Man's favorite pie is Blueberry - and I'm not that fond of it - so unfortunately for him - I rarely make it. But yesterday afternoon I did - I had a bag of blueberries in the freezer - probably really purchased for my soy yogurt - but I mixed them with some sugar-flour-lemon juice and made my super easy peasy pie crust - http://affectioknit.blogspot.com/2006/11/pies.html - and popped it in the oven.

Then I got out a few frozen peaches (these are from last year) and made me a little peach turnover with the leftover pie crust...


- YUM!

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Wildlife as we see it...

We see a lot of wildlife right here at our house - we've had a moose in our backyard, many deer and geese and lots of birds.

Here's a woodpecker - upside down - on the fence - the Man-Cub loves to watch him walk around on the fence - upside down - how does he do it...





In addition to the baby kildeers - we also had baby Meadowlarks - ND's state bird...

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Ham Seitan

I tried another seitan recipe - this one is from
A Vegan for Dinner - she describes it as 'stupendous' and it is very good - we've had it plain - sliced on sandwiches with veganaise - and shaved in the food processor and mixed with BBQ sauce on a bun - all very good.

I went out and bought a can of V-8 juice just so I could use the can for this recipe - lined it with parchment paper...

...and voila - a ham thingy...

Friday, August 24, 2007

Watching the hay grow...

We're such 'country bumpkins' that it's a big deal when the fellow comes to mow and bale the hay in the field behind our house...

The Man-Cub sits mesmerized watching the tractor go round and round raking the hay...

...when he was little he loved big machinery - he'd watch the trains at the train yard for hours when we lived in Columbia - and he'd exclaim 'digger' every time we passed a yellow catepillar doing any type of construction...

...They came back later and baled all of the hay in the large round bales - these are really fun to climb on - just make sure you're wearing long trousers...

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Back to School

It seems awfully quiet around here today - the Man-Cub is back at school. He, of course, was so excited that he couldn't get to sleep last night - I'm really happy that he likes school...

I made brownies as a treat for his class - I used Crystal's "Best Vegan Brownies Ever" http://vivaciousvegan.blogspot.com/2007/08/best-vegan-brownies-ever.html recipe - but I left out the nuts and chocolate chips - I made a few extra and we tried them last night - they sure are yummy.

We also had the 'Summer's-end Cub Scout Pool Party' at a local hotel with an indoor pool - we had reserved the public pool - which is available from 8:30 - 10:00 - but that was too late for a school night and it's been awfully chilly - highs only in the 60's - so the indoor pool was a better choice...

we took lots of toys and everyone had to share...

The party was well attended and everyone had a lot of fun...

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Organic

One thing I didn't realize until we moved up here is that most farmers spray their entire wheat crop with Roundup just days before they harvest - I'm not exactly sure why they do this - something about cutting down on moisture - anyway - try to buy as much organic food as possible...



I'm always thrilled when my local grocery store stocks a new organic or vegan item - lucky lucky me...

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Fort Totten

We've been to Fort Totten several times and toured all of the buildings - but they don't always have costumed inhabitants - it was a lot of fun...

Two more days to 'back to school' for the Man-Cub...

This guy told us all about the pioneer journey...

The Man-Cub in the doorway of a 'real' teepee...

A young girl dressed as Laura Ingalls playing from her songbook - very nice...

and a soldier banjo picker...

Monday, August 20, 2007

Vacation Knitting

I finished the tennis socks for the Vegan Sock KAL - http://vegansockkal.blogspot.com/2007/08/tennis-socks-finished.html
...a couple of photos here too...


...and I finished the Brea Bag...

You can see that I made a significant change to the back of the bag - I didn't do the pattern - we were driving and I get carsick if I have to read - so I just adapted the pattern to straight reverse stockinette stitch - that I didn't have to look at...

I love-love-love this bag...

It was finished in time for me to carry it to church...

And I finished the Plain Vanilla Sweater - Whew!
http://vanillakal.blogspot.com/2007/08/un-fait-accompli.html
It's very nice and silky soft - and the weather is cool enough to need it...

Vacation Highlights

The Man-Cub was fascinated with this railroad bridge - it's outside of Valley City, ND - and about a year ago several freight cars blew off the bridge in high winds - I think they close the bridge now for wind...


We checked out Lake Ashtabula for some future camping - the weather is very cold and grey now...


...just a country scene...

We also visited the Maryvale Convent where the Sisters of Mary of the Presentation reside - the Man has a conference there every winter...
http://www.smphs.org/maryvale/

A different pool - a place to play... and knit...

...and this is the Church we visited... very nice...

Vacation Food - SCORE!!!

Whenever I'm in a town of any size - I always look for a Health Food Store and a Yarn Shop...

...and luckily I found both...

This is some organic ND flour and some veg soup base...

...and this I actually found at the church we visited...

I also found a yarn shop - Yippee!!!

You can read more about the yarn here - http://vegansockkal.blogspot.com/2007/08/classic-elite-flash-yarn-review.html