...5.15...Friday Favorites...Dandelion Jelly/Syrup as Bee Free Honee...

...when I posted a week or so ago...that I was almost out of Bee Free Honee...and had collected some clover to try as a sub for the chamomile tea I had been using to add that 'pollen-y' flavor to the honee...my dear internet blogging friend Elizabeth (who blogs at Bits of Sunshine)...posted a comment that I should try Dandelion Jelly as a substitute for honey...so I emailed her back and asked for her recipe...

...and she so kindly sent me this card...

...with a note that this is written in her sweet Mother-in-Law's handwriting...LOVE that!...

...there are a few (very few) dandelions in the yard and the Churchyard...our outdoor sexton 'takes care of' them...so the remaining ones I don't deem very safe...

...but across the road from the graveyard is a small field that the sexton doesn't tend...and that's where I had picked the clover earlier...

...and I found quite a few dandelions there as well...

...so I picked a large bouquet...

...pulled all the flowers off the stems...

...made some dandelion tea...just boiled it in the jar...

...it made a pretty tea...and I tasted it and it was good too...

...strained it...

...and then because I don't have any 'boughten' pectin...I saved the cores from a few apples I had eaten this week...and added those to the pot of tea...

...and boiled it for a few minutes to get the pectin out of the apples...

...then I strained that through my jelly cloth...and added some bone char free sugar...it's slightly brown and may make the honee a little bit darker...

...and then just boiled gently...

...and tested for syrup-y-ness...it doesn't have to actually 'gel'...as it's not going to be jelly...but honee...

...it tasted awesome...I think a little bit milder than the chamomile version I had been making...and it is a little bit darker too...

...left it in the window to cool a bit...

...and then of course I had to try it out...and slathered some on a piece of toast...and it is delicious!...

...a huge THANK YOU to Elizabeth!

~Have a lovely day!

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

...I started the day with some homemade strawberry soy yogurt...topped with hempseed, flaxseed, goji berries and cranberries...

...mid morning I ate a CaraCara orange that I got as a sub for grapefruit (???out of grapefruit???- we also didn't get carrots...weird) in my pickup grocery order..

...for lunch I made a raclette potato...

...Raclette is a dish we had for lunch in the Alpes in France...this is a random photo of a sort of generic Raclette iron...the one Chantal's family used was a little bit different...but basically you put the block of cheese face down on the iron and it starts to melt...and as it does it drips off of the iron...theirs had a tray underneath...and the front edge had no lip so the melted cheese could run off...but we 'caught' most of the melted cheese on our skewered potatoes...so it's kind of a party/communal dish (like fondue)...and it's lots of fun...I made the Jarlsberg Melt cheese again...and it was perfect melted over potatoes like this...

...and I also had a Vio-Life Cheese and pickle sammie...

...vegan mayo, Branston Pickle, and Violife cheese on marbled rye...

...we got the Branston Pickle from Amazon...and we learned of Cheese and Pickle sandwiches on Endeavour...

...it was yummy...

...afternoon snack was a handful of pecans and a couple of Medjool dates...seriously...it's like eating a candy bar...so...so good...

...I baked some tofu...part in slabs for future generic tofu eating...and part as a scramble...

...so that we could have 'brinner'...with spinach, grits and toast...I love having breakfast for dinner...

...I also made another pumpkin pie...

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

~Have a lovely day!

...5.13...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...so...I finished the first Sonoro Cacti Sock...

...and I must say that I'm not a fan of the afterthought heel...it turned out fine...it was just really fiddly taking the waste yarn out and picking up all the stitches...but it's fine...

...and since I was determined to do a princess sole (all stockinette to the inside for a nice smooth touch against the bottom of the foot)...I spun up some two coloured yarn...just using one strand of each colour...

and then to mimic the colour change on the sole...I added some stripes between each set of cacti on the top of the sock...

...so this is the sock wrong side out...

...the smooth princess sole seen from the inside out...

...and the stranded cuff...the strands would have been smaller across the sole...and might have been quite cushy...but I was kind of afraid that the sock would be too thick to fit in my shoes as it was...

...anwhooo...one down and one to go...the afterthought heel looks like a toe...but they do fold up nicely to put in the drawer...

...what's in your workbasket?

~Have a lovely day!

...5.12...Tuesdays with Julia...

...I iced some chocolate cupcakes with some lemony butter cream...

...the Man was not a fan and said I should have kept some of the frosting plain...so next time I will...

...it was sweet and delicious though...and I thought the lemon went well with the chocolate...

....and all of the particulars are over at The Vegan Version...

~Have a lovely day!

...5.11...Over the Weekend...

...there were two heads of broccoli left...a month old...but still perfectly fine...we didn't waste a single one...and now I'm going to be sorry that it's all gone...

...so...I used one of them to make what we call North Dakota Broccoli Salad...I've posted about it before...

...it's really delicious...and I know they have it other places...that's just where we first had it...

...for some reason...rice is still one of the things in short supply at the grocery store...so the Man ordered a big bag from Amazon...it's so pretty...and now we've got plenty of rice...

...we spent a couple of hours outside washing both vehicles...the weather was perfect...

...and yes...we use our cooler as a step stool for car washing...don't you...haha

...it's the perfect height...it's sturdy, stable and washable...

...then after Church (online in the recliner) on Mother's Day...I got out my new kindle book Vegan Brunch...and whipped up a vegan omelette...

...some of that awesome veggie bacon...and a few spears of asparagus...

...the Man cooking the omelette in his fancy schmancy le Creuset omelette pan...

...but the flipping and wrapping didn't go too well...

...the second one is always easier and better for some reason...

...much like the first pancake is often a fail...

...still a perfectly delicious Mother's Day brunch..

...I mean...delicious...

...and since it was brunch...we didn't have any lunch...but for dinner the Man had planned garlic knots and pasta e fagioli...or stay-at-home Italian restaurant fare...

...so he made the knots...

...and the soup...

...I added the vegan-garlic-parsley-butter...

...and baked up some gorgeous little garlic knots...

...and he added the pasta (ditalini) to the soup...

...and to go with it...we steamed the very last head of broccoli...

...and that turned out perfectly too...

...hoping you all had a marvelous Mother's Day...and...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...5.9...Dinner and a Movie...

...it's time once again for veggie burgers...so I gathered the toppings...

...and made some awesome oven fries...

...and stacked a bunch of toppings on my burger...just the way I like it...

...and the movie was The Book of Henry...and I'll just say that it wasn't at all wwhat I was expecting...

...it's classed as a 'thriller'...so after the tear-jerker part midway...it was a pretty stressful movie to watch...basically Henry's Mom becomes a vigilante...

..anyway...it kind of reminded me of that time on the plane when I started watching Greta...I was going to say something about choosing a book by it's cover (which has worked out well for me...actually)...but this is not the cover that I saw on the plane...it looked sweet...

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

~Have a lovely weekend!