...8.10...Over the Weekend...

...well...I did do other things over the weekend...I knit, and read, and watched tv, and walked the dog (who's doing much better and he goes back to the vet for a followup on Wednesday), exercised, and went to Church...but apparently the only things I took pictures of were food related...

...I did the weekly shopping...some things are still hard to find...but I got everything on my list...and the only thing of note is the purple sweet potatoes...can't wait to try those...

...the Man said 'remember that brown bread we made that one time...we should make that again'...so I did...but I didn't have any of the yellow corn meal the recipe called for...we normally only have the white kind because we prefer it for cornbread...but I did have some yellow grits...so I just whizzed those in my old coffee grinder...

...this "thirded bread"...is just one third, rye, cornmeal and wheat flour...

...I baked it in my old tin that I keep for making seitan in sometimes...because it is traditionally round for some reason...it was yummy...sweet and molassess-y...

Small Loaf Brown Bread

1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegan buttermilk - made by adding a tsp of AC vinegar to a cup of soymilk...
1/3 cup molasses
1 tablespoon canola oil

...bake in a Juice Can lined with parchment...

...and then because you can never have too much bread...haha...really we just needed some sandwich bread...

...I've tweaked the bread recipe enough now that I know exactly how much flour will make a perfectly sized Pullman loaf...

...perfectly baked...and only those little curly bits squeezed out of the pan...

...the bottom of the loaf...

...sliced...

...and ready for storage...

...this bread is the best...topped with a homegrown tomato and vegan mayo...

...then I whipped up three more of my favorite things...vegan strawberry yogurt, vegan tofu pudding, and vegan mayo...

...and we were almost out of croutons...

...so I made some of those...

...they are so perfect and not hard like the storebought kind...

...I always store them in these two recycled jars...one pan of croutons fills them both up...

...and while the oven was on...I made Susan Voisin's Impossible Vegan Pumpkin Pie...

...~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...8.8...Dinner and a Movie...

...before we watched the final episodes of Tales from the Green Valley...we sat outside and enjoyed a fresh breeze and a lightening show...we've been having thunderstorms just about every evening...but no storm this time...just heat lightening off in the distance...

...dinner was just one of my bowls...and a few pieces of the Man's stewed potato as he didn't want the whole thing...

...we finished the series Tales from the Green Valley...and we really enjoyed it...it was much more of a historical documentary than today's "reality" shows...

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

~Have a lovely weekend!

...8.7...Friday Favorites...I found some old gift cards...

...I was straightening up in the closet...and I picked up one of my old knitting totes...it had the remains of the Sky Scarf in it...there's a picture of the tote in that post as well...

...anywhoo...when I picked up the tote...I was just going to carry it downstairs and put the leftover yarn in my stash...but it felt like it was heavier than just leftover bits of yarn...

...so I opened the bag...

...and inside was this beat up old wallet from West Virginia days...we don't have a Yogurt Mountain here...

...but there were several other gift cards to things that we do have...

...so...I was wondering if any of them were still valid...and I called the 800 numbers on the back of each card...and guess what...FREE MONEY!...they all had a small balance remaining...so YAY!...

...I wrote the remaining balance on the back of each card...

...what a fun find!...I'll be spending those remaining bits soon...I'm going to give the Starbucks one to the kiddos to use up though...

...have you ever found un-used-up gift cards like that...it was a lot of fun!

~Have a lovely day!

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

...'first breakfast' was some homemade vegan yogurt...with mix-ins...sunflower seeds, flax seed and raspberry...and tea...

...'second breakfast' was some homemade vegan cream cheese atop an everything bagel...and more tea...

...lunch was a veggie burger topped with avocado, lettuce and tomato...and some sweet and spicy vegan Doritos...

...afternoon snack was some pecans and a date...seriouly like eating candy...

...for dinner...I whipped up a cauliflower based mushroom stroganoff...

...and had that over noodles with some veggie meatballs...corn, Brussels sprouts and peas on the side...

 ...and I finished off the last half of a canteloupe for dessert...

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

~Have a lovely day!

...8.5...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...progress on black sock #2...provisional cast-on is the tan row at the top...I'll pick up there after I finish the toe and knit in ribbing to the top and then do a stretchy bindoff...

...what's in your workbasket?

~Have a lovely day!

...8.4...Tuesdays with Julia...

...just a simple flavored butter today...Vegan Beurre d'Ail...Garlic Butter...

...you just pound some garlic in a mortar and add it to some vegan butter...well...after you've boiled your garlic twice...

...we just slathered it on a sliced baguette...

...and broiled it...and it goes perfectly with just about any dinner...I usually think of it with Italian food...and the 2 cloves of garlic was nice and mild...

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

~Have a lovely day!

...8.3...Over the Weekend...

...Our Airman sent us this short video of his sweet baby "banging two rocks together"...which is a funny 'joke' in our little family as the Man used to say...sardonically...that he didn't have any toys when he was little so they had to just play by "banging two rocks together"...hahaha...totally untrue...the same way you used to hear stories about so-and-so (usually Dad for some reason) having to walk to school up hill both ways in the snow...barefoot...

...and an update on Jack...he's doing so much better...we'll go back to the vet on Friday...

...Kitten seems to have one of her angry 'looks' on...I think she can't figure out why Jack is getting such special treatment...

...I did the grocery shopping...and I wanted sub sandwiches for lunch...so I bought the vegan 'fixins' for those...

...and they did not disappoint...just what I was wanting...

...the only other thing of note...the store finally stocks vegan chocolate chips...YAY!...

...after lunch...I made some blackberry jam...with gifted blackberries...

...just blackberries and vegan sugar...really...I mashed them up a bit...but not a lot...

...let them cook a bit...but not a lot...if you overcook jam like this it will taste bad...

...three pints of blackberries yields three half-pints of jam...

...two get sealed up...and one just gets a lid and into the fridge...

...so then I made some vegan scones...

...you know...you have to try the jam right away...

...so delicious...I really need to make scones more often...

...at Church on Sunday...our organist made one of the these masks featuring the Luther Rose for me and the Man...I love it...such a sweet and thoughtful gift...

...and I finished off my 'birthday' watermelon...

...while we watched the re-entry live on tv...it reminded me so much of watching the Apollo missions when I was little...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...8.1...Dinner and a Movie...Vegan Ginataang Gulay...

...how on earth did it get to be August 1st...I think this time of quarantine is a little bit disorienting time-wise...

...but...do y'all remember over the last weekend that I cut up and roasted a huge butternut squash...

...I specifically wanted to use the roasted cubes to make Vegan Ginataang Gulay which is just vegetables cooked in coconut milk...it's a Filipino classic...

...I looked at several different recipes online...and then took different bits from each one...

...this one by One Green Planet...

...and this one by Astig Vegan...

...and this one by Simply Bakings...

...I started by cooking some onion...just yellow onion 'cause that's what I have...and garlic...

...added some spinach and fresh green beans...

...and some mild red chilis...

...whizzed up some of that powdered coconut milk...

...and then added the cubed and roasted butternut squash...so it's a really simple dish...

...let it simmer a bit...

...and served it with white rice...

...I thought it was delicious...the Man...not so much...haha...

...and for the movie...we started a new (to us) series...Tales from the Green Valley...it's a BBC series...and it's really interesting...it reminds me of 1900 House that we watched on PBS many years ago...anywhoo...it'll probably take a few weeks to watch them all...

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

~Have a lovely weekend...