Party Time

A friend of ours had a birthday cookout over the weekend. I made the Mexican Roasted Corn Salad with Avocado from Salad Samurai and everyone loved it. Considering that the hostess and myself were the only vegetarians, I love that I came home with a scraped-clean serving dish.

Party animals love staying up past their bedtime.

Jackson and Olivia were the only children at the party besides the host and hostess' toddler, and I was very proud of their grown up behavior. There were no meltdowns or crazy actions seeking attention. It's nice that they are getting to the age where they can hang out with adults and have fun.

Cold Days, Part 2.

Today is pretty much a repeat of yesterday. Cold weather, indoor activities, and a comforting bowl of soup.

Fireside Lego building. 

Blanket fort relaxation.

Chunky corn chowder from La Dolce Vegan. Instead of a potato, which I did not have, I blended in 1/4 cup cashews, which gave it an excellent creaminess.

The Skull Car

Today, a couple more testers for Joni Marie Newman's vegan fusion cookbook.

 

First, a gorgeous jade-green chimichurri sauce. This parsley-based sauce is garlicky, tart, and addictive.

 

 

It makes a perfect marinade for grilled corn.

 

 

Next, Sloppy Joe Pho. Yes, Joni has managed to combine sloppy joes and the spicy Vietnamese noodle soup known as pho. I admit I was a little skeptical, but wow, this soup is so good. Tony and the kids liked it too.

 

 

Jackson was so awed by this sweet purple ride, he insisted on posing for a photo in front of it.

 

 

"Come on, Mommy, it has skulls on it!" Who can pass up skulls?

 

Little Lebowskis

Do you like to bowl? I think it's fun, although I don't do it on a regular basis. It's one of those sports that seems to get easier, the more beers you drink. Well, no beers were involved on this morning's outing with Jackson and Olivia. Just some silly shoes and a big orange ball.

We signed up for a program called Kids Bowl Free. It's great. They email you coupons every week for two free games every day, all summer. All you have to pay for is shoe rental. This was our first time going. But I have a feeling we will be on a first-name basis with the bowling alley attendants come August, when it's 110 degrees out every day.

Jackson loved bowling. He even loved wearing the silly shoes.  But the lightest ball available was still too heavy for Olivia, so I had to give her an assist. She wasn't happy about that, since she wants to be independent in everything she does. We will figure something out!

After bowling, we picked up Tony from work and took him to lunch. This was another first for us. Usually he is in meetings all day and doesn't have time to leave for lunch. But he said it was so much fun that he will try to make time for it. The kids were really excited to pick him up.

We went to Torchy's. I have heard so many Austinites proclaim their love for Torchy's. I figured it was time to give it a try. We started with some chips and salsa. The salsa had a lot of lime juice in it, which is something I like.

I ordered the Mexican street corn -- grilled corn with ancho aioli, queso fresco and chili powder. It was really rich, and it was a huge bowl. Tony helped me finish it. We both thought it was a pretty clever way to jazz up regular old corn. I will make it at home one of these days when we are using the grill.

I also ordered a taco called the Independent, with avocado and deep-fried portabello mushroom slices. This was also super rich. The mushroom pieces were a bit too greasy for my liking.

Overall, I enjoyed my lunch at Torchy's. But, Tacodeli seems more vegetarian-friendly and health-conscious, and it's also Tony's favorite, so we'll probably just go there next time we scoop him up for a quick weekday lunch.

Tonight's dinner is the same thing it's been for the past two nights -- a giant Greek salad with green leaf lettuce, spinach, garden cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, hemp seeds, and feta. It's too hot to turn on the oven, that's for sure!

Hope you're having a nice evening!

Trying a New Cookbook

Most of the time when I buy a new cookbook, I'm too impatient to just try one recipe from it.  Instead, I'll pick out a bunch of recipes that seem like they could go together, and cook up a little feast. That's what I did with my latest purchase, Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food.  I've gotten a lot of use out of Alicia C. Simpson's other two cookbooks, so I had this one on my wishlist for awhile. It hasn't disappointed!

The Spicy Kale Slaw is a wonderful way to enjoy kale in its raw state. The creamy soy yogurt dressing softens the kale somewhat. I really enjoyed the texture, as well as the flavor. It is quite spicy, as the name suggests, but there are also bursts of sweetness from the golden raisins scattered throughout.

The Roasted Fingerling Potato Salad is simple and delicious. The dressing, made from flax oil, red wine vinegar, and Dijon mustard, is light enough to allow the potatoes' own flavor to be the real star.

I wasn't sure about the Corn Pudding recipe. I've never seen a corn pudding that didn't have cornmeal in it, to make it substantial. As I poured this pudding into the baking dish, I thought, "This is way too gooey!" In fact, I had to bake it for twice as long as the recipe stated. But after I let it cool, it did firm up nicely. Wonderful flavor -- tastes rich, even though it isn't.

Can't wait to try more from this cookbook. I'm especially looking forward to the Lavender Pancakes!

Checking In

Hey y'all, I know I haven't been around much. Blame Game of Thrones. Tony and I started watching it and now I'm hooked. Whenever the kids nap or go to bed early, instead of writing blog posts, I've been glued to the TV. I still have a few more episodes of the first season to go and then I'm going to start reading the books.

This weekend I went to the Renegade Craft Fair and blew a little cash on myself. We all need to do that once in awhile, right?

I can't wait to wear my new shirt.

I also bought a mermaid necklace and a hair clippy.

I liked that a lot of the sellers this year were local. I bought a little vial of lovely perfume oil from one of them.

I adore perfume oils. Back when I was employed, before Olivia was born, I spent loads of money feeding my perfume habit. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is my favorite. It doesn't really fit in our budget these days, but luckily I built up quite a stash that I'm still working my way through.

We also cooked out this weekend. While Tony manned the grill, I made fried green tomatoes. Actually they were oven-baked.

We had veggie burgers topped with grilled onions, grilled corn on the cob with Veganaise, chili powder and lime, collard greens, and the fried green tomatoes.

I think this was Olivia's first time eating corn on the cob. She thought it was really fun.

For dessert, I made chocolate mousse using silken tofu and chocolate hemp protein powder. I layered it with organic strawberries.

How was your weekend?

In Which the Tofu Barely Escapes with its Life

As I was writing out my weekly menu and grocery list, I saw a Blackened Tofu recipe in Appetite for Reduction and thought, "Oh, Tony was just asking for that!" It seems I made a blackened tofu years ago that he liked, and he wondered why it never made a reappearance. I don't remember that, but if my omnivore husband goes out of his way to request a certain type of faux meat that he has a craving for, he is damn sure going to get it (which also explains our recent soy curls order.) 

Only later did it hit me. Blackened tofu is broiled. I'm going to have to use...The Broiler. (Cue the horror-movie music.)

Since we moved into this house over two months ago, I have often looked at the broiler with trepidation, but I never go near it. Given where it resides, that is easy to do.

It's under the stove.

Under.

For some reason this totally freaked me out. That fiendish floor-broiler was going to take my poor tofu and char it to the point of unrecognizable ash in mere seconds. I just knew it.

I am so silly sometimes, letting my imagination run away with me. Of course that didn't happen.

Blackened Tofu, Shaved Brussels Sprouts, and Creamed Corn, all from AfR. I also oven-steamed some fingerling potatoes with fresh rosemary in a foil packet. Peanut butter-chocolate banana soft serve for dessert.

Whew! From now on, I can use my broiler without fear. It's just a kitchen appliance! What was I afraid of?

Wait...what was that...did you hear something? Down there...near the floor! And it sounds...hungry!

Souper Summer

Summer brought its beautiful self to Texas in the form of much-needed thunderstorms and temperatures in the low 70s. Aw, summer! I already love you, but that was much appreciated.

After long hours playing outside, we made soup, two nights in a row. Don't worry, Jackson washed his hands first.

Olivia took her usual supervisory spot in the center of the kitchen. Look at the attitude on this one. Nobody puts baby in the corner.

Jackson feels that his "two spoons" stirring method produces superior soup results. Who am I to argue?

Tortilla Soup

Summer Lovin' Curried Corn & Veggie Chowder

Both recipes were from Appetite for Reduction. I'm gonna cook from it all next week, too. Can't seem to put it down. In the tortilla soup, I subbed chickpeas for the pinto beans, due to my allergy. Chickpeas work in everything and I never get tired of them. The corn chowder was so rich. You wouldn't think it came from a "diet" cookbook, not at all.  I would be thrilled to be served this soup in a restaurant. And I don't typically order soup in restaurants. Because it always costs like $5 a bowl, so I'm like, "Eh, it's just soup." I would pay $5 for this soup.

I would pay more than $5 for more rain. But even without it, we will be enjoying this summer to the fullest. Swimming, lemonade, picnics, fireworks, cooking out, road trips. Each morning I step outside with Monster and breathe in that green, grassy scent in the air. Yay, summer! You're here!

Some Food I Made This Week

I haven't felt much like cooking this week. It's hot out and stuff.  But here are a couple of dinners that I managed to put together and felt worthy of committing to blog-memory.

Cooking out -- veggie burgers, corn with garlic butter, grilled peaches.

Spelt crust pizza with cashew cheeze, tomatoes, basil from my garden, and grilled corn left over from the night before.

I made another batch of kale chips in the dehydrator, this time using Averie's recipe. I've made them in the oven before, but this way is so much better. Oven chips have to be eaten right away or they get soggy, but these keep in the fridge for days. My dehydrator cost $60 and it's going to pay for itself in kale chips, in no time at all.

I had a couple of dehydrator failures this week as well. I tried making the rye bread and corn tortillas from Ani's Raw Food Essentials. After ten hours of dehydrating, they were still goopy and messy, and tasted pretty gross. I don't own a fancy Excalibur dehydrator like Ani uses, so maybe something was lost there. But I did get good results with her eggplant bacon.  I'm looking forward to having it on BLT's for lunches this week.

Thoughts on dehydrating so far...it's nice to not have to turn the oven on or mess up any pots and pans. But it's labor-intensive in other ways. Cashews have to be pre-soaked in bowls. The food processor gets used a lot. And the dehydrator screens must be cleaned after use. So there is still dishwashing to be done. Also, pre-planning is a must. If you think you might want some kale chips for lunch tomorrow, you best get on that tonight. And don't wait too long because you can't leave the dehydrator running and go to bed!

 I hope today is less eventful than yesterday. A guy hit my car in the H-E-B parking lot. He backed into me and I couldn't go anywhere because there was another car right behind me. Luckily, me and the kids are totally fine and there is just a minor scrape on my bumper. The man was Canadian, so of course he apologized like 20 times and that was actually kind of funny.