Sunday, October 25, 2009

One Single Can

My friends, it is pumpkin season.  I love pumpkin.  I love pumpkin breads, cakes, cookies, spice lattes (soy of course), spice teas, etc.  I even love to munch on the seeds which are quite healthy provided you don't add tons of oil and salt.  I just don't like pumpkin pie.  Call me odd if you will; you won't be the first.

This year I seem to be learning how to use pumpkin in all new ways.  For instance, at the Pet Expo at Arlington Race Track this year, a fellow daschsund-person gave the weenie-slimming advice of adding canned pumpkin to our dogs' food.  We opted to leave the kibble alone as our poochies produce enough "#2" as it is.  I've also heard that canned pumpkin is good for upset dog tummies.  For the same reason as stated before, we usually stick to the rice method of soothing the aching bellies.  But, it's a very dog-friendly food.

When I heard this next tip, I just had to try it to see if it really worked.  Tip: Instead of adding eggs, oil, milk, butter, water, or whatever else a cake mix might call for, just add one 15 oz can of pumpkin and bake as directed.  You're not supposed to be able to taste the pumpkin in the final product or tell that it's high in fiber and low in fat.  Anyone I told this method to gave the "yea right" face.

I blended a vegan-friendly devil's food cake mix with one can of pumpkin.  I managed to fill 18 cupcake papers with the batter.  The batter was delicious and only vaguely pumpkiny.  Twenty minutes later out came the moistest devil's food cupcakes I have ever eaten!  You would never know all those ingredients were omitted and replaced by pumpkin.  I highly suggest having a party and tricking all your guests.  Better yet, trick your children and then tell them they've just eaten a vegetable.  Mwahaha!

I might have to eat another one for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Friday, October 23, 2009

On the Road to Being Less Clueless

I've been watching Rachael Ray's talk show quite a bit lately.  It's not that I love the show or have nothing better to do, it's that when Bailey and/or Bill settle themselves all cozily in my lap while I have a cup of coffee and am in my pajamas and Live with Regis and Kelly has ended, I find it difficult to pick myself up off the couch and get on with my day right away.  So, I sit and watch at least half of Ms. Ray's show.  This really goes to show how worthless my life is right now.  I need a job.  Hire me.  Please.

Anyhow, the other day Rachael had the most amazing guest on.  Well, maybe the second most amazing since yesterday Julie Andrews was on.  Alicia (pronounced Ah-lee-see-ah) Silverstone spent quite a bit of time sitting next to Rachael promoting her new book and her fabulous lifestyle.

When I was in elementary school and Clueless was a hip movie to watch, I must have watched it every single day.  If I were like most crazy little girls, I would have had every line of that movie memorized, only I'm not good at that kind of thing and really only remember one or two lines I love from movies.  They are the lines nobody else remembers, and if I were to recite them to you right now, you wouldn't be able to name the movie for the life of you.  But nevertheless, I watched that movie as if my life depended on it.  I did not understand the deeper significance until much later in my life, but it served its purpose.  And this is how I always knew Alicia Silverstone.

Since then I have heard in passing of her desire to help animals and the environment and that she was possibly a vegetarian.

Dudes.  She's a vegan.  And she wrote a book about it.  It's a book-cookbook called The Kind Diet not only because it's better for the planet but it's better for your body and soul.  I ALMOST DIED.  This was a vegan on Rachael Ray's show.  She was talking about being meat free and dairy free and living a life for the planet and suddenly I was worshipping Alicia Silverstone again.

I have been wondering and pondering and asking around to find out what vegan cookbook to buy.  I only have omnivorous and lacto-ovo cookbooks.  Well, folks, I know what book I'm buying.

I wish I had known what I would be seeing because I would have recorded the episode on the DVR.  Everything I've been trying to convey to my omnivorous friends and family she said so easily and comprehensibly.  I think I squee'd out loud at one point.

And the crispy rice cereal treats (because using the well-known name would be a trademark issue) looked so divine.  I've tried making them with marshmallow fluff, which is gelatin free, but they come out hard.  She uses rice syrup and they come out just right!  I need to get my hands on that book.  There is too much I'm missing out on.

Which brings me to my next point.  I was grocery shopping with my mom this weekend and I could not for the life of me find a good quality whole wheat bread that is made without milk!  What the hoot?  We ended up buying the high-fiber, low-calorie health bread with all the extra ingredients that make it not-recommended to eat, but it was the only whole wheat bread without milk.  Really, people?  Really?  It's wheat bread!  So as we went down the aisles of the store and my mom noticed all the things I won't eat anymore, she reminded me of how she believes I'm "missing out on so much."  Instead of sighing and shrugging as usual, I spoke up and said, "No, I'm not."  If you think like many vegans, you'd think that all those things aren't supposed to be eaten by us anyhow so how am I missing out?  Plus, where there is a will, there is a way.  That is why I'm experimenting with recipes and vegan ingredients.

So, I may start making my own bread.  It's good for the arms and the spirit.  My family baked bread for a living before coming to the United States.

I may also rent Clueless for some laughs and good memories.  It's too bad I don't still have the little tea set I used to have and used for drinking hot cocoa with my friends after playing in the snow.  I'd totally break that out and use it while watching the movie if I did.  And yes, totally just said totally.  Twice.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Boxed Soup

I am well overdue for an update here and although I have no news or adventures to report, I will do my duty as a blogger and post.

I am stuck in a food rut of sorts.  After my bout of stomach illness, whatever it happened to be, I didn't really manage to pull myself out of the bland and boring food blob into which I previously immersed myself. Sure, I'm not limited to merely rice cakes, crackers, and noodles, but my diet is, simply put, boring.  And I lack the experimental bug that started this blog in the first place.

I did make soup the other day.  It was from a box.  Exciting, no?  I didn't follow the instructions completely because the last time I did, it turned out as a paste of bean-mush rather than the 18-bean-soup it was supposed to be.  This time I:

*sauteed the veggies before adding the liquids (aren't you usually supposed to do that anyhow?)
*Added several cans of vegetable broth to add flavor and liquid (in hopes of preventing pasting)
*Cut the simmering time in half

So why wasn't this an experiment?  Well, I suppose it was, just not a complete one.  You see, the finished product has been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days waiting to be eaten.  We just haven't gotten around to it.  I'll probably have to add more liquid during the reheating.  I'll let you know how it tastes when we finally taste it (hopefully) tonight.  'Tis soup season at last.

Now for a shower...and possibly baking some sort of dangerously delicious chocolatey goodness.  Oh yea, I removed the ban.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Nom Woes

I believe the LOLcats and LOLdogs of the world have declared "nom" to be an official word in universal vocabulary.  Yes, I do realize it is a bit of onomatopoeia, but it has truly become a actual word, too.

But beyond that, over a week ago I banned myself from baking.  This isn't an eternal ban, of course, but a long term ban until I have a really good excuse to bake something such as a special occasion or some serious PMSing.  I went on a baking craze in an effort to experiment with different vegan ideas and options and the result was a near destruction of my mother's-and-my-own attempts to lose weight.  Sure, we are aware of the little friend called moderation, but when there is a delectable raspberry crumble cake sitting on the counter each and every day and each pre-cut square costs 5 Weight Watcher points and yet they aren't even big squares, things get crumbly very fast.

Thus came the ban.  All was good aside from seeing so many delicious concoctions and having so many ideas bloom in my happy little brain, until it set in that I used the last of my Earth Balance vegan butter-stuff for the crumble cake.  I have no need for the butter replacement if I'm not baking, but the absence of it is like the absence of a very crucial daily medication.  What if I need brownies?  Or cookies?  WHAT IF I GET MY PERIOD AND THERE IS NO FAKE BUTTER WITH WHICH TO BAKE A CRAVING CURE?!?!  Relax, self, Trader Joe's is a walk away.  And each time I am out and able to stop at a store that carries my baking wonder, I keep myself away and say not yet, self, you don't need it.  There is a baking ban.  And so the torture continues.

Oh, but it gets worse.  The past few days I've had some sort of stomach-bug-evil-spirit-within-me.  It started out like an upset stomach and soreness all over.  Then it was like somebody punched me in the gut.  It's on and off and I'm feeling better, but all those delicious happy foods that I'd normally nom on?  Nope.  Try bland fake-chicken soup and noodles or bland crackers and rice cakes.  Bland cereal.  Perhaps a banana if I feel well enough.  I haven't even had coffee in two days.  I crave well-seasoned goodness and yet nothing is appealing.  Woe is me!


I suddenly have a craving for a giant peanut butter cookie.  Oh, Lord.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Meatless Meatba...sauce

Believe it or not, my parents do partake in some of my meatless-meat dishes with me.  One of the "fake" creations that seem to please all of our picky palates is the meatless meatball.  Granted, not all meatless meatballs are created equal, a fact that was reiterated quite loudly last night.

On a previous grocery shopping trip with my mom, an errand we tend to do together and I enjoy very much (I'm not sure if she enjoys my company or considers it a nuisance.  She either truly doesn't mind or pretends I'm helpful like a good mother), I threw a bag of meatless meatballs into the shopping cart.  My mom then informed me that we already had some at home, but we should buy them anyhow.  Why?  I don't know, but eventually they'd be eaten.  I was skeptical about the existence of these other fake balls of non-meaty goodness because I had not seen any in quite awhile in either of our freezers.  My dad had mistaken the falafel for meatballs once and I luckily caught the mistake before any dishes were prepared.  Okay, I give my dad more credit than that.  He would have taken the package out of the freezer and seen FALAFEL written nice and big and laughed at the mistake.  He's a smart fellow.

So yesterday I decided we should all have pasta with meatless meatballs for dinner.  It's amusing how happy my parents are when I decide what's for dinner, especially early on in the day.  I like making them happy this way, but on a regular basis I tend to be unresponsive to any dinner suggestions because I just don't care and have no particular taste for anything...just like my parents.  How exciting we are!

So I followed the directions on the bag and dumped the lumps into a pot of pre-made pasta sauce (you know, the kind you buy in the jars at the grocery store all fancy like that).  I turned the stove on and let it rip.  As soon as I opened the bag, I knew these weren't top knotch meatless meatballs, though.  Half the bag was excess crumbles and the balls were oddly formed and hardly "balls" at all, more ovals and splats.

After several turns of the sauce with a spoon I noticed something very peculiar.  The meatless meatballs had disappeared!  And those excess crumbles?  Well they nearly quadrupled in number.  Kids, those so-called meatless meatballs crumbled to smithereens in the pot of sauce!

We settled for pasta and fake-meat-sauce for dinner.  It was not "zesty" as the bag of meatless meatballs said it would be, but it was satisfactory for an unexpected meat sauce.  I have leftovers waiting for me in the fridge come lunch time.

Next time?  Quality balls of meatless goodness by a maker that I know and trust.