Planning

Very soon, I am going to have a LOT of yellow squash coming out of my garden. On the one hand, I am super excited about this—I love yellow squash, so does my mother, and last year we didn’t get nearly enough. Last year, we didn’t get a huge amount of anything from the garden. It seemed to be a fairly universal problem, and conventional wisdom said that it just wasn’t hot enough. This is what having a garden has done for me—actually made me think there is such a thing as a summer that wasn’t hot enough! I never thought I would see the day.

Anyway, this year it is much hotter, and the garden does look more productive. The yellow squash plant in particular is brimming with produce. And, to top it off, a couple of weeks ago, I consulted with my gardener and we couldn’t remember if there was a yellow squash plant already, so we planted some more. Those plants are still pretty small, but eventually, they will start producing even more vegetables. So, today I am looking for recipes to try out. I am not sure what to do with so much of one type of vegetable! I hope that my children aren’t going to get too tired of it.

As usual, a consultation with the internet turned up many delicious looking recipes. I am gathering them all together here so that I can find them again when I am trying to figure out what to do with all of those squashes:

• From FatFree Vegan Kitchen, a wonderfully fresh looking soup
• Also from FatFree Vegan Kitchen, roasted yellow squash and onions
• From Vegan YumYum, a great method for pan-seared balsamic baby squash
• From Veg4Health, an interesting vegan squash casserole
• From Robin Robertson’s blog, Vegan Planet, another take on vegan squash casserole, which is more like a guideline than a recipe

This should get me started, along with my standard side dish of yellow squash, broccoli and sautéed onions. Now, I just need to be patient and wait for the bounty to begin!

Vegan picnicing

We went to the Shakespeare festival last night. We generally go early and eat a picnic dinner so that we can participate in the festivities before the play starts. They have jesters wandering around, and a fire eater and a juggler, and various dances or talks. It is all very fun, and a nice way to spend the evening with family and friends, topped off with some great free entertainment.



As I have said, I have been trying to eat mostly vegan, so the thought of a completely vegan picnic wasn't as daunting as it could be. I just feel so pleased with myself anyway, that I had to share what we are had:





For our main dish, we had falafels. In search of a healthier sandwich, I pan-fried half of them, but then I wasn't 100% sure that they were cooking all the through, so I baked the rest. On the right of the falafels in the back is some spicy hummus from Trader Joe's, which is very good. In front of that is a salad I made with tomato, cucumber, avocado and a Tzatziki like dressing (with some extra dressing on the side.) For the dressing, I used Tofutti Better than Sour Cream, fresh herbs from my garden and garlic powder. I was thinking that a little bit of mayonnaise would make it nice and creamy, but I was determined to have a vegan picnic, and I had bought a big jar of mayo right before I decided to go vegan, not Vegennaise. However, I looked at the jar of Trader Joe's reduced fat mayo, and saw that it is eggless, so I was thrilled to read the list of ingredients and find that it is vegan! It's like it's stealth vegan--they say no eggs, because vegans know that eggs are the non-vegan mayo ingredients, but then they don't have to scare people away with the v-word, ;-). In front on the left is tahini sauce with lemon juice, water, fresh cilantro and parsley, and lots of garlic, which was so yummy. Rounding it all out are whole wheat pita breads.




For dessert/snacking, I made up a quick fruit dip from La Dolce Vegan, which was so simple. Silken tofu, maple syrup and cinnamon in the blender--could it get any easier? It feels like a treat, but it is healthy--my favorite kind of food. I brought along pears to slice when we were ready for them:

Not pictured, we brought along whole wheat bread, peanut butter and bananas for the picky girl and her friend, and veggie chips and kettle corn and Sobe life waters, and juiceboxes and a bottle of wine. It was a great night, with friends and good food and a wonderful play, too!

Exciting discovery!

I just now discovered that Pi Pizzeria has Daiya cheese as an option for their pizza toppings! Vegan pizza! At a very popular restaurant (one that even our president likes!)

I am not usually so exclamatory, but this is pretty darn exciting. This is a place I can go out to eat with my not-even-close-to-vegan friends, and we can all be happy. Plus, we just discovered the awesomeness that is Daiya cheese at home in the past month or two, so I know it is delicious and the kids will be happy, too. But really, the awesomeness of the part where we can go out with our friends cannot be overstated.

Yay!

More transitioning

Last night I finished reading Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Damn. Now I have to become a vegan.

Not that I am opposed to veganism. Much of the food that I eat is vegan. But now all meals with other people will be fraught with tension. People will feel judged, and I will feel left out, and the sort of community that you get from eating with other people will be even less available to me than it is now. I can’t un-know what I read in that book, though. I actually cried while reading some of the descriptions of animal lives and especially accounts of what happens in the slaughter houses. So, we are changing. We are going to go ahead and eat what we have in the house (if I can stomach it), but then no more.

The hardest thing for me will be the eggs. They are so useful when it comes to cooking. And a quick omelet is an easy dinner when I am feeling uninspired. I do have at least one vegan omelet recipe online, though, so that should help. Oh, and I have made tofu frittatas before, and those were awesome! The internet in general should help a lot. I have many vegan blogs bookmarked. And, this past year or two of being almost vegan will make for a less traumatic transition (for me at least—I don’t know about the kids.) Speaking of the kids, I am going to have my daughter read the book, too. I think this is really important.

Wish me luck!

Menu plan, Saturday to Friday

Saturday: Peanut noodles with tofu, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, salad, some kind of fruit

Sunday: West African Peanut Stew (I know, two nights of peanutty stuff in a row, but it was hard enough to pick all of these recipes now that I am out of the habit; I am not redoing this), amaranth or brown rice, apples

Monday: Curry Coconut Shrimp (I am going to add some carrots, and probably use Thai red curry paste instead of the curry powder), Thai Vegetables, brown rice, mango

Tuesday: no plan; I may go to a friend's house for dinner and then working out, or I may just eat leftovers--kids at their dad's

Wednesday: Salmon noodle casserole (Yay! I will be the hero mom!), broccoli, some kind of fruit again

Thursday: Pasta with capers, tuna and tomatoes, salad, some kind of fruit again

Friday: pizza, carrot sticks, fruit

On Saturday we are headed for Troutlodge, where we will be fed, so no need for plans for then.

I am trying to start serving a fruit with dinner each night again, because I know those kids aren't getting enough fruits and vegetables every day. It is harder to plan that, though, and I am thinking I may need to just get some fruit canned in juice for a backup.

Holiday gifts

I have been cooking all day today, but it isn't for me. I really should get in the habit of cooking ahead for the week, but that is a project for another week. This week, while I am off work to spend time with my children and prepare for the holidays, I am making gifts.

I used to do this all the time, when my daughter was small. I went through a phase of candy-making fascination. That is some serious chemistry, candy-making. I made fudge with many different recipes, potato candy, and caramels, and considered making divinity, like I remembered my grandmother and aunts making when I was small (although that looked a bit too difficult for me!) Time passed, and I went back to school full-time, then got the full-time job, and candy making seemed too complicated. Also, somewhere in there, I quit dairy entirely (except for the occasionnal Snickers bar...), which made the candy-making seem difficult as well as time-consuming. This year, though, with the new house, and the nonstop eating kids, I thought making gifts might be a good idea again. So, I headed for the Internet to find some recipes and ideas.

First off, the Internet has a LOT of recipes. When I added in my cookbooks, I think I may have over-planned. But, I did get some stuff done today, and I will do more tomorrow (and maybe tonight, too). Here is what I did today.

First, so that I would feel a quick sense of accomplishment, I made lavender sugar. This was easy--some sugar and lavender blooms in the food processor, then I was filling cute little bottles.

Also in the picture, flavored vinegar. That recipe made a lot of vinegar, so I had extra to keep for myself and, having just had a salad, I can testify that it is nicely hot. Amazing what habanero peppers will do for a recipe.

Next up was Def-Jam cookies, from Urban Vegan's cookbook. The finished product was really delicious, but I bet they would have been even better if I hadn't forgotten the cookie was in the oven. I think these will be for us to eat, and I may try again tomorrow for cookies I can give to other people.

The last thing I made today (so far) is White Christmas Fudge. I have to say, when I made this, it didn't look white or fudgy, but it did taste good. Here is a picture of it before I put it in the fridge:

Not the greatest picture, I know, but you get the idea. I just went and looked at it again, and it looks pretty much the same. My daughter says it looks delicious, though, so it's all good.

I did break out Urban Vegan's cookbook again to make Pumpkin-Daal soup for dinner, but by the time that was finished, I was exhausted, so there is no picture of that. It was good, we will be having it again. And, I guess I am putting off my remaining cooking until tomorrow. I only need to clean my house, finish some shopping and plan a dinner for my friends coming over tomorrow, so it shouldn't be too hard, right?

Another attempt at menu planning

I am trying to get better about menu planning. I have done it many times in the past, so I don't understand why it still seems so difficult sometimes. Here is what I have so far for the next week:

Tonight: Tempeh Shepherdess Pie from Veganomicon, sauteed spinach and tomatoes, steamed broccoli. We have family coming over, and they are about as far from vegan or vegetarian as you can get. This should be sufficiently normal seeming for them to enjoy it, but still nice and healthy.

Sunday: Salmon noodle casserole, peas. I kind of thought when I started this blog that I might move closer and closer to veganism as time went on, but now I don't think that is going to happen. I like the way we eat, and I don't think I am going to cut out the seafood, or the occasional egg or bit of goat cheese. On the other hand, all of my favorite cookbooks are still vegan, so there will be plenty of vegan dishes in my future, too. I am thinking maybe I should change the name of my blog, though.

Monday: leftovers. We are having a big brunch in the morning, that is an interesting menu: Tempeh Scramble, Fennel Risotto, roasted butternut squash, coffee chip muffins (all fromVegan Brunch), berry scones, coffee, juice, dark chocolate covered almonds. I am thinking we will need to clean out our fridge Monday night.

Tuesday: The kids will be at their dad's, so I am thinking of using up some of the appetizer stuff I have hanging around my freezer--edamame shu mai, Thai vegetable potstickers, tiny cocktail samosas.

Wednesday: Red Beans and rice, steamed broccoli, fruit salad.

Thursday: Fried rice

Friday: No clue. Kids at dad's, so not feeling the cooking. I will probably decide at the last minute.

So, not a bad plan. We could end up going to a friend's one or two nights, so we should be able to make it through the week with this plan.