moodboom

The Gillespe’s had us over for dinner, Larry worked his many-spiced magic, mmm. We watched “it’s complicated”, which was fun. But the food was the real entertainment…

There’s not much left of it today…

Andrea packed her bags and headed to the beach with her book club buddies this weekend. The girls and I (and Grammy on occasion) had fun playing Age of Mythology, Tribes, soccer, wrestling, cooking cinnamon rolls, walking the dogs, getting takeout at the Gillespies (including Guitar Hero and Carcassonne games), going for pizza with the Prevosts… wow, we did a lot! :>

Today Reiley and I shopped (and shopped and shopped – took us three times to remember everything :>) and cooked a full-course meal, with the common ingredient being miso, a delicious bean paste popular in Asia.  The menu:

• appetizer: Michigan Navy Bean Soup
• entree: Seitan Stroganoff
• side: Steamed Kale with Lemon Miso Sauce

About two weeks ago, Wrenny and I prepped a full-course meal. The theme: peppers! We used green and red and orange across three recipes.  The menu:

• appetizer: Seitan Shish Kebobs
• entree: Cuban Black Bean Stew
• side: Divine Corn Chowder
• desert: (we cheated and bought vegan ice cream sandwiches) :>

My favorite cookbook is called Friendly Foods, by the best vegan chef I know, Ron Picarski. I’ve sworn to cook everything in it before I die, but I’m not even halfway done. Ron turns non-vegetarian fare into “friendly” fare with style – his goal is not to imitate but to improve. One important ingredient he uses is called seitan, a great meat alternative made from the protein in flour. I’m currently obsessed with cooking, and because my zeal is an order of magnitude beyond reasonable, I attempted to make seitan from scratch.

Here’s the whole seitan production line.

With all my troubles recently, I’ve been doing a lot more fantasizing about eating than actually eating. Made for a perfect time to plan out some great meals! And now that I’m on the road to recovery (WELL on the way, actually – thanks friends for all the support!), I’ve had some time to put the plans into action!

I’ll try to start posting some of my more interesting recipes here, but a warning: I really don’t play by the measurement rules very well. I think every cook should feel free to play, that’s the whole fun! I’ll try to post pictures so you get the general idea.

This afternoon, our neighbor Shelley graced us with some fresh-from-the-garden okra, tomatoes, hot peppers and a 40-lb watermelon, and I jumped into action. Because, hey, free okra! (gratuitous obscure jack handy reference)

Here’s the recipe page!

Thanks Shelley! It’s good to have friends (or friends with friends) with gardens. :>