No eggplant, but still really tasty.

Okay, I totally didn’t make some awesome thing with eggplant for our picnic dinner tonight at Rosebriar.  I got lazy.  I admit it.

Instead, we stopped off at Fresh Market on Henderson Road to pick up some picnic-friendly goodies.  Dinner for kidlets was PB&J on ciabatta rolls; the adults had the same rolls, but with sliced organic tomatoes, bean sprouts, and fresh baby spinach.  Of course, since Sean showed the kids about grinding peanuts to make fresh peanut butter, I had to taste it.  The PB was excellent, and the J—a concord grape jelly, all natural, vegan, and organic—is way better than anything Smuckers ever put in a jar.  I have to admit that I was somewhat saddened with Fresh Market’s total lack of cheese analogs; they had a paltry tofu section and not much else in the soybean family besides soy milk.  Oh, well.  We don’t shop on that side of town very often anyway.  What they lacked in cheese they definitely made up for in produce, though:  the veggies for our sandwiches were fantastic, the kids loved the black grapes, and the melon pre-pack was fabulous—perfect honeydew, cantaloupe, and watermelon chunks combined in a marriage of the quintessential tastes and smells of summer.

I’ve already written my review for Theatre Vault and I’m just about to call it a night.  The kids enjoyed A Midsummer Night’s Dream so much more than I could have hoped.  Daniel’s favorite part was when Bottom (playing Pyramus in the play-within-a-play) throws himself on his sword and dies.  And dies.  And dies some more.  He also liked Puck, because Puck was played by a green furry puppet.  And green is, after all, his favorite color.  ☺  I think Sylvie’s favorite part was the half bag of grapes she ate during the second act.

You know you want to pet me... Look at that ear flippage--how can you resist?!?!

To make up for my lack of cooking initiative this evening, I’m including a pic of our famous (infamous?  She really could be either…) dog, Lucy.  When you look at this puppy face, can you really yell at me for not cooking tonight?  This is what I had staring at me all day, just begging for some couch cuddle time.  And she totally got it.  ☺

Sean gets creative with leftovers--and totally steals the lemon out of my water without warning. Good thing I love him...

I had a play to review tonight for Theatre Vault, and it was over an hour away from home.  Even though I have some portabella mushrooms in the fridge that really need to be cooked, I just couldn’t be bothered.  I wanted to make tonight a special “night out” for my sweetie and me before the kidlets descend tomorrow.  So I offered to treat Sean to dinner at a vegan/vegetarian friendly restaurant of his choice before we set off for beautiful downtown Newark, Ohio.  After a bit of debate, we chose Whole World Natural Bakery and Restaurant.

So garlicy that I'm pretty sure I'm still not kissable several hours later. Totally worth it, though!

I checked out their daily specials, and when we got there I knew exactly what I wanted:  Black Bean Hummus on Pita Bread.  It had some nice crisp veggies, lots of garlic, and I stole a few of Sean’s black corn chips for a side dish.  Yum!

I promise--it tastes even better than it looks!

Sean’s choice was the Bombay Burger—a chickpea-based veggie burger with Indian spices, lettuce, tomato, onion, soy cheese, Vegenaise, and mustard (in a star shape—I love that!!) on a whole wheat bun.  He was kind enough to let me sample it, and it took everything in my power not to steal it from him.  I really was pretty happy with my Black Bean Hummus, though.  I think I’m going to try to make my own version of it at some point in the near future…

We grabbed some yummy vegan desserts there, too.  No pictures of those—sorry!  There was a raspberry bar that was pretty good (although I like the idea of raspberries, I still hate the stupid seeds that get stuck in my teeth) and a roasted almond bar that was orgasmic.  Really.  It’s not an exaggeration.  Ah-mazing.  I would have eaten the entire thing myself if it hadn’t been for the fact that I knew Sean would pout if I did.

While we were getting totally turned around on High Street, we stumbled across vegan Nirvana in the Columbus metro area:  Pattycake Vegan Bakery.  This is the place to go when you’re vegan in Central Ohio, or so I’ve been told.  Yes, we had a whole bag full of vegan desserts already.  But Pattycake was right there, in front of us! How could we let those poor defenseless baked goods go another moment without a loving home?  We totally caved.  I limited myself to three selections: peanut butter chocolate chip cookie heaven (because I wanted something similar from Whole World, but their version wasn’t vegan), a slice of raspberry lemon chiffon cake (for Sean—what’s up with the raspberry trend today?), and—on the advice of one of the girls behind the counter—the pumpkin spice Whoopie Pie.  We ate the cookie after the play, and we discussed the various high and low points of the production as we munched.  The slice of cake is half-devoured, waiting for whoever is least comatose from sugar overload to finish it, and I have a feeling the Whoopie Pie is going to be my breakfast tomorrow morning with a cup of coffee and a marathon review-writing session.

Tomorrow night, we’re taking the kids down to Groveport to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and there will be a vegan picnic involved.  I need to figure out what I want to do for that.  Luckily, I have all day tomorrow to cook and shop for what I need, but I still need to figure out what I feel like making.  I might do something with eggplant—I currently have 4 sitting in my produce drawer as we speak—and the kids didn’t seem to hate it too much when I made it before.  Maybe a different recipe with less oil is in order this time…  Oh!  I could make an eggplant lasagna…thing…and just serve it cold!  Hmm…  This may take some thinking and planning…  Horray ideas out of the blue!  (Of course, you realize that since it’s almost 2:00 a.m. now, I’m probably going to sleep late, completely forget about this wonderful idea, and make PB&J for the kids instead, right?  Right…  It sure sounds good now, though.  *grin*)

Best. Pizza. Ever!!

Okay, I’ve made pizza a few times since going vegan, but I believe that this particular one is my crowning glory.  All veggie toppings (red peppers, broccoli, and onions), a crust made with whole wheat flour and a hefty amount of vital wheat gluten, some leftover spaghetti sauce, and—wait for it—no cheese!  Or even a cheese alternative!  I sprinkled a few tablespoons of nutritional yeast over the whole thing, added an assortment of spices, and it was really, really good!  I honestly believe it was one of the best pizzas I ever made.  And it looks pretty, too.  ☺

Not much left over--and the cupcake stayed there just long enough for the picture!

Saturday was the vegan/vegetarian meet-up at the Whetstone Park of Roses.  We had such a good time, and the food was awesome.  We met a bunch of cool people, and we added some Facebook friends because of it.  I also signed us up for another meet-up group that does hiking meet-ups in the area, thanks to a lady we met at the picnic; we really can use some regular exercise again.  The weather was terrible—huge thunderstorm started the second we got out of the car, and it rained pretty much the whole time we were at the park—but that didn’t stop us from having a good time.  And everybody liked my cupcakes!  There were only 4 tiny ones left by the end of the picnic.  That alone says a lot!  Sean and I also got to reacquaint ourselves with the animal activist who got us started down this particular path.  I saw her at the food table shortly after she arrived, and we ended up talking for the next couple of hours about how she changed our lives.  Thanks again, Eriyah!

We have been so incredibly lazy all day Sunday.  We slept in, at when we felt like it, tried to focus mainly on Vita Mix concoctions, and just generally took it easy.  It’s been fun, but I’m hoping to do something a little more active tomorrow.  I told Sean that I really want to get up early and take a nice long walk before it gets too hot.  Then I have a facial scheduled at the Origins shop at Macy’s at noon.  I know he has a photo shoot that needs to happen tomorrow if it’s going to happen at all, and I’m still trying to decide if I’m coming along or not.

First up on the theatrical scene...

Followed by Shakespeare and a vegan picnic!

Even though it’s vacation week, we’re still going to be busy.  I have two plays to review this week (back to Newark to see Weathervane’s production of The Secret Garden on Thursday, and then Rosebriar’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Friday down in Groveport), and I still want—nay, demand!—to see Harry Potter, probably on Tuesday or Wednesday.  So, in a nutshell, Sean is probably going to kill me for booking our social calendar so full when he’s trying to relax…  Oh, well.  It’s not like we usually have lives or anything any other time. 

Must. See. This. Movie!!!!

No salt, little bit of melted "butter", hot out of the oven--just the way I like 'em.

Sean was begging for pretzels today.  I have one of the Top Secret Recipes books by Todd Wilbur that has a recipe for Auntie Anne’s pretzels.  I’ve made them several times before, but I think I got them almost perfect this time.  Yay!  They’re best when they’re fresh out of the oven, but they’re still pretty good if you put them in a Ziploc bag and eat them within the next day or so.

I’ve taken a few days off from blogging because for some reason, I have been inexplicably exhausted since about Thursday.  It’s kind of annoying, really—I have stuff to do!  Namely, baking and cooking more new vegan recipes.  And I have a brand-new brunch cookbook that I haven’t really even sampled yet.  So stop being tired and dumb, body!  I have plans!

For him

For her

It has been quite the movie week here, though, even with my being so tired recently.  We took the kidlets to gender-appropriate movies on Friday night:  Transformers:  Revenge of the Fallen for Daniel and Ice Age:  Dawn of the Dinosaurs for Sylvia.  I’m not sure how it’s happened, but I haven’t seen the new Harry Potter movie yet.  What’s up with that?!?!  Though I was talking to the kids’ swim instructor yesterday, and she told me about a few things that are in the movie that never happened in the books.  *sigh*  I hate it when they do stuff like that…

For the grownups

On the vegan front, Sean and I went to see Food, Inc., last night.  Very informative.  The production value of this film is definitely better than Earthlings, but I’m afraid that I wasn’t quite as moved to action with this one.  I am convinced, though, that I’m going to try to do as much cooking and preparing of my own food as I possibly can and try to stay away from overly-processed stuff.  I can almost hear the arguments starting that “cooking is processing,” and all that.  But I think even the argumentative ones know the difference between making your own tomato sauce from scratch using fresh ingredients and opening a jar of Prego.  There really is a difference.

Once again, I’m feeling that sense of tiredness sweeping over me.  At least I’ve had an easier time waking up in the morning than I usually did.  Maybe this is just my body’s way of telling me that I really do need some rest, despite all the “stuff” I feel I need to accomplish.  Besides, the puppies are sleeping, and they just look too darned cute not to join them.  ☺

It may not look that appetizing, but at least it knows how to keep a smile on its face!

I had a sweet potato that really needed to be used before it started sprouting in my cabinet.  Since the Indian dish I made on Saturday went over so well with the kids, I thought I would try a recipe for Sweet Potato Dahl that I’ve wanted to try for a few weeks now.

I kept the spices dialed back for the kids since they still don’t really do spicy stuff, and I added Sriracha to the adults’ portions.  Since it looked kind of, well, unappetizing (to say the least…), I tried to keep things whimsical and made a smiley face on Sean’s.  It actually tasted okay, but I’m still trying to figure out why it is that every time I make a recipe with red lentils, they turn to mush.  I only have this problem with red lentils; never with green or any other color.  It’s weird.  And frustrating.  And the end result made my dinner look like someone else had already eaten it and barfed it back up.  Not the best choice for a transition food for the oh-so-particular kidlets.  They ate it—albeit begrudgingly and on pain of dessert withholding.

I’m planning to submit a slightly different picture to Post Punk Kitchen’s “food porn” thread.  I’m pretty sure it will qualify…  ☺

I did get the kids out of the house and we spent an hour or so at the pool.  I got my daily dose of Vitamin D and an opportunity to start reading a new book, and they got some much-needed exercise.  Despite the barf-dinner tonight, they’ve been pretty good all evening—probably because they’re tuckered out.  Yay tired kidlets!

Ahhh... Healthy chips that don't *taste* healthy!

I found a new favorite junk food today:  RiceWorks Rice Chips.  The Sea Salt and Sweet Chili are both available at my local Giant Eagle, are super tasty, and vegan!  The kids even liked them.

Spicy, super creamy black bean dip--excellent with RiceWorks chips!

Sean whipped up a batch of black bean dip and the four of us finished off a bag of the Sweet Chili ones with dinner tonight.  I think that’s the only thing that kept Daniel going through his Sweet Potato Dahl.  They remind me a lot of Doritos, but they’re way healthier and—best of all—no dairy, no hydrogenated oils, and no icky bad stuff I can’t pronounce in the ingredients!  They totally satisfy my craving for a salty, savory snack.  We’re definitely going to have to keep these around!

Tonight for dessert, we’re having tofu chocolate pudding with the Nasoya chocolate-flavored tofu I found over the weekend.  I’m really excited about it.  We made it in the Vita Mix with a slightly tweaked version of their recipe.  Since we had chocolate tofu and chocolate soymilk already, we left out the 2 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate and the 5 tablespoons of margarine the recipe called for.  We also added some crushed Newman’s Own chocolate crème cookies to the blender during the last couple of seconds for an extra dose of yumminess.  We also added a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch, since I really wasn’t seeing anything in the recipe that was going to make pudding set up after being blended with just milk and sugar.  We’ll see what happens with that; it’s in the fridge as we speak.

I thought that we were going to have a grown-up movie tonight, but it’s starting to look like that isn’t going to happen since it’s after 9:30 and I haven’t seen Sean in over half an hour.  We’ll see, though.  Maybe it’ll just be a late-night showing.  ☺

UPDATE:  Even after sitting in the fridge for a full 24 hours, the chocolate tofu pudding never did set.  *sigh*  Oh, well.  It made a really tasty chocolate soup!

Things to do on a rainy day: Bake cookies!

The kids’ swimming lessons were cancelled again today—this time because we were in the middle of a thunderstorm and the Y had to close the pool.  I’m still not entirely sure why it is they have to close an indoor pool for a thunderstorm, but since it’s out of my control, I suppose I just have to deal with it.

In the interest of finding something fun’ish for the kidlets to do while they were stuck inside, we came up with the idea of making cookies.  Daniel was all for it, but Sylvie (in her pre-teen, angsty way) decided to spend time in her room brooding instead.  So be it.  She missed out on some super fun cookie making madness.

Sean was asking for peanut butter cookies, so I found a recipe here. I figured the easier, the better for my guys.  I took a shower and left the boys to their work.  They didn’t disappoint:  perfect peanut butter cookie taste, texture, and… some other third thing that escapes me right now.  Anyhow, they were good.  And Sean’s creative use of cookie cutters paired with the fork-tine crosshatching was really cute.  ☺

I’m probably going waaaay out on a limb here, but I think I want to make Chana Masala tonight for dinner.  Yes, the kids will most likely freak out.  They will likely cry and complain and claim that I’m the worst mother in the world for trying to force them to eat chickpeas.  They will dither and delay and dillydally, determined to deviate me from my planned dinner (like that alliteration?  Hah!!).  I figure if I make them eat at least one or two “weird” meals a week that maybe we’ll expand their ridiculously small palates.  I really would hate to see them living on macaroni and cheese (or even “cheeze”) forever.  There’s so much more interesting food out there to try!

I still want to try the chocolate tofu that’s sitting in my fridge right now.  Of course, now that I have it, I don’t entirely know what to do with it.  Put it in a smoothie with a banana and some peanut butter?  Mmmm…  Use it for pudding or pie filling?  I did just find a recipe for a cookie crumb crust that calls for Newman’s Own cookies, and I just happen to have a package in the pantry…  Find some other way to use it that I hadn’t even thought of yet?  The possibilities are endless!

I would be completely remiss if I didn’t plug my sweetie’s thread over on Post Punk Kitchen’s forum .  He’s getting popular, and he loves every minute it.  Come to think of it, I should probably start reading and contributing over there, too.  Those ladies are my vegan heroes.  ☺

This is sooooo good when it's warm and fresh!

My kitchen has been invaded by ants this week.  I find this most distressing.  All the time I’ve lived in this house, I have seen an occasional straggling insect.  This invasion goes way beyond that, though.  This week, I have found a tiny battalion working its way to the dogs’ food dishes.  I looked around for humane methods of convincing the little buggers that they should look elsewhere for food.  Chili powder, curry, and vinegar haven’t worked.  Combinations of all three haven’t worked.  The last time I tried the chili powder trick, I found them walking through it to get to the food dishes.  I have cleaned the dogs’ bowls, mopped the floor, emptied the trash daily and swept the kitchen floor every night hoping the stem the tide.  So far, I haven’t seen any more today.  Let’s hope that maybe they found someplace better to go.  I will admit that I squashed a few while trying to sweep them up, and I’m pretty sure a few were drowned in vinegar.  I will also admit that I felt absolutely no remorse over the casualties.  This is why I will most likely never be a member of PETA.  ☺

I had a couple of overripe bananas sitting around the kitchen, so I decided to make some banana bread.  In the interest of trying to be a tad healthier (and possibly drop the 5 or so pounds I’ve gained since becoming vegan—ick!!), I made some changes.  I used 1 ¼ cups of whole wheat flour, ½ cup of unbleached all purpose flour, applesauce instead of oil, only ½ cup of sugar (I figured it would be sweet enough with the applesauce and the really ripe bananas) and I added about ½ cup of chopped walnuts.  I shortened the baking time to just under an hour—about 50 minutes or so—because the bread was starting to look overcooked.  As it turns out, the bottom was still a little underbaked, but it’s edible and not too sweet.  The whole wheat flour made it kind of dense and it didn’t rise very much, but it’s really tasty and doesn’t taste as desserty as some of the other sweet breads I’ve made recently.

After reading Skinny Bitch (and skimming Sean’s copy of Skinny Bastard), I have been trying to cut down on my caffeine intake.  It sucks.  Not that I’m usually too crazy with it—I got myself down to 1, maybe 2 cups of coffee a day, and I don’t drink soda at all anymore—but I really should be drinking more water.  I drank a full glass of water with the banana that I ate for breakfast (trying out the suggestion of eating a piece of fruit for breakfast, wait a little while, and eat another piece of fruit if still hungry), but I still wanted something else.  So I made a cup of chai tea with Silk creamer and a packet of Truvia.  Truvia is a tricky substance for me in beverages:  one packet isn’t enough, and two packets are too much.  I hate having half-packets lying around, so I’m thinking I may just try to deal with my tea being less sweet.  Either way, I greatly enjoyed my chai with a slice of fresh banana bread.  You didn’t really think I wasn’t going to taste it the second it came out of the oven, did you?  *grin*

Tonight is Weight Watchers, and I’m not looking forward to seeing the scale.  I have been hovering in the same 5-pound range for months, and now I’ve completely overhauled my eating habits and gained a few pounds.  Ick…  I know it’s just a matter of finding the right balance, and I have been eating so much bread lately that I’m surprised that I haven’t gained more.  It’s still been kind of frustrating not getting to my goal weight yet, but I’m still working at it, still trying, and still keeping that goal in mind.  I really need to remember that just because it’s vegan doesn’t automatically mean that it’s healthy and low-calorie.  It’s still all about calories in versus calories burned, and unfortunately baking cupcakes doesn’t burn enough calories to justify eating three of them in a day.  I should probably start my running regimen again.  I’m turning into a lump…

Enough pouting!  At least I’ve been keeping up with my kitchen (granted, it’s mainly so deter the ants, but still—an accomplishment is an accomplishment!), and I’m thinking I should probably get the kids out of the house for a while today.  Maybe we’ll go to the Y and they can swim while I run laps.  It’s a perfect day for it, really.  Exercise time, everybody!  ☺

I bribe my children.  I admit it.  Sometimes, it’s something material.  Today, it was for pure fame and notoriety.

I wanted for them to get out of the house for a while today.  We took them to the grocery store first—granted, hardly the most fun trip for a kid—and then we went for a walk at Battelle Darby Creek.  I had them bring their cameras along and told them that whoever took the best picture would have it posted with my blog entry today.  Daniel won!  Those are his size-10 feet that you see there.  I hope his feet stop growing soon—or at least that he grows into them more.  As it is, he’s starting to look like he’s wearing clown shoes.  ☺

Sylvie was a little less than enthusiastic about the walk (and the picture-taking, as it turns out), and she was breathing so hard by the time we got to the top of the steps on the trail that she could barely talk.  I’m thinking that maybe daily trips out there and a few times up and down the stairs might toughen her up a bit.

Not too much new on the food front today.  I did make broiled tofu for the first time using this recipe.  Super easy, and pretty tasty, too.  I don’t think I used the full amount of oil, though.  I just used some that was leftover after Sean made sweet potato fries for the kids and added some Bragg’s aminos to it.  After I turned the slices a few times, I added different spices to each set of 4:  garlic pepper, Mrs. Dash onion and herb, and a spicy one.  I think the spicy came out the best.  I served them on sandwiches with hummus, spinach, and some green pepper strips.  Definitely a keeper!

Surprise of all surprises:  my children are coming to like veggie “hot dogs”.  Daniel had one for a quick snack yesterday and ate two more for dinner tonight.  And this was after he made fun of the tofu at the store earlier today.  Little does he know that he had it for dinner tonight!  *evil cackle*  I’m on a quest to make these children like healthy food if it’s the last thing I do!

I think tomorrow is going to be something with pinto beans.  Actually, I know it’s going to be something with pinto beans since there’s a pound of beans soaking in the fridge as we speak.  I had one recipe in mind, but I totally forgot to pick up fake beef bouillon at the store tonight, and I think I’m out of even the veggie stuff.  Hmm…  A different recipe may be in order.  I was planning to make bread tomorrow, but we’ll see how that goes.  I found a great whole wheat bread tonight at Whole Foods—it’s light and fluffy, sliced super-thin, fairly inexpensive, no artificial crap (I could actually read the entire label without having to consult a dictionary!), and from a local bakery.  With all of that going for it, it makes me wonder if I really want to continue on my bread-making quest…  I really would like to make my own, though.  It makes the house smell wonderful when it’s baking.

Since it was raining off and on this evening, we thought that taking the kids to the Gallery Hop downtown would be more fun than sitting in the park getting wet while waiting for fireworks to start.  They always have fun, and tonight wasn’t very crowded for the first time in ages.  Of course, the line outside Jeni’s Ice Cream was still huge even with the rain, so we skipped it.  Sad, too—I had really been looking forward to trying some of their vegan sorbet selections…  Oh, well.  Maybe next time.  ☺

For dinner, we went to Z Pizza.  They were really helpful during the ordering process, letting us know that the soy cheese they use isn’t vegan (it has casein in it—more sadness), and that there’s sugar in the pizza crust.  We got the California pizza sans cheese for the adults and a half-pepperoni, half-cheese for the kids.  What we didn’t tell the kids is that we had them use soy cheese instead of the regular.  They never even noticed the difference.  Not quite as good as all-out vegan, but it’s a step in the right direction.  And we did get to see some fireworks from the car when we were driving home.  Not too shabby a night, really.

I made a couple of new recipes today.  For lunch, I made black bean burritos with chopped onions, salsa, fresh spinach, some rice “cheese”, and green pepper strips on whole grain tortillas.  For a snack that will hopefully last the week, I made the vegan chocolate chip cookies from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch.  Sean and the kids liked them, and they’re okay, I guess, but I think I’m going to try some other recipes, too.  They were just a little crispier than I like them, even after playing with baking times and things.  Of course, the recipe called for 1¼ cup of refined coconut oil, and I didn’t have any; I used Earth Balance sticks instead.  I wonder if that could account for the overly-crispy results?  I might try it again with the coconut oil at a later date.  Sean got creative and made a chocolate-peanut butter quinoa pudding using the recipe I found here as a jumping-off point.  I haven’t tried a full serving of it yet, but what I got from the spoon was pretty tasty.

I think what I’m learning during this transition is that—well, I have a lot to learn.  There are so many things to consider that I had never really given any thought to in the past.  Just like the sugar thing tonight.  It never would have crossed my mind to be the slightest bit concerned about sugar just a few weeks ago, except from a health standpoint.  Now that I know more about the ethical ramifications that go along with sugar (namely, the use of charred animal bones to process sugar to its gleaming white state), it’s harder for me to ignore.  I feel like I’ve spent the last three weeks completely obsessed with the food that I eat, buy, and prepare, and maybe that’s not such a bad thing.  Maybe I’ve needed to pay a little more attention to what I’m putting in my body.  Maybe it’s a good thing that I’m focusing nearly as much attention on nourishment as on taste.

I will say this, though:  I am so grateful that Sean is doing this with me.  I don’t think I could stick with it if I had to go it alone!