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.  ☺

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.  ☺

Presentation is everything.

When we picked up our produce from the CSA farmer last week, there was a lone, teeny eggplant included in the mix.  I had actually been craving eggplant for a couple of weeks, but I never bothered to buy one because it’s not one of Sean’s favorite vegetables.  And as much as I wanted some, I just couldn’t fathom eating an entire eggplant by myself.  So this tiny one was a perfect opportunity to get my fix and to give just a little sampling to everyone else.

After perusing my favorite VegWeb site for a while, I really wasn’t finding anything that jumped out at me.  I finally adapted one recipe to fit what I had and what I felt like doing.  Since the eggplant was really small (think large banana-sized, maybe), I sliced it into rounds.  I dipped the rounds into some soymilk and then dredged them in whole wheat breadcrumbs that I seasoned with Italian seasoning, ground black pepper, and a little chili powder.  The breadcrumbs really didn’t stick very well, but I kept going anyway.  I heated up some safflower oil and fried the eggplant.  It really soaked up the oil, so now I’m wishing I had used olive oil instead of safflower just because I think it would have tasted better.

To accompany my eggplant, I made a homemade spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes, oregano, parsley, minced onion, garlic, olive oil, about a tablespoon of sugar (to cut through the acidity) and more Italian seasoning.  I put about 4 or 5 quartered tomatoes in the blender until they were pulverized; then I added two more, but I just pulsed it a little bit so there would be some tomato chunks, too.  I put everything in a skillet and heated it up to boiling, then let it simmer for about 20 minutes to give the flavors time to blend and to cook down a bit.

Just to make sure that the kids ate more veggies than the two eggplant rounds I was planning to give them, I also steamed some fresh asparagus.  To serve, I made whole wheat spaghetti, topped it with the sauce, arrange the eggplant along the edge of the pasta, and the filled in the extra space with the asparagus.  This is probably the prettiest dinner I’ve given them in a long while.

The verdict:  Sylvie finished her eggplant before she started on anything else and said she liked it a lot.  Daniel took some coaxing, but he finally gulped it down—chased with plenty of water.  Sean got 5 rounds because he is, after all, a grownup.  He delayed a bit, but finally finished them all.  I think he’s hoping for a different recipe for the next time, though; they were really oily this time around.  Surprisingly enough, Sylvie didn’t want to finish her asparagus, even though she usually loves it.  I think she may have just been full.

In an effort to get the kids more involved with meal planning, we gave Sylvie a stack of cookbooks from the library and told her that she could help choose what we’re having for dinner tomorrow night.  Unfortunately, there weren’t a whole lot of pictures in the books that I picked out, so now she’s determined that there aren’t any recipes to be found in the 7 or 8 cookbooks I gave her to look through.  Silly girl…  ☺

I think that I may make some brownies tomorrow.  I got Ghiradelli double chocolate brownie mix (it’s vegan!!!), and I think I may make them with a can of pureed black beans to help keep the fat and calorie count down while increasing the protein and fiber.  Thank you Weight Watchers for that little trick!

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!

Awesome tofu scramble for a lazy Sunday brunch.

Yet another big cooking day today.  I’m starting to feel like I’m living in my kitchen lately.  At least the blender kind of took a break today—just one juice drink this morning for breakfast, and then it was eerily silent for the rest of the afternoon.

We all slept late this morning, so breakfast was more like brunch.  I found an awesome tofu scramble recipe a few weeks ago, and that was what I used to make the concoction pictured above for the adults.  The kids wanted cereal, so everyone was happy.

On Saturday, Sean found a picture of vegan cheezy fries somewhere and insisted that he wanted to make them for himself.  I was sent out on a quest to track down The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook by Jo Stepaniak since apparently the “cheeze” recipes in there are awesome.  I have to admit, the one we tried tonight turned out pretty good:

Yummmmm....

It was particularly awesome over the fries:

Double yummmm....

After dinner, we took the kids and the dogs for a nice long walk—exactly what all of us needed after such a filling dinner.

I watched “The Meatrix” animated series of shorts tonight.  Very informative without being too in-your-face, and keeping a sense of humor.  I think that’s part of the problem that most vegans run into in daily life:  too many crazies out there who give us all a bad name.  I’ve been at this for about a month now, and even though it’s starting to get easier, I still don’t know if I actually feel vegan yet.  Of course, I can’t even explain exactly what that means or how a vegan should feel on a day-to-day basis, but still, I keep thinking that there’s supposed to be something else, something life-altering that hasn’t happened yet.  Maybe it will eventually, or maybe it won’t.  For right now, though, I can find comfort in the knowledge that I’m doing my part to try to stop the suffering of those who cannot speak for themselves.  I may not be sneaking into livestock auction houses or slaughterhouses or puppy mills with a video camera to expose the wrongdoing that’s going on there; but I can stop adding to the consumption that creates the supposed need for factory farms and mass-market killing.

I am glad that I made the switch, and I’m glad that Sean made the switch with me.  Even the kids have gotten involved, and they’re interested in the new things I’m making for dinner every night instead of the ongoing cycle of mac and cheese or spaghetti.  I’m still floored that they liked the Indian food I made on Saturday.  That reaction just opened a whole new realm of possibilities for dining experiences at home.  I think tomorrow’s dinner might be something involving sweet potatoes and some naan bread perhaps?

Chana Masala--the gateway Indian food.

This is what I made for dinner tonight—a rip off of the Chana Masala recipe on VegWeb.  I made it fully expecting a fight from the children.  After all, it looks a little weird, especially for kids who have grown up with the whole meat-and-potatoes mentality (ideally, chicken nuggets and French fries).  I dished it up over whole wheat couscous, gave them each a big glass of water (for the subsequent gagging that I fully expected), and settled myself in at the dining room table for the fight to ensue.

Daniel got to the table first.  He sat down, asked what was in his bowl, took a deep breath, and lifted the first forkful.  Sylvie plowed through it after she asked what was in it—tomatoes, carrots, onions, and chickpeas with some Indian spices.  Not one complaint.  Not a word was spoken to the tune of, “I don’t like it…”  They both finished their dinners, and I wondered if I should have given them more since I only gave them about a quarter of a serving each in the interest of cutting down on the food waste.  I’m totally going to make that again for them sometime soon.  It’s one of my favorite dishes, and now that I know that they’ll eat it, I might start to branch out with some other Indian food.  Victory is mine!  Hah!!

On a sad note, though, I broke the tamper for the Vita Mix tonight.  Only had the thing for two days, and I broke it already.  ☹  From what I read when I was looking on Amazon for replacements, though, it’s a pretty common occurrence.  The review that made me feel the best about my stupidity was this one:

“So you dropped your Vitamix tamper into the blender?” February 2, 2009
By Jeff A. Stucker “Jeff A. Stucker” (Eagle, ID United States)
Well, join the club. This is the replacement for that chewed up part. Next time, let’s make sure the lid is on when we use the tamper, okay? (Doh!)”

Thanks, Jeff—I’ll definitely remember this little piece of advice!

The disaster happened when I was trying to make ice cream, which looks incredibly easy on the videos.  Either I did something wrong, or I’m just too impatient for my own good, but I messed up.  I pulled the lid off while it was doing its thing to check on it, and then tried to use the tamper to mix things up a bit more.  Sean told me afterward that he tried to say something to me like, “Hey, maybe you shouldn’t do that…”, but I couldn’t hear him over the noise of the blender.  And then the tamper ended up hitting the blades—not good.  This is what happens when the tamper hits the blades:

There's a reason they tell you not to use the tamper with the lid off...

The good news was twofold:  Amazon offers a replacement tamper for about $11 plus shipping, so we should have one here before the end of next week.  Sean also read somewhere about a guy who used a carrot in place of his tamper when he was in a similar situation, so at least we have a back up method while we’re waiting for the new one.  The other good news was that the ice cream actually came out okay (once I dug the bits of plastic out of it, of course):

I promise that any black flecks you may see are actually Newman's Own cookie pieces, not broken tamper bits.

And somehow, after this Adventure in Kitchen-Land, Sean convinced me to make a pizza.  At first, I thought he wanted to bake it at 10:00 at night, which I thought was completely insane.  Then he mentioned something about Alton Brown’s suggestion to freeze a pizza crust overnight and then bake it the next day.  Ah.  Well, fine.  But I still ended up with dough all over my hands and much more mess than I had really wanted to deal with after everything else today.  And now that I actually read his suggestions, I see that AB actually said to refrigerate the dough overnight, not freeze it.  And to refrigerate it in ball, not spread out on a pan like I have mine right now.  Darn.  Oh, well.  It’s Sean’s baby tomorrow, I think. 

I’ll be sure to post pictures of that monstrosity masterpiece—right after I get back from a Whole Foods run for more vegan mozzarella.

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.  ☺

Getting the kids to eat vegan food has been something of an adventure.  Last night’s dinner was a total miss for them—too strong of a wine taste in the sauce, beans, and any number of other stuff that just turned them off completely.  Tonight, I decided to try to duplicate something that Daniel really loves:  meatloaf.

Vegan meatloaf is a challenge.  Trying to find something with the right consistency that won’t fall apart or dry out is tough when you don’t use eggs, dairy, or meat.  So here’s the recipe I used (cobbled together from about 3 or 4 different recipe suggestions):

*      *     *     *     *     *      *     *     *     *     *      *     *     *     *     *      *     *
TVP “Meet Loaf”

1 ½ cups TVP
1 ½ cups boiling vegetable broth/stock
3 tbsp dried minced onion (or more, to taste), rehydrated in water
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp Italian spice mix
1 tsp salt
½ tsp fresh ground pepper
4 oz baby bella mushrooms, diced small
2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer, mixed with 2 tbsp water
1 cup breadcrumbs
¼ cup ketchup

Mix TVP with boiling vegetable stock in a medium-sized bowl; let sit for 10 minutes or until all liquid has been absorbed.  Combine all ingredients except ketchup in bowl and pour into loaf pan or baking dish.  Bake at 375F for 35 to 40 minutes.  Spread ketchup over top of loaf and bake an additional 10 minutes.  Cool for 5 to 10 minutes.  Serve with more ketchup on the side, if desired.

*      *     *     *     *     *      *     *     *     *     *      *     *     *     *     *      *     *
The result:  the kids ate every bite, Sean mentioned how moist it was compared to my last meatloaf attempt (made with ground chicken, I believe), and I was fairly happy with the outcome.  I have read that there are some rather noxious side-effects that often go along with eating TVP, but Sean and the kids heartily enjoy their flatulence so I’m not too worried.  ☺  I wish I had gotten a picture of it before I cut it, but I didn’t think of it until after it had already been consumed.  At least there was a tiny bit left for someone’s lunch later on and for the picture posted above.  Since the kids are going to be here next week as well, I’ll probably be making this again soon.

The Death Cupcakes from yesterday weren’t so bad after they sat out overnight in an airtight container.  They’re definitely more brownie-like than cupcake-like, but at least they’re edible.  The kids have liked them a lot!  And the icing really is awesome.  I have plenty left, so I may make some more cupcakes soon—especially since Sean picked up flour for me tonight.  ☺

I made bagels again today.  This is my third attempt with them, and I think they keep getting better each time.  Today, I made them with half unbleached all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour.  I also added some caraway seeds, flax seed, wheat germ, garlic powder, and onion powder.  I wanted a savory bagel this time, and I think I got it.  You really can’t taste the garlic and onion so much, so next time I might try minced garlic and onion instead of the powders, but they also went over really well.  I almost forgot to dip them in the boiling sugar water to give them their nice crust, but I caught it before they were completely baked.  Even with that little oversight, they’re really, really good.

All in all, a good cooking day.  Tomorrow is Wednesday, which means that it’s time to pick up more veggies from the CSA farmer.  I hope we get some tomatoes soon.  I know it’s still early in the season, but I’m looking forward to making some homemade tomato sauce and salsa so I can stop buying the jarred stuff.  And hopefully we’ll be getting the Vita-Mix soon.  We ordered it a week ago, and the waiting is just killing Sean.

Time for a nice long puppy walk followed by dessert!  Vegan “ice cream” and a brownie-cupcake, anyone?  ☺

Today was a most disappointing day in the kitchen.

First, I made cornbread muffins and totally left out the sugar.  I also ran out of cornmeal and substituted corn grits for half of it.  They weren’t bad, but not exactly what I was hoping for.  Sean insisted that they were okay, but I’m going to try it again sometime.  Sylvie liked hers, and Daniel said he liked them, too, even though he only took one bite and left the rest on his plate.

Then there was dinner itself.  I made pinto beans with vegetables and vegan red wine over brown rice, and it was received with a little less enthusiasm than I had hoped.  After the disappointing cornbread muffins, I just didn’t have the heart to dice up a carrot, so I used frozen mixed vegetables instead.  They cooked so long that they really didn’t have any flavor by the time it was all done.  And the red wine flavor was a bit strong, even after I cut it in half and used water for the rest of the liquid.  There was a puckered face to accompany pretty much every bite taken by the kidlets over the dinner table tonight.

As a reward for their perseverance and relative lack of complaining, I made the cupcakes that are pictured above.  Adorable, aren’t they?  They’re chocolate cake using this recipe with peanut butter frosting piped into the centers and around the top edge, and then chocolate buttercream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  I’ve made all of these already, except for the chocolate buttercream.  It’s pretty similar to the vanilla, though, so I wasn’t too worried.  The frostings came out perfect.  The peanut butter was so much better than the last couple of times I made it—probably because I used super creamy peanut butter this time instead of the natural stuff that’s never quite as smooth.  But this is the only time I’ve ever gone ahead and iced the cupcakes without actually tasting the results of the baking first.  Usually, I have enough batter left that I can make some mini cupcakes, and they’re perfect for taste-testing.  The batter was so thick and dense this time, though, that it barely filled my cupcake tins.  I let them cool, piped the peanut butter inside them, and then got creative with the edging.  Then I did the chocolate buttercream, and they looked positively wonderful.  I gave one to Sean and took one for myself, not really noticing how very heavy they were this time.  I just thought I overdid it on the icing.

They’re terrible.  Dense, half-baked, and just generally nasty.  No flavor, gritty, and just… Yuck!  I checked them to make sure that they were done, and the ones in the front seemed fine.  It looks like some of the fuller muffin cups weren’t quite baked all the way through, though.  And they barely rose at all.  Maybe I used whole wheat pastry flour with this batch?  I had all of the dry ingredients pre-mixed in a Ziploc bag in the pantry, and I can’t remember what I did.  Oh, well.  Maybe the kids will enjoy them.  I’ll just make sure to use plain old all-purpose flour from now on.  That was just entirely too sad to ever repeat ever again.

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.