This Blog is Closed

In an effort to simplify my life, I've decided to stop blogging here.

Waiting For Spring

We had our annual half-hearted snow yesterday, most of which melted the moment it hit the ground. I think it started up again last night, so there's just a little dusting over the whole backyard this morning.

I spent part of last week building the new 12 foot bed on the right. In a week or so, I'll plant the red onion slips and red and white potatoes I have waiting in the kitchen. In April, I'll add okra, which I've now learned gets so tall, I can't reach the pods to harvest when they're in the taller raised beds. Who knew?

Inside, I'm already starting on the spring garden. When I pulled up the sweet potato vines from the front yard beds, I saved the little potato roots from two of them, and put them into a margarine tub of potting soil. Sure enough, they started to sprout after about a week under a plastic cover. In another week or so, I'll start pinching off bits to root, so by the time the weather gets warm, I'll have plenty of plants for the front yard, and to share with Bad Neighbor, who always asks for cuttings when I start trimming it back.

I'm also rooting cuttings from both the lavender and orange lantana from this year's garden. The lavender is often hard to find, and this year's orange was so beautiful, I really wanted to try to preserve it. Since lantana dies back here in the winter. I decided to try doing soft wood cuttings, and so far, they seem to be doing well.



Last week, I started the first of the seeds. On the kitchen window sill are purple and yellow coneflowers, and zinnias. I'm hoping to start some sunflowers shortly, as well as tomatoes and chiles for the vegetable garden.



Soon. Spring will be here soon.

The State of the Garden, and What I Learned From Vegan MoFo

I spent yesterday afternoon tearing out the last of the summer vegetable garden. Even though the tomato vines were brown, and I thought the first freeze had killed them, I still came away with two bowls full. If I ripen a few every day, I'll have homegrown tomatoes until January. Even little tomatoes that have been forced to ripen are better than anything I can buy in a grocery store. Delicious little things.

Anyway, while I was out there, tearing things out, I also raked up most of the leaves from Bad Neighbor's nasty hackberry tree, filling the compost bin, and also laying down a good layer in two of the big raised beds. I ended up climbing up into them and turning the dirt over, to make sure the leaves stayed in the beds instead of blowing into Good Neighbor's yard. I ran out of steam when I got to the third bed, so if we have another nice day soon, I'll have to go out and do it again.

So, Vegan MoFo is over, and I sort of ran out of gas about halfway through. Too much food! I couldn't eat as fast as I cooked. I'm not sorry I did it , though---and here's why:

1. I ate way less processed food this month than I have previously. I'm not a big eater of frankenfoods, but seriously, I bought nothing from Boca or Morningstar Farms all month.

2. I cooked a lot more than usual. I think I cook lots of simple things, like baked potatoes or roasted veggies, but I don't really cook from recipes. I did last month, and I liked it.

3. I finally acquired a vegan cookbook. Helpful.

4. I tried new things. Nutritional yeast. Tempeh. Seitan. Bean curd sticks. I have buckwheat noodles, and a chayote waiting to be eaten.

5. I cleaned out my kitchen cupboards, and reorganized. I finally gave in to using more than one little cabinet for food. I'm seriously thinking of turning the pantry, which has been functioning as a broom closet, back into a pantry. I cleaned out my spice cabinet. I threw away stuff that was old, or that I don't use, or that isn't vegan.

I'm sure there's more, but after two glasses of wine, I can't think of them. Mostly, I enjoyed reading about all the possibilities that vegan eating has to offer. It was nice to hear hundreds of vegans talking about what they eat every day, and watching all the lovely photos of food roll by.

Oh, Right

Somehow, I fell off the Vegan MoFo bandwagon before Thanksgiving. Probably because my fridge runneth over with leftovers from the first part of the month.



Well, I'm back from being a bad MoFo. This morning, I posted Simple Vegan Wraps & Fillings on Squidoo. I also tried my first recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance (Tempeh Bacon), and didn't light the kitchen on fire. So there.

My First Vegan Thanksgiving

For years now, my anti-Thanksgiving celebration has gone something like this:

1. Sleep late.
2. Wear sweats all day.
3. Stay home with the dog and the DVDs.
4. Cook all the holiday foods I like.
5. Eat, watch DVDs, rub dog's belly, and sleep.

I had high hopes for my first vegan Thanksgiving. I've been accumulating recipes for weeks. Unfortunately, they're mostly new recipes, so I don't know if I like any of them yet. The idea of fixing all those new things became overwhelming.

So, yesterday I decided forget about cooking much. I think I'm going to cook some pumpkin baked oatmeal in a while, with cranberries and nuts in it---but, no tofu turkey, or any of that other stuff. I can't be bothered. Maybe I'll try some of those recipes over the next few weeks, and find a few favorites for Christmas dinner.

Yesterday, I donated the cost of the turkey I'm not eating this year to the North Texas Food Bank.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Ribs!

I went to the nearest Asian grocery mega-mart yesterday, to wander the aisles in search of new things. Bean curd sticks and char siu sauce made it into the basket, so I could try making the infamous vegan ribs, Chinese style:



Time consuming, because of the hours of soaking, but pretty easy to make. I want to tweak the recipe a little more before I write it up, but yeah, they were yummy.

Sweet Potato Love

There have been a lot of sweet potato recipes posted for Vegan MoFo this week. These are the ones I've saved for future meal adventures:

Sweet Potato Pasta uses sweet potatoes as the pasta portion of the dish. Brilliant.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with cranberries. Sounds yummy.

Black Eyed Peas Meet a Sweet Potato. I'm not sure what half the things in this recipe are, but the ones I know sound like a tasty combination. Bonus: garnished with avocado, which we all know makes everything taste better.

Sweet Potato Curry, which is all sweet potatoes. And curry powder.

"Beef" and Sweet Potato Tacos. I'll eat pretty much anything that calls itself a taco.

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Quesadillas, without cheese. So simple, there's no recipe---just smash a few things together, and eat.

Ghetto Hummus is not really ghetto at all. Sounds tasty. I always forget to throw anything in hummus beyond the basics. Why not heave a few sweet potatoes in there?

Sweet Potato Tots. That's all. Just tots.

Indian Spiced Sweet Potatoes. I love Indian food, but I don't really cook it at home. This made me think I should.

My Go-To Quick Dinner

Microwave a medium potato. Chop, and toss with a little vegan margarine and some nutritional yeast. Cover with fresh chopped spinach and tomatoes. Sprinkle with black pepper and bacon salt.

Five minutes from "I'm starving" to "Mmm...".

Lunch at Spiral Diner

Fort Worth is blessed with its very own vegan eatery, Spiral Diner. It's a rare treat to be able to walk into a restaurant and know that you can have anything on the menu. No asking whether there's something on the plate that contains animal products. No guessing. Every freaking thing on the menu is 100% vegan. In Cow Town, no less. It's bliss.


Livia suggested we lunch at Spiral after our museum morning, and she's not even vegan. The food was so good the first time I took her that she's declared we can eat there any time I want. Today, she had migas, which were half devoured before I got my camera out, and I had this Texas Style Philly---seitan, barbecue sauce, cheez, onions on a roll with potato salad. I've never tried seitan before, but I've tried new things at Spiral in the past, and never been disappointed. This was no exception. The sandwich was so good that I ate the whole damned thing, after first getting Liv to taste it, and getting her thumbs up as well. It's big enough to split with someone if you're also getting dessert.


Yeah. Dessert. I usually don't indulge, because I have a problem with sugar: it puts me right to sleep. Livia got this chocolate bourbon pecan pie thing, and gave me half. I could only eat two bites---it was delicious, sweet, and chocolatey. If I could, I'd grab a fork, and eat the whole pie. Always leave room for dessert at Sprial----here's why:


A whole case of vegan delights, right next to the cash register. Cookies, cakes, brownies, pies---all manner of sinful desserts. Oh, and I've seen pictures of their special event cakes on the Spiral Diner Facebook page. Heavenly.

Go to Spiral Diner, people. There's one in Fort Worth, and also one in Dallas.

Taking a MoFo Break Today

I'm taking a break from Vegan MoFo today, mostly because my fridge runneth over with leftovers. I think I'll be back with more recipes shortly.

Meanwhile, I've posted the recipe for my Chunky Vegetable Salsa on Squidoo, and also put together a complete listing of My Vegan Recipe Lenses.

Yes, I've been a busy, busy girl...