catching up and looking ahead

Ordinarily, I save my blogging for after dinner has been cooked, eaten, and cleaned up...for obvious reasons, I would think. Tonight is different, though. I'm not sure I'll be making dinner, since Mister ate a very late lunch and I'm actually going out tonight! My sister is in town from Arizona and we will be braving the cold, nasty, rainy weather to hang out and get a drink or two.

Tomorrow, the whole family (my side, anyway) will be getting together for a late lunch soiree so everyone can see my sister while she's here - only a few short days. My mother, having seen all the tasty cupcakes I've been posting lately, has requested that I make a batch and bring them. Depending on my mood, I may make two! If I am able to make it to the grocery store before we go tomorrow, I may also make and bring some other fun tasty treats. Because my dear mother reads my blog, I'll be keeping mum (ha ha, get it? Yes, that was stupid.) regarding exactly what I'm making so I can surprise her tomorrow.

While the rain kept me inside earlier today, I kept busy drinking copious amounts of coffee (and dunking a few Sweetzel's Spiced Wafers as well) and flipping through my cookbooks. I was on a dual mission - plotting the coming week's menu, of course, but also looking for fun finger foods to bring to my parents' home tomorrow. I think I have it figured out - I have my grocery list made, but the gross weather and the fact that I had to work a little today prevented me from actually using it until tomorrow. Here's a preview of the week's coming attractions (sorry - I have movies on my brain):

1. Chickpea Broccoli Casserole from Vegan With A Vengeance. This is a great recipe Isa created to prove you don't need eggs to make a casserole. I've made it a few times - the first time it was palatable, but a little dry and chunky. The second time I used my food processor to help with the chunkiness issue (it wasn't necessarily a good chunky) and it worked magnificently. I have a few tricks up my sleeve for this third making - I'll let you know when we get there.

2. Jerk Seitan on Coconut Rice both recipes from VwaV, too. Usually, I serve the coconut rice with the Pomegranate BBQ Tofu, but I can imagine the flavors complementing the Jerk spices as well. I made this a long time ago and I recall an enthusiastic seal of approval from Mister.

3. Chickpea & Spinach Curry also from VwaV. I guess it's just an Isa-week. By the way, everything I intend to make for my family tomorrow also comes from Isa's brain. Anyway, evidently this week's menu is kind of chickpea-heavy, but this recipe is just too damn good to skip. There's also something inherently satisfying about squeezing the juice out of whole tomatoes and then tearing them apart with your bare hands after a long day in the office.

4. Red Lentil Coconut Curry - I made this for Mister's Birthday Curry in August. It's probably okay to repeat by now. I went a little crazy with the coconut milk for a while there, but after a little break, we're good to go!

5. Pineapple-Tamari Braised Seitan - well, now that I have that whole, big, brand new bottle of Tamari, it would really be a shame not to reprise this dish, wouldn't it?

6. Peppered Pasta

Well, I'm off for now - Sister will be here in about an hour!