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So, I knew it wouldn't last forever.  Perhaps, if I ever get tired of the blog being called "Angst Loves Spinach" I'll change the name to Taming of the Brown Rice.  Not quite as catchy, I'll grant you, but I feel like I spend an inordinate amount of time discussing my inability to cook brown rice.

I finally tasted victory the other day, but I knew it would be short-lived and tonight's dinner reinforced that belief strongly.

I made Rice Island Casserole from Vegan on the Cheap.  When I started cooking, I asked Mister if anything on the menu jumped out at him.  He refrained from giving any guidance other than "you might want to make something that takes a while, since you're starting early."  Pretty good guidance, actually, considering how darn long it took to cook.

Fortunately, while it was simmering away...for about two hours...it smelled amazing.  That just made the waiting more difficult!  There was such a great combination of herbs and spices that just simmered away smelling very much like the pan of mulling spices left on a back burner in my mother-in-law's kitchen on Christmas Eve.  I thought, as it simmered and simmered, that once it was finally finished, if it tasted anything like it smelled, it couldn't help but be a phenomenal success.

I was absolutely right.  It was so good and it brought out a serious hankering for Isa's Jerk Seitan on Coconut Rice...

Bonus!  I made cookies for a colleague (and because cookies are awesome):

The recipe is that of Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from VCIYCJ, but I used cranberries instead of raisins and I plumped them in some hot water while we were [finally] eating dinner.  My kitchen smells so good right now.

super foodie post

Please pardon what is probably about to be a somewhat random post - there will be at least one connecting thread: everything will have to do with fabulous vegan food!

Most of the time when I post my menu, I do so at the conclusion of the post.  However, it seems like the best place to start this one, considering my Ode to Cookbook Browsing and my Look What I Can Do posts this week.  So, I did finally sit down with a glass of Beaujolais and Vegan on the Cheap last night and figured out what we're eating this week:

1. Caldo Verde with Vegan Gourmet grilled cheeses.  This looks like a hella hearty soup - potatoes and kale work together so nicely, texturally, taste-wise, and nutritionally.  I love the combination of the smooth, squishy potatoes with the chewy, stern kale.

2. Savory Sausage and Peppers which was dinner tonight, so you'll read more in just a moment, but I'll give you this one little hint:  it was so freakin' good.

3. Tropic of Tempeh Tofu - It really makes me sad that Mister crumples into a heap of hurt whenever he eats tempeh, because I really like it and never get to eat it.  Nevertheless, this recipe looked way too good to bypass just because Mister can't eat the main ingredient...so I changed the main ingredient.

4. Better Bean Burgers with oven fries and these super-slick "burger thins."  I can't wait to make this and photograph it because these things are awesome - they're like the Macbook Air of bread products.

5. Tuscan White Bean Pizza because Mister loves pizza and I love Mister.  And I love pizza.  And all things Tuscan.  Plus, it takes a pretty picture.

So, tonight's dinner was Savory Sausage and Peppers and it was delightful.  How can you go wrong with a skillet supper involving diced Tofurky, bell peppers, and sliced potatoes (among other things)?  Also, there is something magical that happens when you add thyme to potatoes.  It seems like most people associate rosemary with potatoes, but I think they missed the boat - Thyme is where it's at.

It looks just as good as it tasted.  Between the intensity of the Italian Tofurky and the herb and salt-rich sauce, I was able to limit myself to just one-and-a-half servings, preserving a decent bit of leftovers for later this week.  This dish smelled phenomenal while it was simmering, even drawing Mister away from his computer and into the kitchen (all 7 steps) to see what smelled so tasty.  I wasn't at all surprised that it tasted as good as it did, but its inherent attractiveness shocked the heck out of me.  I mean, look at it - it's gorgeous!

Breakfast was also stupendous - a girl has to get fueled up for a fun day of grocery shopping and baking for work potlucks, right?  As promised, it comes with another recipe.

Banana Pecan Oatmeal
serves 1 (but easily multiplied)

1 banana
1 cup of nondairy milk (I used Almond Milk)
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup pecan pieces
1 Tbsp agave nectar (although I find the banana, when very ripe, is sweet enough)
cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Bring nondairy milk to a light boil.  Shake in oats, stirring, then reduce heat to low.  Simmer 3-5 minutes, stirring often.  Meanwhile, break the banana into pieces and place it in a microwave-safe bowl.  Nuke on high for 45-60 seconds, then mash to near-liquid consistency with your spoon.  Pour oatmeal into the same bowl, along with half the pecan pieces and stir to combine with banana.  Taste and add agave nectar if necessary.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (if using) and remaining pecans.

Tomorrow will bring three blessings (we have to counteract that whole Bad Things Come In Threes thing somehow, right?):

1. For me: When I leave work tomorrow night, I will be halfway through my work week :)
2. For everyone at work: we're having a Thanksgiving potluck and surely, tasty food will abound.

Applesauce Softies from VCIYCJ, more in a minute

3. For YOU:  finally, after all your patience, The Great Chocolate Round-Up.  Yes, I promise.

So, Essene was having a sale last week and I took the opportunity to stock up on BOGO Santa Cruz Organic Applesauce.  There are a ton of amazing holiday recipes which recruit applesauce as a fat replacer, binding agent, or just plain fabulous flavor to incorporate into autumn eats.  One of the reasons I don't have a pantry is...well...because there's no room for one.  Honestly, I would give up my dishwasher to have space for a pantry.  The other reason I don't have a pantry is because even though I have the purest of intentions, when there is a sale that causes me to get things I wouldn't ordinarily buy or have no specific use for right now, I bring them home, thinking I'll store them somewhere until I need them, but then they stare at me until I do something with them.  Such was the case with my applesauce, so when I remembered this afternoon that I have a potluck at work tomorrow, I decided to try my hand at the Applesauce Softies that have been softly whispering to me since I got the book (within days of its release to bookstores).

The first step of the recipe involves reducing the applesauce by simmering it until it becomes more dense and concentrated.  The recipe says this should take about 25 minutes, but it took me about 45 minutes to reduce the sauce from 1 1/3 cups to 2/3 cup.  I had hoped that the simmering applesauce would fill my home with the tasty scent of autumn and apples, but it really didn't smell much as it evaporated the juices into the air of my apartment.  The cookies, on the other hand, smelled amazing!  Mister and I did a small sampling, to make sure I wouldn't accidentally poison my work-mates.  The taste is subtle but they are pillow-soft and rather light for cookies.  The best thing to compare them to would be muffin tops - the kind you want to eat, not the kind that make you avert your eyes out of courtesy and self-preservation.

One last tangent, then I'll let you go dream of chocolate in anticipation of tomorrow's round-up: I stopped into Essene today for my last test chocolate, a pizza crust, and hand lotion (can you develop a more disparate shopping list?) and came away with a bonus prize.

That is an organic Winesap apple.  Until today, I was unaware of their existence.  I still haven't eaten mine - I will probably save it to savor for breakfast on Wednesday morning, but I fear that I will become addicted to these the way I have recently become addicted to Honeycrisps.  I fear this because they are not inexpensive, but heavens!  Look at how red that apple is!  The deep crimson apple, along with my newly ebony hair and perpetually ivory skin made me feel something like Snow White...so I took a cheesy picture: enjoy!

my brain: use it or lose it

It is Still snowing in Philadelphia. This is now officially the snowiest winter on record - all we needed from this snowfall (which started around 7 pm yesterday and is STILL going strong at 10 minutes to midnight today) was 9.5 inches, but current estimates put total accumulation at 14 inches in Philadelphia, more in outlying suburbs. That's 14 inches on top of the 28.5 we got over the weekend. I haven't seen a plow yet and while that is fortunate for my poor little snow-covered car and what remains of its paint, it doesn't exactly fill me with optimism about the condition of the streets I am supposed to drive on tomorrow to go to work. Even when the streets were plowed on Saturday night/Sunday morning, it was still a slippery mess.

Since there was already an inch of super-fast accumulation when I got home from work last night, it seemed appropriate that the last dinner on my menu was a soup dinner. I made the mistake of changing into warmer, comfier clothes and then sitting down before strapping on my apron and could barely muster the energy to make Turkish Spinach and Lentil Soup. Fortunately, I knew the majority of effort I needed to expend was on peeling garlic cloves, so I managed to convince myself to put about 5 minutes of work into what ended up being a very tasty and satisfying dinner.


One of the reasons I wasn't too enthused about it was because I had forgotten just how tasty this soup is! I think I owe a lot of the flavor to the new bouillon cubes I picked up at Whole Foods last week. I used to use Rapunzel bouillon cubes all the time - they are far more cost-effective and compact than boxed quarts of premade broth - but after I had two boxes of gross, rancid-looking, melty cubes, I ditched them in favor of the Swanson broth I've been using for at least six months. I picked up the vegan bouillon cubes with sea salt and they have the most amazing savory taste!

Now, I'll admit - I really did not think the snow was going to come down as heavily as it did. Granted, the National Weather Service had issued a Blizzard Warning and more or less implied that you would be risking life and limb to leave your home today, but I guess I just didn't believe them. I spent all day today looking out the windows and laughing because the snow was still coming down and it really did look like a blizzard. This seriously interfered with my plans to go food shopping, though, so I comforted myself with the knowledge that the crazy Chinese people who have a restaurant that is literally a 10 second walk from our front door were open today. However, by the time "dinner time" came around, neither Mister or I wanted to leave the comfort of our warm, snowless home.

I had been thinking the other day about my culinary adventures. I'm addicted to recipes, and even when I do something on my own, I approach it in the same manner I was taught to compose music: I write it out first, then "play" it. However, having spent the past several years learning how to cook, and at least the past year really paying attention to how ingredients work together to create certain tastes and/or textures, I had a revelation. Theoretically, I should be able to just grab some random ingredients and put them together in a way that results in something tasty (or at least edible). In culinary schools, this is known as the Basket Test. Students are given a "basket" of seemingly unconnected ingredients and must find a way to create something edible (and amazing) from them. Mister inadvertently presented me with that challenge tonight and I am thrilled with the results!

My "basket" was made up of a few half-empty bags of frozen vegetables, a couple of cans in the cupboard nearing their expiration date, and a few half-empty bags of various grains. I always take comfort in my extremely well-stocked herbs-n-spices collection, though, and I figure I could probably make a gourmet meal out of Angst's Meow Mix with their help, if I had to. Lucky for you, I was so excited with how tasty my invention was that I wrote it down and will share my first recipe of 2010 with you!
Naked Burritos
2 cups broth
1 cup Basmati rice
1 Tbsp canola oil
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp sea salt, or to taste
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup frozen corn
2 cups frozen whole leaf spinach
14 oz vegetarian refried beans

Cook rice in broth on very low heat (covered) for 20-25 minutes, until all broth has been absorbed.
Meanwhile, heat oil on medium heat in a large saute pan. Saute garlic and carrots, covered, for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Lower heat to medium-low, stir in cumin, chili powder, and salt. Add corn and spinach, cover and cook 7-10 minutes, until heated through, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, in a smaller skillet, warm the refried beans with 1-2 Tbsp water. Stir and heat until steaming and smooth, adding another Tbsp of water if necessary.
To serve, lay a bed of rice at the bottom of a wide, shallow bowl. Spoon on 1/4 of the refried beans and top with the vegetable mixture.

You could use brown rice if you wanted, but you would need to increase your cooking time to about 45 minutes. Since I ran out of brown rice and since Mister was threatening to have more junkfood as an appetizer, I went with quicker-cooking white Basmati.

Of course, an all-day snowfest is a great excuse to make cookies, even if no one found and unearthed your car for you... so I whipped up a batch of Chocolate Agave Trailmixers from VCIYCJ. They are so good and SO rich. I like soymilk with cereal and as an ingredient in something, but I've never been able to just drink it plain. If you can, or if you drink another kind of milk, nondairy or straight from the cow's udder, you'll want a tall glass to go along with these chunky treasures. One of the add-ins are sweet-tart dried cherries and it never fails to astonish me how well the tartness of the fruit brings out the sweetness of the chocolate.

Enjoy! I know Mister and I did!

curry, cookies, and cataclysm, oh my!

So.... 12-18 inches of snow ended up being 28.5 inches of snow when it finally stopped, sometime this afternoon. When I woke up today, the city was covered with snow up to your knees and it was still snowing and hard! Big, fluffy flakes danced chaotically outside the window, eventually descending to take their place with their peers along the streets and sidewalks of Philadelphia. To give you an idea of the accumulation plus drifts from the intense wind sweeping the snow hither and yon throughout the day, my car is black and my husband could not find it without using the key-fob to make it make noise.

I heated up some leftover "Spicy" Peanut Soup for lunch and tried to find it sufficient fuel to be productive on my snow day. I did call my students, just to be sure common sense had not eluded any of them and they weren't planning to hitch up the sled-dogs and come to their lessons. One mother answered the phone with, "You know you didn't have to call, right?" Then I began the process of eliminating the new pile of months-old magazines that built up, while doing two loads of laundry that desperately needed doing.

Ordinarily, my streets would never see a plow, but apparently the city made an exception considering the apocalyptic conditions outside. I'll tell you - they don't mess around when it comes to snow removal. I had the privilege of watching Dueling Backhoes dividing and conquering my neighborhood streets, all the while wondering how likely they were to inadvertently damage my car or make the digging out process even more difficult. Fortunately for me, Mister couldn't bear the thought of me breaking my poor twisted back trying to unearth my car, so he went out after dinner and did his best. I'm not sure how I feel about him coming back and saying "well, that's as dug out as it's going to get," but I'm glad I didn't have to do it.


So, dinner was Chickpea Apple Curry from my dear Martha Stewart. I always mess up the cayenne and render it almost impossible for me to eat so I thought this time I would substitute harissa for the cayenne. Unfortunately, I forgot that I thought that until after the whole melange was already simmering away, with its stingy pinch of cayenne. It came out alright though. Actually, since I didn't have any cumin, I substituted a teaspoon of curry powder and it really made a difference in the savory character of the curry - I may have to always make it this way! Mister was good-natured about the soygurt I mixed in. He compensated by adding hot sauce.
Since I was so very grateful to my dear hubby for finding and unearthing my car and since it was such fantastic baking weather, I decided to make Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.
I have been obsessed with making these cookies since they did a few preview recipes on The Post Punk Kitchen blog. I love snickerdoodles. I love chocolate. What could be better than chocolate snickerdoodles?

Mister and I would probably disagree on the answer to that. I think he's pretty happy about the cayenne pepper that makes up the Mexican part of the title. I, on the other hand, could definitely do without it. The recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon and I said to myself, "oh HELL no." I cut the amount in half, and when I had gingerly sprinkled half of that 1/4 teaspoon into the batter, I couldn't make myself put the rest in. As I sit here typing, munching on my cookies, I am really glad I had the foresight and self-knowledge to cut the cayenne by 75% - I wouldn't have been able to eat them. With 1/8 of a teaspoon of cayenne in the entire batter, which made almost 2 dozen generously-sized cookies, my face is actually starting to color and I can feel the heat in my cheeks.

Aside from my mouth being all on fire, though, they're really good cookies!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

The weather outside might not be frightful, but it's pretty darn cold! Fortunately, while I was baking cookies, my darling husband went outside and dug out my car. I can't tell how much snow we got, but it's more snow than I've seen in Philadelphia in a while and I love it - I hope it never melts! Every time I look out the window I'm happy. Except when I first woke up this morning and forgot how bright snow makes everything...that hurt.

Anyway, as penance for my awfully inconsistent blogging lately, I will reveal my happy secret! The reason I have not been very faithful in my writing recently is because my schedule changed temporarily at work, which has resulted in me only making a few dinners in the past week and a half. I made up for that this weekend with a ton of baking and cooking, but first, my news:

After working my little behind off for nearly a year, I was promoted! It's so gratifying to see that giving something your all can still get you somewhere. As I've been alluding to in my gratitude lists, the Director of my department has been gracious in her praise of me and my efforts and she was all smiles when she offered me a promotion. As a result, I have temporarily stepped in to guide an absent supervisor's team during the second shift. Getting home at 1 AM is not terribly conducive to cooking dinner when my husband is still working "normal" hours. I'll be back to my regular hours soon, so hopefully I'll be able to return to my cooking and posting at that time...despite the crush of busyness we're all anticipating.

Like I said, I cooked and baked up a storm this weekend. There's not too much else to do when it snows for 24 hours straight. It was so amazing - every time I looked out my window, it was still snowing and there was even more on the ground. The best part is that since it was so cold today, it's all still there! Should make for fun driving to work tomorrow, but that can't be avoided.

After a long snowy day, I couldn't think of a better dinner than my more-loved-each-time Potato Corn Chowder from The Accidental Vegan. I don't care how many times I've repeated that recipe - it is one of the best snowy-winter-day meals I can think of. For pictures and a bonus recipe, follow the links!

After dinner last night, I made Isa's Sparkled Ginger Cookies again. I made them smaller this time, which unfortunately resulted in them being a little crunchier than the first batch. To be completely honest, some of them actually burnt. That was disappointing because those cookies are so good! I made up for that tonight, though, and if tomorrow doesn't come soon, I will eat them all before I get them to work!

Tonight's dinner was Peppered Pasta. I didn't know whether I wanted this or the risotto, but I realized that more than half of the vegetables I bought on Wednesday were for this dish and I didn't want anything bad to happen to them, considering it's already Sunday. The risotto is made entirely from pantry goods, so that can wait for last. Peppers and garlic smell so good when they saute together, too.

Before dinner, though, I made four cookie sheets full of the Apple Peanut Pretzel Cookies from VCIYCJ. They don't really look anything like the ones in the book but they taste SO GOOD and that's really what matters. Also, the lighting is weird in these pictures because the kitchen light blew out again. We really need to move before an electrical fire burns this whole place down. One of the first things that occurred to me when accepting my new position at work was the fact that the pay raise associated with this position will expedite the moving process by a bit.
mmm....so many cookies....

I might need another soon. I might also need a gym membership...

The most amazing thing about these cookies are the bites that contain peanuts - I used lightly salted peanuts because they were the only roasted peanuts I could find that weren't rolled in MSG. The only thing I would change about this cookie when I make them again is that next time I think I will chop up a fresh apple, rather than using dried apples - they were just a little too chewy for me.

I had an awesome time at my company holiday party, despite the fact that the only thing I ate was a carrot stick. Not very friendly to my "dietary needs," but why would you expect a posh country club to cater to the whims of its guests?

Left to Right: My (former) supervisor, me, and my generous colleague.

1. I am grateful for the opportunity to take on new responsibilities at work and learn more about that aspect of the company.

2. I am grateful for the beautiful snow adorning the streets and sidewalks of my happy little neighborhood.

3. I am grateful for this last quiet weekend with my husband before the chaos of diet season starts and I have the privilege of working 6 day weeks for 3 weeks.

4. I am grateful that my wonderful husband went outside in the sub-freezing weather to shovel the pretty snow away from my car, as well as dust it off of the windows and other important parts of my car so that I can just get into my car and drive to work tomorrow, instead of performing that same snow removal in high heels and nice clothes.

M.I.A., but still thankful

Wow. It's been a whirlwind of a week so far. In fact, I spent all day reminding myself that it's Wednesday. For some reason (maybe the crazy nature of the week) I had convinced myself it was Saturday. Anyway, more on the storms later - let's talk about food!

To be quite honest, when I was drafting my menu, I was more focused on how many cookies I could foresee myself making between now and Christmas (and how to prioritize those 200 glorious pages of recipes) than on what's for dinner. I managed to whittle my list down from "all of them" to 4 special and relatively easy recipes. Also, despite an ardent desire to make the Magical Coconut Cookie Bars, I wanted things that could be packaged and taken places to share. As much as I would love to eat them all, I don't like shopping enough to go out and buy a whole new (bigger) wardrobe.

Before I babble about whatever I haven't babbled about this week, let me share with you my bizarre menu (it has an equal number of dinners and cookies - unusual for me).

First, dinners:
1. P.B. Thai - this is my own recipe, and I swear I must have made it before, but I can't find a corresponding blog page for it and I never cleaned up the recipe page. Normally, each recipe I write has two pages - one full of my chicken-scratch with words crossed out or written upside down and quantities changed or inserted, and then the second page, which displays the finished recipe in perfect, school-teacher-legible printing. This only has the first page. In any case, I guess I'll get to share the recipe this time!

2. Peppered Pasta - I hemmed and hawed about this. On the one hand, it's very tasty and Mister is always happy to see pasta in his bowl. On the other, it's a lot of slicing. I actually find the slicing rather therapeutic, but it sure does take a while.

3. Arborio Rice with Roasted Red Peppers, Pine Nuts & Basil from The Vegan Table. When I was flipping through my little gold book of chicken-scratch and pretty printing, I came across a particularly horrendously messy page - it was my attempts to create this dish before I knew Colleen beat me to it.

4. Potato Corn Chowder from The Accidental Vegan. I tried not to have soup on the menu, but this one is just so good. I want to make it tonight, but it's Wednesday, so a veggie burger it is.

Now for the cookies:
1. Sparkle Ginger Cookies from Vegan With A Vengeance, because they were so amazing when I made them a week ago or whenever that was. I need more. I dream of these cookies.

2. Peanut Apple Pretzel Drops from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. What an amazing combination. I'm surprised Ben & Jerry haven't turned it into an oddly named pint of ice cream.

3. Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles, also from VCIYCJ. I keep thinking of that horribly cheesy Savage Garden song, "I knew I loved you before I ate you." Okay, I changed the lyrics a little. The point is, these are going to rock. Or they are going to be profoundly disappointing due to the way I have been building them up in my brain for weeks.

4. Chocolate Agave Trailmixers - like trail mix in cookie form...mmm....

Go get the book. NOW.

I haven't been writing because my schedule has been off and I haven't been cooking as much. I did make my other dinner from my sister's hippie cookbook last night. It was a lot spicier than I thought it would be! Mister liked it and I can add rice to the list of things for which I am grateful.
Speaking of lists...in addition to my Operation Gratitude Attitude list, I wanted to share some lyrics to a song that has made me cry at least the first time I've heard it every Christmastime since 1998. Thanks, Celine...

The Magic of Christmas Day
Deck the halls with boughs of holly
It's the season to be jolly and be thankful for all that we have
All the lights and decorations put up in anticipation of the joyful celebration that's on its way
We're counting the days 'til it's time for Christmas day
God bless us everyone - The good and the bad, the happy, the sad
God bless us everyone - Here's to family and friends
It's good to be here again

On the streets there's children laughing
People smile as they are passing
Christmas time is here, our waiting is done
Wishing it could last forever not just twelve days in December
Through the year let's try to remember that special way that everyone feels
It's the magic of Christmas day

So fill your heart with love and joy
And through the eyes of girls and boys
Share their wonder, live through their joy - It's easy to do
Just open your heart, the spirit will come to you

I want to cry just reading those lyrics. Granted, part of it is because I can hear her singing those words with every last bit of her soul when I look at them. Over the decade that I have unashamedly owned this CD, I have had various life events occur that could tie into that song, so in addition to the amazing sentiment portrayed through the lyrics, I've managed to attach a great many memories. I hope you enjoy the lyrics as much as I do, even if Celine isn't your cup of tea.

1. I am grateful I had today off and was as productive as I could be.
2. I am grateful that the upper management sees fit to throw a holiday party for us - we're not entitled to a holiday party, no matter what my colleagues think.
3. I am grateful for sites like funny.com to pull my husband out of whatever funk he was in earlier.
4. I am grateful that I will finally get to tell the world my big news very soon. You think it's driving you crazy not to know - imagine knowing and not being able to tell anyone.

I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll BLOW your house down!

Today was so weird, weather-wise. It was miserable and rainy when I woke up, but it slowly tapered off and turned the middle of the day absolutely gorgeous! The sun was out, the air was mild, the birds were singing...okay - I made the last part up, but you get the idea. I wanted to take advantage of the day because tomorrow is supposed to be about 20 degrees colder and not at all the kind of day you want to wander about your neighborhood (and I'll be at work). My father and I went to Macy's to see the Christmas lights show that we've seen since I was a child and rode the monorail. By the way - it does not feel good to know that the object of a cherished childhood memory now resides in a museum! Afterward, we wandered around center city and the Reading Terminal Market a little while, then parted ways. I completed my menu for the week (which I shall share shortly) and set about to buying the things necessary to make these delightful meals. I made a short stop in to a bookstore to grab Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and while I was looking at some other books, the most amazing thing happened.

I heard screaming and clattering, and if it were the night before Christmas, I would have jumped from my bed to see what was the matter. It wasn't though, so instead, I merely peered out the window to see dead leaves swirling violently after scurrying sneakered feet that just barely cleared the (heavy) easel sign outside that had just been laid down by the most powerful wind I can recall in Philadelphia. When I crossed the street and approached the entrance to Whole Foods, I found that the wind had also huffed and puffed and knocked over a whole bunch of potted pine trees on steps outside. It was amazing how much destruction only one gust of wind could cause. Granted, we were in the middle of a wind advisory that I had (and I suppose many others had) gallantly ignored, so I shopped as quickly as I could and ran home as fast as you can with a load of groceries on your back. That is to say, not much faster than normal.

Anyway, no interesting food stories, really. Last night we had veggie burgers and tonight I heated up the leftover Coconut Curry Tofu from Monday. So, without further ado, here is the new menu:

1. Black Bean and Sweet Potato [Carrot] Stew from the Global Health Alliance Cookbook my sister gave me for Christmas last year. If you want the whole story, go back a couple posts.

2. Tempeh Shepherdess Pie from Veganomicon. I have skipped over this before, despite how delicious it sounds, because of the tempeh, but I'm just going to substitute baked and smoked tofu and hope that works!

3. Pasta Della California again, from Veganomicon. I made this before, so this time I grabbed the first person I saw wearing a WF apron and made her help me pick out an avocado. It better be good.

4. Chamomile Couscous with Savory Spinach because I was looking through some old posts and thought, "hey, that was pretty good!"

5. Curried Tofu with Mixed Baby Greens - I'll admit, the final recipe spot witnessed a showdown between this guy and P.B. Thai, but I think you can see who won.

I almost wrote earlier because I knew what I was grateful for by 1:30 PM.
1. I am grateful that the rain cleared up and gave me such a beautiful day off.
2. I am grateful that Macy's still hosts the largest active pipe organ in the country.
3. I am grateful that I have this Sunday off, too, to finish my hair :)
4. I am grateful for the nearly 2 hours I got to spend with my dad today.
Please excuse the crappy picture. It was taken blindly with my cellphone. It's the cute that counts.