sausage in my pocket

Well, it's a new year so I get to start my HolyCowIt'sSoCold posts all over again with a brand new quotient of times to bitch about the weather.  Keep in mind - I love Philadelphia, I love Philadelphia in the wintertime, and I love the cooler times of the year.  Still, there is no reason that I should be outside when the wind chill factors the temperature into the single digits.

Nevertheless, this morning I put on two layers of clothing, wrapped my puppy-scarf snugly around my neck, zipped my coat up to my nose, pulled on my gloves and hat and headed out the door looking very much like a ninja.

A cold ninja.

There's always something that astonishes me the first time each year that I look at the weather and see that not only is it 14 degrees right now, but it feels like it's 2 degrees and today's high doesn't break the freezing mark.  It's as though that's never happened before, even though it did, in fact, happen just last year and the year before that, too.  To anyone reading in Wisconsin or any of its neighboring states, and of course Canada, feel free to have a good laugh at my expense.  I am grateful that I've never seen the temperatures you deal with all winter long.  But for a relatively temperate area like Philadelphia, sub-freezing is our sub-zero.

When I got home, my first impulse was to make soup dinner despite Mister's inevitable protests.  I did not for two reasons (one of which became null): first, we didn't have any sandwich fixin's and I feel bad [now] serving Mister just soup.  Second, I was already thinking ahead to tomorrow's work lunch.  Granted, there are a ton of fabulous eating options within a one-block radius of the store I'm in tomorrow, but I haven't been keen on spending money going outside unnecessarily lately.  I don't want to test the strength of my "tupperware" by toting soup in my purse for a mile, so I wanted to make something a little more leftover-travel-friendly.

Enter Charro Beans with Chipotle Sausage from Vegetarian Times.  I've made this before, so why bother posting about it again?

That's why ^.  I've been meaning to try Field Roast sausages pretty much as long as they've been on the market, but they are about $1 more than Tofurky sausages and, being somewhat impoverished, that $1 has disproportionate value.  Regardless, since the recipe called for chipotle sausages and since Field Roast makes them (and Tofurky does not), it seemed the perfect excuse to splurge.

Unlike Tofurky, which is packaged similarly to hot dogs, the Field Roast sausages were actually packed as individually-wrapped links.  This made for quite the adventure trying to free them from their casings.  It resulted in my hands and cutting board looking like someone had just killed him- or herself in my kitchen - I'll spare you the picture I took of my "bloody" hand.

Once I'd coerced the little buggers out of their plastic casing, I cut two sausages in half (anticipating they would pack too much heat to stay in whole rounds like the recipe instructed) and then sliced them to add to my sauteing peppers.

After letting them cook a little by themselves, I added the beans and tomatoes, but I left out the chili powder because I was getting the distinct impression the sausages might end up being more than I'd bargained for.

Fortunately, I did have the foresight to serve them on a fluffy, bland cloud of mashed potatoes.

That may very well have been the only reason I could finish my first...and only...serving.  It was far more outstanding this time than the first time I'd made this dish, and that is owed completely to the brand of sausage, I believe.  Okay, that mashed potatoes are awesome doesn't hurt.

In any case, two things resulted from this dinner: first, Mister ended up with a generous portion of leftovers [read: all of them] for his lunch tomorrow and I ended up with a new strategy to beat the frigid temperatures outside: sausage.  By the time I finished my meal, I was nearly sweating, even though I'd turned down the heat while I was at work (Mister's fine - he's Greek so he radiates heat).  So, I told Mister I was going to carry the leftover sausages with me to warm me up like the brandy in a St. Bernard's barrel - just keep my sausage in my pocket until I need to go out into the cold.

Insert reallllllly immature joke here.

On a final and unrelated note, my healthcare for my new job is about to kick in, which is perfectly timed since one of my contacts decided to rip in my eye today.  All day I was walking around work squinting and blinking and putting drops in my eyes and complaining to my colleagues about my eyes bothering me.  I was counting the minutes until I could come home and take them out.  Upon doing so was when I discovered the damage, so I was reminded of yet another thing I love about Philadelphia and Winter.

In Philadelphia, especially Center City, but even on the residential streets where the homes are three stories tall, there is a natural darkness.  This is both beneficial and detrimental, depending on your point of view.  On the one hand, it might not be so darn cold if the sun could touch you and warm you up a little.  On the other hand, I can get away with not wearing sunglasses most of the time.  When it's winter, there's even less sunshine because the days are shorter and the sun never actually makes it to the "top" of the sky, so it's possible to stay out of direct sunlight pretty much all day.

Before you think I'm a vampire, let me just point out how difficult it is to wear sunglasses with seeing glasses - it doesn't work.  Since my new contacts are at least a week away from being in my eyeballs, looks like I'll be rocking my glasses, so I'm glad I don't have to worry about sun.

That's all.

cold and sleeping beauty

It almost seems inevitable that I would take a few days off after MoFo.  I love MoFo, but there is something about "obligatory" blogging that wears me out a bit.  Obviously, I chose the obligation, and there weren't really any rules about blogging every single day, but when there's such a good chance new eyes will find your posts, you don't really want to skip a night.  So anyway, sorry about all that.  I'm back!

Fortunately, some fun and exciting things (as well as self-deprecating moments of wallowing in near existential crisis) have been happening in my absence.  Why don't we pick up where I left off - Wednesday.

Wednesday, if I recall, became quite cold by the lightless hours.  This only helped me appreciate more the lovely present awaiting me on the kitchen table when I returned home from work that night: my brand new, 3rd of the limited run, Audrey coat from Vaute Couture!  I don't know if I ever mentioned that I ordered it (back in August, which got me the coat at a 45% discount), but I have been anxiously awaiting it, especially as October drew to a close and I began to anticipate and experience the bone-chilling winds of November.

This picture actually shows the Hepburn coat (big difference, I know).  The huge difference between the two is probably about 6 inches.  While the Hepburn is more similar to the coat I replaced - a wool pea-coat that stopped just above my knees - the Audrey travels to mid-calf.  This will result in an increase of warmth I probably can't even fully recognize just yet.

I haven't worn my new coat out yet because it's been quite temperate since it arrived (go figure), but it has some serious lining, so I'm sure it will live up to the claims of being wind-proof.  This was one of the deciding factors - I think the coats are gorgeous, and it's almost a rite of passage for the underground diva in me to own a couture coat, but truly, I'm just tired of shivering through a wool coat in a Philadelphia winter.

I was supposed to attend a Dia de los Muertos party Wednesday night and I spent a decent bit of time preparing for it by daydreaming about the sugar skull make-up I wanted to try for it.  Unfortunately, I forgot I was old until after I'd made, eaten, and cleaned up dinner.  By then it was 10pm, it was cold, and I had grown just enough common sense to recognize that it was too late to safely ride the El to West Philly and back.  I think the only reason Mister did not expressly forbid me to go was that he isn't my father.

Because I am a nice person, to use the words of a new boss, I agreed to work the later shift at work last night so another colleague could work early and attend an event after work last night.  As such, there were no fun dinner stories, aside from Mister and I taking turns heating up leftovers.  We ended up sitting at the table together, though, and discussing Occupy Philly, theology, and race relations until almost midnight.  He drank coffee, I drank champagne, and together we put a small dent in the bag of Halloween candy my father gave me on my way to work.

Today, after sleeping past noon and taking our time waking up, Mister and I were happily ensconced in our Day Off Routine of drinking coffee and playing on the internet when there were two short buzzes from the "doorbell."  Ordinarily, we ignore the doorbell since it's right on the street and sometimes hoodlums walking down the street think it's funny to ring a doorbell as they walk past.  Today, though, I yelled to Mister (who was fully dressed already), "Hurry, it's my present!"

Mister jumped up and ran out the door - Philly mailmen don't leave packages and don't wait more than a few seconds before deciding you aren't there even though they know full well you probably have to unlock two locks, run down two flights of stairs to unlock two more locks and run down the small alley to the street...  Regardless, because my former athlete still has it, he returned a few moments later (albeit a bit winded), smiling and holding a perfect white box with my name on it.

I hope I'm not the only woman who buys herself presents.  Maybe I should start following my dad's lead and saying they're from Santa to me.

"Santa" sent me an early Christmas gift (because I'm a really good girl) - a shipment of e.l.f. cosmetics:

• a palette of 100 shades of eyeshadow
• 12 cosmetic brushes
• eyelid primer (just in case these colors don't have the pigment or staying power to match MAC)
• "porcelain" foundation
• a 4-shade "shimmer" palette
• two eyeliner pencils and a pen (Mister said I should save money and just use a Sharpie - he doesn't realize it costs less than a Sharpie)
• make-up remover wipes (we'll see how they stand up to my Neutrogena wipes)

That was all the provocation I needed to finally get in the shower and start my day - I couldn't wait to paint my face up with all that PETA-approved, cruelty-free makeup.

this is kinda what Heaven looks like to me

I hardly knew where to begin.  Look at all those gorgeous colors!  I watched a couple online makeup tutorials for color inspiration and got to work.  I started with some black, mainly to test the intensity of pigment I was working with and I was absolutely astonished at how dark it went on with only a little dab on my new brush.  Oh, that's another thing - I have been working with the same 3-4 shapes of MAC brushes for the last 10 years (and also, all the make-up I got today costed the same as one blush brush from MAC).  It amazed me what a difference some of these new brushes made.

In the end, I was feeling like a pretty, pretty princess, so I went with a violet-fuschia shade with carbon black in the crease and some silvery-white highlighting just beneath the eyebrows.  I had a bit more trouble than I anticipated filling in my eyebrows, which made me wish I had gone ahead and included the brow pencil in my order.  There's always next time.

You can believe there will be a "next time."  Probably a lot of them.  I'll be honest - I was not expecting the quality I've seen so far.  Do me a favor - head back up to that first shot of all the items I got.  You back?   Good - now, all that stuff?  It was $36.  Last time I went to MAC I spent a little more than twice that amount and came away with 2 eyeshadows, blush, lipstick and liner.  If I had replaced my blush brush like I needed to, I would have taken that total over $100, which is actually all too standard for me.

Totally worth it.  I can barely wait to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again.

You may be thinking, "Um, yeah, so this is great, but what about the food?"  Patience, dearies - here we go!

 

After discovering that it was quite cold and windy outside during our trip to Whole Foods, I couldn't think of a better way to warm our innards than with a big pot of slow-simmer stew.  Good thing the last item left of the menu was Vegetable Lentil Stew from Vegan on the Cheap!

It was every bit as savory as I remembered it and it went well with the rustic, sour Pain de Campagne from Whole Foods I served alongside. 

Wednesday night's dinner was fun and special, but this nonsense has gone on long enough, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow for that.  Let's look at what's coming up this week!

1. Pasta E Fagioli from Veganomicon, AKA My Favorite Pasta e Fagioli recipe so far.

2. Savoury Shepherd's Pie from How It All Vegan, AKA Mister's Favorite Winter Dinner.  It has been far too long since I've made this and Mister was mourning that there are no good vegan imitations of Pub Food when we were looking at a menu at an Irish Pub/Restaurant the other day.  Eventually, this will result in me trying to make a vegan version of Bangers and Mash, because that is what he truly wanted, but when I told him I put this on the menu, he was pretty darn excited.

3. Pasta Con Broccoli from Appetite for Reduction, because apparently I want to use all my cookbooks in this week's menu.  Also, because broccoli is awesome.

4. Moroccan Chickpeas and Zucchini, also from Appetite for Reduction.

5. Mediterranean Bowl from the Construct Your Own Bowl chapter of Appetite for Reduction.  As we know, I love bowls, so it was only a matter of time before I decided to try one of these.  Since they're so simple (not really a structured recipe), I have skipped these and the Sammiches/Wraps section, but we're gonna give it a go (and now you have Lady Marmalade stuck in your head.  You're welcome.).

6. Tanya's Asian Delight from The Garden of Vegan.  I feel sorry for this cookbook.  I never use it.  It looks brand new.  I just can't get into a lot of the recipes these two crazy Canadians come up with in it (really, WHY would you put diced pickles - AKA relish - in Sloppy Joes?  WHY???).  One thing that I find completely charming in that "not gonna serve it to anyone I want to impress" kind of way is how quirky and down-homey the names of most of their recipes are.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to YouTube - magical videos of makeup applications and Evanescence/P!nk are calling me.

sometimes, you need to squish

Angst does this thing we call "squishing."  It involves him poking, kneading, and otherwise massaging something soft and puffy until it seems comfy to him... at which point he usually walks away, abandoning all his hard work.  It's always fun to see him really working something, though, even if it boggles my mind that he doesn't do the obvious thing and lie down on the thing he just squished to oblivion.

He's got something, though - squishing is fun!  It feels neat and benignly destructive.  A human example might be something like a stress ball or the ghetto equivalent - an uninflated balloon filled with flour and tied off.... or tofu.

I wish I'd gotten a picture of my tofu-cotta tonight but my hands were a little bit covered in tofu to operate a camera.  Tonight's scrumptious meal was Baked Ziti from Vegan on the Cheap.

We actually have a few contributing factors for how this became the dinner of choice.  First, I got home from work a little bit earlier than usual (= more time), and Second, I have tomorrow off (= more time to stay up).  Third, and possibly most important - it was really darn cold by the time I tested how fast I could walk in my new boots.  Hey!  That reminds me - I never talked about my boots in the last post!

No time like the present...

Aren't they adorable?  I'm spending a bit too much time on my feet to continue wearing 3-4.5" heels, but I just cannot get into the flats trend.  It is my opinion that they spread out your feet and make the whole picture less attractive... or maybe I'm just not willing to pay $60 for shoes that don't have a heel and don't make my legs look longer or my stature taller.  I won't lie - high heels are a woman's Power Suit.

Anyway, I went to Macy's - twice, actually, and the first time almost made me swear off the store and did make me write a long and detailed (and unanswered) email to the company's customer service department.  Regardless of my growing disdain for the store, I had spotted a few pairs of boots when I was wandering around the shoe department unattended for 40 minutes the week before, so I figured I would give them one last chance.  I'm glad I did, because I ended up with these adorable, non-leather American Rag cowgirl boots that show the rockstar side of me without breaking my ankles or helping my outermost toes bind to one another.

By the way - when it's in the upper 50s with a strong "breeze" and I'm wearing nothing but an above-the-knee skirt, mid-calf boots, and a short-sleeved polo shirt, I can walk pretty fast in them.

So, now that that's out of the way - back to dinner.

I felt like the Baked Ziti needed a companion of the greenish nature, so when I was at Trader Joe's after work on Monday, I picked up a bag of broccoli and cauliflower.  I used about half the bag and steam-sauteed the veggies with some olive oil, garlic, my Tuscan herb mix from California, and some salt with just a few spritzes of water to keep everything steamy.  It came out sooooo well.

It tasted just like the baked ziti I remember my mom making (well, her's probably had melted mozzarella,  but beside that, it was pretty close) and it was actually pretty simple.  One of the reasons I made it tonight was because I thought it would be really time consuming, due to the need to cook the pasta and make the "ricotta," but it really did not take as long as I thought it would.  In fact, if I had been prepared (and didn't kind of want it to take a while), I probably could have made the whole thing, start to finish, in a little more than an hour.

That being said, this most likely would not be a dinner I would make after a particularly tiring day or on a normal work day in the middle of a normal work week, unless I had thought ahead and already boiled the pasta and prepared the tofu-cotta so all I had to do was combine everything.  The tofu-cotta was convincing enough that I am pretty sure you could feed this to a bunch of omnis and no one would know it wasn't "real" ricotta.

To be completely honest, though, here is the order of dinner's awesomeness:

2nd runner up - the baked ziti itself

1st runner up - the surprisingly tasty (and simple) side dish

Winner - squishing the tofu through my fingers until it was all coarsely crumbled.  That was really way more fun than I thought it would be and I probably enjoyed it a bit more than I should have.  Cheers!

sleep is for the week

No, that was not an unintentional spelling error, it was a very poor pun.  I am ridiculously exhausted and for no good reason, other than being in a more or less constant state of sleep deprivation.  So, on Friday nights while the rest of the world is gallivanting around my neighborhood, I am struggling to keep my eyes open and form coherent sentences.  As such, I find that where I used to stay out until the bars closed, I'm old and tired and ready for bed before midnight as my body, aware that we've reached the end of the standard work week, tries to make up for the hours and hours of "lost" sleep I didn't get this week.

It's super cold in Philadelphia, which is a stunning way to welcome Springtime - I think it is actually below freezing right now and the heat keeps kicking on.  I decided, as I was leaving work and walking through rather blustery conditions, that there was nothing special enough about today/tonight/the recent past or foreseeable future to warrant a walk through the cold, windy night for the privilege of paying $25 for tofu.

Instead, I made a pit stop at Superfresh for black beans and fries and cooked up some bean burgers.  The excitement never ends.  One of the things I truly enjoy about my husband, however, is the bizarre and thoughtful conversations we have after dinner. Tonight we talked about clonal trees and Methuselah, a tree thought to be 4,800 years old; the oldest living non-clonal tree.  Last night we discussed the Hadron Particle Collider and how the Earth nearly imploded in 2008.  Which, of course, led to the most romantic thing said all night:

If the whole world has to implode, I hope I implode with you.

I know.  We're kind of like Romeo and Juliet.  I'm just waiting for our movie to come out.

Anyway, I have absolutely nothing interesting to say about our burgers, so I'll skip right to the menu.  I wanted to do something a little different this week.  I've actually wanted to do this for a while.  I did not use a single existing cookbook to construct my new menu - each of these recipes comes from a blog I've been following for a while, in one capacity or another.  You can link to all the blogs on the left side of the page and as I prepare each recipe, I will link back to the blog from which it came.

1. Seitan and Broccoli with Pantry BBQ Sauce from the Post Punk Kitchen, Isa's blog.

2. Pasta with Peppers and Sausage
3. Red, Gold, Black and Green Chili
4. Sicilian Market Pasta, all three from SusanV at the Fat Free Kitchen blog.

5. Meatless Meatloaf from Mama Pea at Peas and Thank You.  Mama Pea will have her first cookbook published this summer and I couldn't be happier for her.  You should pre-order the book - I'm planning to pick my copy up the moment it's out.

6. Wheatberry "Paella" with Chickpeas and Leeks, also from thePPK.com.  I'm pretty sure Isa can't write a recipe that doesn't include chickpeas...just an observation.  A fun story - apparently, she was posting about the same time I was poking around my bookmarks looking for fun food, because I went back to the PPK about a half hour after deciding on #1 and found this freshly posted recipe.  I feel kinda special about that.

7. Seitan with Prunes, a test recipe for the forthcoming UV2.  I think all the other testers are a little afraid of this recipe.  I'm not saying that I'm going into this without a little trepidation, but I will be the first person to test this recipe, despite it being posted about two months ago.  I'll admit, I'm a little worried about how Mister will feel about savory-braised prunes sharing a skillet with his seitan, but I'm willing to risk a fail dinner for the sake of testing this "scary" recipe.  You can count on a great and detailed post that night!  Unfortunately, I won't be able to share the recipe, but I'm sure I'll plug once again for you to buy the book when it comes out.

With that thought, I'm going to give up on consciousness.

fortunate locations

Although there have definitely been some moments when me, the right place, and the right time have all come together, I assure you, it was probably a lucky accident.  I am generally late to the party, last to join the dance, getting there just a minute past the excitement.  Heavens, even the "coincidental" encounters I had with my husband before we were even dating were choreographed by his sisters/my best friends like a high schooler's attempt to write a sequel to "The Parent Trap."

Perhaps I need to be more trusting, but leaving things to chance just isn't how I roll.  I'm afraid I'll miss something (like the bus) and be left out in the cold (below freezing for days now) or at the very least, hungry (due to a broth drought).  Once in a while, all the little pieces come together and make me think that sometimes, I don't have to have everything pinned down.

Yesterday, I was clearing out my already-pretty-bare cupboard to make space for the pantry items I picked up at Superfresh.  Upon discovering the last few fortune cookies from our Chinese take-out dinner last week, I decided to eat them, and of course, read the fun fortunes.  I got some real winners:

"You will go on vacation soon."  Really?  And who is going to pay for that?

"Handsome is as handsome does."  Apparently, Forrest Gump is in the fortune-writing business these days...

"Stop searching forever, happiness is just next to you."  Finally, a good old-fashioned fortune.  I thought about going with the spirit of the fortune and saying something mushy to Mister, but when I realized where I was, I thought it was much more fun to take my fortune 100% literally.

I was standing just next to the coffeemaker.  Yes....happiness, with a tiny taste of bitterness to balance it all out.

As I was drinking my matcha and eating my breakfast this morning (an Ambrosia apple and a Cinnamon-Date Scone), I visited my favorite website to hate - weather.com - and discovered that the reason I didn't have ANY water, even for a shower, was because it was 7 degrees out.  I didn't even look to see what the "real feel" was.  When it's in the single digits, it starts to not matter.  Anyway, I timed things so I could catch a bus a few blocks north of my home that would take me, warmly, most of the way to the train station.  However, per my usual luck, the bus was not running on time.  I stood at the stop for a moment, then decided it was in my better interest to keep going and see if the bus caught up with me.  It didn't, but just as I thought my nose was going to freeze into a solid block of ice and fall right off my face, I reached an intersection at exactly the same time that a westbound bus was pulling up.  Talk about ending up in the right place at the right time!

So, aside from the train running late enough for me to miss the connecting bus and have to call my work to get a ride, it seems I've had a pretty fortunate 24 hours, doesn't it?  Well, there are no buses home at the time my evening train pulls in, and by the time I was cold enough to be willing to catch a cab, there were none.  I froze my way home, changed into my cozy yoga pants and hoodie, my heart set on making the Chickpea-Polenta Stew...only to discover that I utterly neglected to pick up polenta yesterday.

Fortunately, I have a loving husband who volunteered to run out and get it for me (probably because he didn't realize exactly how darn cold it is out there).  After a while, I started to worry and feel bad because it occurred to me that he had probably been gone so long because he didn't get to Essene before it closed and was now running all over our neighborhood looking for polenta or broth.  I sat in my warmer home and wished him home, which eventually worked.  There was no polenta, nor was there broth (I kind of knew that already), and not even Tofurky sausage...but there was a big bag of falafel and fries!

We are blessed to live so close to Maoz Vegetarian.  In the summer months, we frequently walk to the little storefront, stand in a line that can stretch out the door, just to get some falafel with fixin's and a cone of steak fries to enjoy on the South Street bridge for a little urban nighttime picnic.  In the winter, we're not huge on the take-out options unless it's the Chinese place that is literally 15 seconds from our front door.  I was glad it was there tonight though - it smelled so good and so warm.

So, no fun cooking stories tonight - Mister made dinner and it was fabulous.  Now I have to go take a shower since there probably won't be any water in the morning again and you can't stink in an office.

chili; it's not just for dinner anymore

I know we're not quite a full month into "official" winter, but I have to say something:  I am really getting tired of the bitter cold.  I can't remember a winter being this consistently painfully cold.  I am truly fearing February, especially since it seems to rain a lot, too.  Rain and cold are quite possibly the worst combination, aside from rain + cold + wind.  Yup.  That one's definitely the worst.

Anyway, the great thing about winter is that it snows!  I love snow and it never stops making me happy.  I love snow so much that I chose to walk home, a mile, through it last night.  I feel like I should make some smarmy comment about going up hills with no shoes on, too, but I'll stick with walking a mile in the falling snow.  By the time I got home, I was covered - my hat, my hair, my coat, even my purse - covered with "snowflakes that cling to my nose and eyelashes."  Yes, they did that, too, as well as stealthily flying up my nose.  I could have done without that.

I stopped for a couple of pictures because it just looked so beautiful.

freezing at the train station.
it always seems colder there.

 

walking home through Washington Square

After I shook off the coating of snow that had accumulated on me during my traipse through the city, I changed into my Cozy Clothes - yoga pants, slippers, and a hoodie.  The problem with changing into Cozy Clothes, though, is that frequently I lose my motivation to cook once I'm comfy and warm.

So last night, we heated up the Potato-Spinach Curry and basmati rice that had been hanging out in the fridge for one day short of Too Long.  Having given it time to let the flavors thoroughly meld, I have come to the conclusion that it needs a lot more salt, maybe 1.5 tsp, but we'll see what happens next time I make it - I think a little improv is in order.

Tonight, I returned to dear Isa for our dinner:  Classic Black Bean and Veggie Chili from Appetite for Reduction

this is what dried out limes with no juice look like:
fuzzy flowers, like lime asters

I don't know what went wrong with the lime, but I cut it open, massaged it a little, but when I tried to squeeze out the juice, I might possibly have gotten ten drops from then whole lime (both halves).  Instead, the insides just turned out and created a dry little fringe around the edge.  Despite my dismay that my lime was dried out, I thought it looked pretty neat, so I took a picture to share, in case you've never seen this before (I know I haven't!).

Mister and I agreed that there was too much broth.  Very, very good chili, but we both prefer it to be less soupy because according to Mister, if utensils are involved in chili at all, they must be forks.  But normally, we just use tortilla chips to help the chunky chili to our mouths.

It was a little hotter than I might like to make it in the future - I keep forgetting that Isa is one of those people who likes things spicier than me.  Next time, I'll use 33% less chili powder and 100% less broth.  I don't think it was necessary at all - the juice from the tomatoes should be sufficient.  It was a great way to defrost from tonight's walk home, though.  Since my Spicy Threshold is pretty low, despite years of training, when I eat food like this it really warms me up, making it a perfect meal to repeat often between now and the Great Thaw (aka late Springtime).

cabbage-chickpea cold-fighters

To my great delight, I woke up to a city full of snow this morning!  I'm really surprised by how much snow we've gotten.  I know it's January, but I really thought we used up all our snow last winter and it would just be bitterly cold this winter like the almanac said.  Well...okay, it IS bitterly cold, but I'm glad I'm rewarded for my frozen face and toes with some snow.

The cold tonight was downright painful.  By the time I was about a block from home, I couldn't even walk correctly because my feet had frozen into immobile little blocks of almost-ice.  Appropriately, on the ride home from teaching this evening, Frozen (Chill Mix) and Ice found their way into my iPod rotation.  Anyway, since I was too busy being cozy and enjoying the snow in the morning, I didn't get to go food shopping before work.  I figured I'd stop by at least Whole Foods on my way home from the train, but when I realized how much pain my face was in, I decided to go home and figure out dinner when I got there.  I tried to come up with an alternate plan as I was carefully side-stepping patches of ice on neglected sidewalks, but after a while I had to put all my energy into reminding my feet how to walk.

I knew I had some material to work with, but I was having trouble finding the motivation to be creative.  When Mister offered to go get me chickpeas, I couldn't say no.  He is becoming more like my dad every day (or maybe I'm just noticing it more).  I sent him out for chickpeas and told him if he found two very ripe bananas (normally, the produce where he was going is rotting anyway, so I thought there was a chance) I would make him cookies.  He returned with the chickpeas (this is where he differs from my dad*), a Mint Chocolate Luna Protein bar because he thought I'd enjoy it, Breyers Oreo Ice Cream, and some nuts to snack on.

I couldn't think of a more innard-warming dinner than the Chickpea Rice Soup with Cabbage Isa recently posted on theppk.com.  I know Mister doesn't really like soup for dinner, but...he got me the chickpeas, so he's got no one but himself to blame.  It was subtle, just like Isa says in her introduction.  There were no overwhelming flavors, nothing that jumped out at you.  The carrots and cabbage could have been a little crisper for my taste, but it is soup.  Beautiful, soothing, and cleansing soup.

* Bonus story!  Does everyone have their flashback hats on?  Okay, watch the screen:

I don't remember how old I was, but I know I was still in high school because I was living at home and so was my sister.  There was a shopping center a few miles from my parents' home that opened a Pepperidge Farm outlet and my father couldn't have been more excited about it.  He's a good hometown boy - loves his TastyKakes and Pepperidge Farm, has a Wawa credit card, and can give you a tour of just about any place in eastern Pennsylvania without batting an eyelash.  Anyway, Mom asked him to go to Pepperidge farm for a loaf of bread.  He returned about an hour later with 9 different cookies and exactly no bread.  It was from that day until the store closed its doors that my father was forbidden from entering unchaperoned.

lucky number 4

Do you have a lucky number?  Yes, I know that's kind of BS, but bear with me.  Although I know most things are purely chance, it does seem like 4 has done me well over the years.  It could be that I prefer the number 4 because everyone in my immediate family has a 4 in their birthday.  Mom's 4, I'm 14, Dad and Sis are 24 (of different months)...that's kind of cool, if you think about it - what are the chances?  Also, these four birthdays occur over the course of four months.

So, that's my excuse for favoring four.  Does anyone know Isa's?

One of the fun things about constructing a menu completely from one cookbook, or even from multiple cookbooks by the same author, is that you start to pick out patterns.  Now that I am....well...more than four meals into Appetite for Reduction, It seems like Isa's magic number for garlic is 4 cloves.

That was kind of a tangent that has nothing at all to do with dinner, but it was on my mind, so I thought I'd share.  Besides, it's better than the story of how Blogger wouldn't let me post anything last night, so now you get a two-fer.

Last night, I made Braised Cabbage with Seitan and finally, Jerk Asparagus.  It was fantastic.  It may or may not look like much, but it tasted heavenly.  Once again, even though I work for the #1 home-delivery weight loss program in the country, I was astounded that "diet food" could taste this downright decadent.  Granted, I probably violated the portion a little bit, but how can you really go wrong with cabbage?  Again, I was very pleased with the flavor and texture of the homemade seitan - it has the savory-spicy flavor of a Tofurky sausage and is nice and chewy.

Something I noticed while browning the seitan before adding the cabbage: since I just re-wrapped the seitan in the tin foil and stuck it in the fridge, it was quite thirsty and willing to rapidly soak up the broth I added to prevent it from sticking to my non-stick saute pan.  Perhaps next time I will experiment with a simmered seitan and store leftovers in leftover broth.  That will probably more closely mimic my dearly loved Ray's Seitan.

Because I used green cabbage and because I braised it in a relatively rich stock with a generous helping of thyme, the cabbage was surprisingly savory.  Normally, when I cook cabbage, it's red and retains some sweetness, regardless of the way I prepare it.  The flavors and textures of this dish complemented one another perfectly and it was a pretty easy dish to prepare, so I'm sure it will find its way into some kind of rotation.  The 15 minutes of braising on the stovetop gave me time to cook the Jerk Asparagus.

It was a different taste for me.  Ordinarily, I roast asparagus because ordinarily, I buy the thick stems.  These were not pencil-thin, but they only look so substantial in the picture because they are perched upon a 1940s bread and butter plate (did you know our dinner plates have increased in diameter by as many as 3 inches since the 1950s?).  The asparagus might have been a little cinnamon-heavy...I didn't add more than a dash, but it has such a pungent scent, I might do better in the future to either leave it out or counter it with a little more thyme.  It was good and Mister was thrilled, though.

Tonight, I made Ginger Bok Choy and Soba, which allowed me my treasured privilege of finding a rose at the bottom of one stalk:

I absolutely love how it does that, and the Evil Martha Stewart lurking within me will eventually collect a bunch of bok choy butts and spray-paint them gold for a centerpiece someday.

The finished product was not terribly attractive and upon first bite, not terribly exciting.  I added a little more tamari to mine and felt it was substantially improved.  Mister happily wolfed down two bowls before I was halfway through mine without additional seasoning, so it could be personal preference.  I don't enjoy ginger quite as much as Mister - I'm more of a tamari/umami kind of gal.

If I could end on a tangent, the gorgeous, slimy bowl of noodles you see above almost didn't make its way onto the table tonight.  I know you're going to get tired of reading this because I know my car-less butt is going to be complaining about it all winter, but here it goes:  It was SO COLD when I was walking home from the train tonight.  As I got closer to home, I tried to take my mind off the dreadfulness nipping at my nose by plotting dinner.  As I drew nearer to Superfresh (if I detour a block I'll pass it), it occurred to me that I did not want noodles for dinner, I wanted something hearty and innard-warming.  I thought of creating a casserole, but didn't want to invest the time.  Suddenly, I remembered one of my favorite, fast-cooking slow-food recipes (figure that one out) and nearly ran to SF for supplies for Chickpea Stew with Fried Polenta, but in the end, decided I had such good momentum going that I didn't want to screw it up by taking a detour...  I wonder, though, if I'll make it home without a pit stop tomorrow, because it's still on my brain!

chilly = chili

I could tell you how cold it is in Philadelphia, but you wouldn't believe me and you're probably tired of reading about it anyway. I'm way too tired to waste your time or mine, so I'll skip right to the solution:

Tonight, we dined on Chili and Polenta Casserole from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy.  I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've made this.  I did manage to escape injury this time around and though I don't have such an amazing memory that I can recall a dish last made in the first week of this year we're about to kiss goodbye, I am pretty sure it was very different from the first time I made it.  It sure looks different!

I haven't made it sans deviation yet.  This time around, I did not include any pepper - neither jalapeno nor red bell pepper colored this dish, to its detriment, I believe.  It was also very hot, which is certainly helpful on the coldest day of the season so far, but I wasn't expecting it and could have done with a nice glass of Riesling to chase it.  At the last minute before putting it in the oven, I was incredibly disappointed by the bland appearance of the polenta, and I knew nothing much would change during the brief bake, so I sprinkled some extra chili powder over them.  Finally, for reasons I may never know, Whole Foods was 100% out of Yves meatless ground and it's the only brand of soy crumbles my stomach tolerates.  I didn't have it in me to check Essene and it's been too cold last night and tonight to detour past Whole Foods on my way home.  Fortunately, I had two Tofurky Italian sausages left over from last night's rice and beans, so I used them instead.  They worked in a pinch, but I won't do it again [on purpose].

Mister was pretty darn happy with dinner - apparently the polenta was an acceptable substitute for the usually mandatory tortilla chips we didn't have.

Time for a bedtime snack and then I'm taking my exhausted self to bed!  We were kept awake past 2am last night thanks to our less-than-considerate downstairs neighbors, but that's another rant for a more energetic time.  Sweet dreams, sweethearts.

creature comforts

In case I've failed to mention it so far today, it is SO COLD in Philadelphia.  We're headed into our second major cold snap - as in, today was the warmest weather we'll see this week and after only five minutes outside my face was in pain from the cold.  Add to all the freezing-to-death the fact that another chaotic and stressful week has only just begun at work and I'm already exhausted and you can probably imagine I was in a "let's be comfy and eat ourselves into hibernation" mood tonight.

While I prepared our Cajun Rice and Beans from The Accidental Vegan, Mister and I discussed how ravenous we've both been lately and how it can only be attributed to our bodies' natural survival instincts trying to fatten us up for the winter.

Mister and I have some odd conversations, but him blowing my mind with existential philosophy while we ate water ice beside a small stream in Manayunk one Spring day was one of the things that won my heart to him.  The fact that he's the handsomest man I've had the pleasure to call mine doesn't hurt.

Anyway, after all the cold, you would think I would have made the thick, hearty potato chowder...and I almost did.  But then I remembered looking at the weather forecast this morning and seeing that the warmest it will be tomorrow is 27 degrees, I figured the soup dinner is probably better suited to tomorrow.  Besides, along with the bone-chilling cold I brought home from the train station, I couldn't shake my desire to make my favorite rice-n-beans recipe.

I used a yellow pepper instead of green and pink beans instead of red.  I did this because there were two green peppers at the store and one was gross and because I couldn't find small red beans.  A happy side effect was how different it looked from the last time I made it - I figure, if I'm going to repeat a dish this frequently, I should at least make an effort to have it look different.

To proceed with our eating-our-way-into-hibernation trend, I couldn't escape the desire for dessert.  Alas, there was no chocolate hiding in my cupboards and I finished the last Sweetzels a couple of weeks ago.  No sweet treats were anywhere...until I pulled my long-patient can of pumpkin puree from the cupboard and grabbed VCTOTW from my cookbook shelf.

I made the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cupcakes before and I neglected to add the cinnamon piping then as well.  Does it enhance their deliciousness?  Possibly - someday I'll find out.  Are they still amazing without it?  Absolutely!  I think it's time for another...

One final note, in case I forget by tomorrow night: when I had carefully scooped one cup of pumpkin out of the 15 oz can, there was still some squishy bright orange glop still in there (I'm sure you can imagine).  I want to have pumpkin oatmeal tomorrow, but I knew I would be super sad in the morning if I just stirred in the leftover pumpkin without enhancing it in some way...it doesn't taste like much on its own.  I transferred what was left from the can into a small tupperware container, then sprinkled on some cinnamon and probably about a heaping Tbsp of brown sugar, poured on a dash of vanilla extract and whisked it all together.  Hopefully, it will make for a fun, bright orange breakfast!

lentils: they do a body good

The past two nights, I have removed my block of organic spinach from the freezer, placed it on the counter, and opened Vegan on the Cheap to the recipe for Indian-Spiced Lentil Ragu.  Last night I decided I didn't have the patience to simmer both brown rice and lentils (separately, of course), so I made the chickpea dish (which came together with delightful speed).  Tonight, I was willing to do a long-simmering meal because I didn't want to be very actively involved in meal prep when I got home from another busy, exhausting, but pleasantly productive day.  I pulled the spinach out of its frosty bed, placed it on the counter as I opened the book...let's pause a moment.

I'm still working on my cookware collection.  Presently, it is only as big as a 10-piece bargain cookware set that is beginning to deteriorate and have fewer pieces.  I have two saucepans - 2.5-qt and 1-qt; a 3-qt saute pan, a 6-qt stockpot, and two round skillets.  There are a few other pieces, like my square skillet and double-burner griddle, as well as an uncooperative wok and a couple of heavy cast iron pieces, but that is my main cookware.  I use my 1-qt saucepan as my designated Oatmeal Pot during the colder months and I'm not in the habit of washing dishes in the morning before work.  This means that the remnants of oatmeal have all day to form a bond with my nonstick pot.

Back to the story: My plan was to cook the rice in my 2.5-qt saucepan and boil the lentils in my 1-qt...oh...yes, the one covered in crusty purple oatmeal slime.  Right.  So, it's back into the freezer for the spinach and back to the menu for me.  It didn't take me long at all to change course and make a deliciously chunky, hearty Lentil Stew with Vegetables.

My belly is warm and full of sloshy stew.  The vegetables really came out well, too - yukon gold potatoes, carrots, a parsnip, and a Belgian endive to replace the small head of cabbage I couldn't find.  About halfway through I became worried it would be too brothy, but it was exceptionally thick and chunky.  The spice mixture was also one to be reckoned with: thyme, fennel seeds I crushed with some mortar-n-pestle action, Spanish paprika, and ground savory (which is another one of those ingredients I've been resisting until now when I realized how many recipes I've skipped because of my savory-poverty).  

To be totally honest... if the ingredients were to magically reappear in my crisper & cupboard between now and tomorrow night, I would make it again.  In case you haven't seen the lovely depictions of Colder-Than-Death the weather maps have shown spreading over the entire east coast, let me tell you - it is really freakin' cold right now.  Tomorrow's high temperature is 35.  That means the return from work becomes more bone-chilling every night.  I can't believe I'm actually looking forward to it going all the way up to 44ish on Friday.  Fortunately, I have some innard-warming lentil stew to fill my belly.

the spark is gone

I have had an on and off love affair for years...pretty much the entire time I've known Mister, to be honest.  He was the one who introduced us, even.  But I have to admit, the romance is going in the "off" direction again... I am losing interest in Yogi Detox Tea.

My basic strategy for handling illness is to try to force it out with foul-smelling, strong-tasting tea, while nurturing my little inner warriors (aka Antibodies) with particularly nutritious food.  As you've probably noticed if you've been reading for, well, let's say a month or more, I generally stuff Good-For-Me things down my gullet, but when I get sick (or perceive a threat of becoming so), I up the ante a little.  Anyway, I have relied on Yogi Detox Tea for nearly a decade - it's meant to detox the liver, but I swear it speeds up my recovery time when I get sick, possibly because a detoxed, clean liver allows for quicker clean-up?

The two things that alternately make me love and despise my detox tea are the taste and the hang-tags.  The ingredients are impressive and might give a little bit of insight into the bizarre flavor of this tea:  indian sarsaparilla root, cinnamon bark, ginger root, licorice root, burdock root, dandelion root, cardamom seed, clove bud, black pepper, long pepper berry, chinese amur cork tree bark, japanese honeysuckle flower, forsythia fruit, gardenia flower, skullcap leaf, chinese goldenthread root, rhubarb root, wax gourd, and juniper berry extract.  mmmm....tasty.  However, once you drink it frequently enough, you get used to the flavor and it does actually taste....well, palatable, as opposed to OMG-drink-it-fast-so-you-don't-taste-it.

And then there's the transcendental, inspirational, feel-good hang-tags.  I've been presenting them as little moments of zen because the first few were really pretty and did actually make me feel good, despite feeling so bad.  Then they started getting super-fruity, and will probably continue to, since we're on that downward trend.

Tonight's moment of zen?

Wow.  Really?  Thanks for letting me know, Yogi.  I've also gotten such gems as "Be your own best friend" and some other ridiculous piece of fortune cookie wisdom.  We had such a good thing going for a while... I guess all good things must eventually end.  Unlike the truth, which is everlasting.

I'm tired of being sick.  Yesterday was awful and I went to bed way before I usually do, fell asleep immediately, slept for nearly 10 hours and still needed my second alarm to get me out of bed this morning.  However, once I got going, I felt fine!  I coughed all day, but I only sneezed a few times and was sniffly once.  Then I waited 30 minutes for the train in 30-something degree weather (it was only supposed to be a 10 minute wait) and walked home through the same temperature.  I couldn't even feel my legs by the time I got home and my feet had frozen and were very angry with me.  Now?  I've been sneezing in patterns of four to ten sneezes in a row and blowing my nose left and right.  I really hope for the same miraculous recovery overnight because I really don't like this and I want to break it off with the Yogi before he leaves me (aka, tea runs out).

So, here's your real moment of zen:

nothing says "zen" like a peacefully sleeping kitty

slurping my dinner (and savoring dessert)

It is finally cold enough for Mister, with all his hot Greek blood, to put on a sweater.  That means it is undeniably soup weather.  Normally, when I get home from work and start preparing dinner, I let Mister help me choose from our list.  Tonight, however, I arrived home after a walk that was quite brisk in both senses of the word, and all I could envision on our table was the Tomato Chickpea Soup with Tiny Pasta and Fresh Herbs from Vegan Express.

Tell me that doesn't look hearty and heart-warming.  I was so relieved when everything came together to create a chunky, meal-like soup that I almost didn't complete dinner.  I considered it, but in the end, I did make a second attempt at making grilled cheeses with Rice Vegan and trying to force it to get gooey, while not burning the sandwich.  I only accomplished the latter, so I think that for my next trick, I'll see what Vegan Gourmet has to offer.  Essene and Whole Foods stock it in multiple flavors and it's not all that much more expensive than the Rice Vegan slices were.

One thing I'd forgotten about Nava - her other pet ingredient (the one that isn't sun-dried tomatoes) is dill.  Something I try to forget, in the hopes it will magically change one day while I'm not paying attention, is that I don't really like dill.  It smells awful and smell is a big part of taste for me.  Since part of the title includes the words "fresh herbs," I did chop up some basil and parsley, but I didn't want to buy fresh dill because I knew I didn't like it much so it would probably be a waste of money. I'm starting to wonder, though, if I might like dill more if it wasn't rotting in a plastic "jar" on my spice rack.  Maybe next time I make this soup, I'll find out.

I had just the littlest dessert, but savored every tiny bite:

A while ago, Chocolate Covered Katie did a little vegan chocolate round-up and I've been working my way through her picks.  I was thrilled with the Endangered Species chocolate Mister bought me one random Monday.  I was pretty darn satisfied by the Vivani that last took up residence in my cupboard.  I've been nibbling at the bite-sized pieces of Lake Champlain chocolate they put out for me at the register of Whole Foods, but let me tell you now - Theo is amazing and giving Endangered Species such a run for its money that I've nearly forgotten how the Vivani tastes already!

I might need to do a chocolate round-up of my own in November!  Thoughts?  Requests?  Suggestions?

a sweater in august?

It is presently 66 degrees in Philadelphia.  That is a mere three degrees short of tomorrow's anticipated high.  Now, this happens every year - the minute the temperature falls below 70, everyone I freak out and put on a sweater.  Then I laugh at myself because the minute it hits the mid-60s in the spring, everyone is peeling off their clothes.  It's amazing how the context can change our perceptions of heat and cold.  After weeks and weeks of 90-degree days, the 60s are an unexpected and not entirely welcome change.  After all, it is August still.

Along those same lines, last night I started to make Cousin Natasha's Bean and Rice Salad from How It All Vegan.  As I gathered everything together, I realized that I just couldn't tolerate the idea of a cold dinner, so I converted it to "Cousin" Natalie's Bean and Rice Skillet.

It was fun, if not a little vinegary, though that probably works much better in the cooler context.  My avocado was pretty angry with me by the time I diced him, considering he was already ripe when I got him and in order to firm up the flesh, I put him in the fridge for a couple of days, and then the freezer for a few minutes before I cut him up.

I don't think I've composed that good of a run-on sentence since high school.

Anyway, it's a fun mixture of peppers, beans, avocado, and rice.  If I made it again as a skillet dinner, I would change the "vinaigrette" into a more savory simmer.

It was a heck of a Monday and the rain didn't help anyone's mood.  There's something in the artistry of slicing cabbage that will almost always center and soothe me, so I made Braised Sweet and Sour Cabbage with Kidney Beans from Vegan Italiano.  I also made it because it was the only thing left to make.

It's very pretty in a bizarre, beet-like way, don't you think?  Despite the vivid coloring of the dish, it was disappointingly unremarkable when it came to taste.  It had the crunch of cabbage, but despite being braised in a mixture of savory broth and a sugared vinegar, it tasted like I had braised all the flavor out of it.  I thought this was a weird entree, so I wanted to try it to see what would happen...but I won't be trying to tweak it.  Once was enough for me.

When I was picking up my fruit at Whole Foods, I saw this little carton of adorable yellow pear tomatoes and picked up a pack.  I've never had them before, so I wanted to bring them home and make them into something.  That something involved halving them lengthwise, then arranging them cut-side-up in a pie plate.  I then sprayed them with olive oil and sprinkled liberally with salt, pepper, and basil, before spraying them again.  I roasted them for about 7 minutes at 400, which might have been either too long or too hot.  They were good, but barely held together.

I don't know what will happen for tomorrow's dinner... stay tuned!