it's time for soup and sweetzels!

Happy October!  Yes, it's still exciting, especially since last night (after clearing some room in our bellies after our Blackbird feast) I welcomed Autumn the best way this Philly gal knows how:

Nothing says "Welcome to October" like that first glorious display of these familiar orange and brown-black boxes of locally made ginger snaps.  Sweetzels are as much a Philly tradition as pretzels and cheesesteaks, but fortunately, they are vegan without any tweaking.  Served on a pretty plate along with a nice hot cup of decaf hazelnut coffee, they walked me down a path of memories scattered here and there like the leaves which will soon crunch beneath people's feet.  I remember when I was a child, how excited my father got this time of year - it was time to break out the Sweetzels and the apple cider (and apple cider donuts if we were really lucky), maybe pay a visit to Highland Orchards and take a hayride before filling our arms with apple butter and donuts (maybe a few caramel or candied apples for good measure).  It also signified that there were only a couple of months until my father's other favorite seasonal treat - egg nog.  It took me years to realize how gross that stuff is, but it still invokes nostalgia if I smell it and I just might take a chance on Silk's "egg" nog this December.

Yesterday was a beautiful autumn day, growing crisp as the sun began to fade beyond the far silhouette of the treeline as we left Lancaster county and re-entered our familiar city limits.  Today was just miserable, cold, and rainy: the perfect day to stay curled up in bed, emerging closer to noon than sunrise (if, indeed, you could find the sun) to drink cup after cup of coffee while eating toast or waffles or fruited oatmeal.

I went to work.

After a brisk walk through the mist upon returning home, repeating a mantra-prayer that went something like this "please don't rain 'til I'm home, please don't rain 'til I'm home" repeat ad infinitum.  It appeared to work, because I was only a little misty when I got home, rather than wet and sad.  Either way, I was chilled and wanted one thing only.

Tonight's dinner was White Bean-Tarragon Soup from The 30 Minute Vegan which I served with surprisingly tasty grilled cheeses made with cheddar Rice Vegan on Whole Foods brand multi-grain bread.  Hopefully, my mother will read this at some point, look at that picture and laugh at me because I burnt the sandwich.  I was such a pain when I was younger - I think I gave her anxiety problems just from my grilled cheese requirements, chief of which was don't burn the sandwich.

In any case, I was impressed with how flavorful the cheese was.  It didn't melt as in "get all gooey," but it did bind the two pieces of bread together, so it must have done something.  I don't think you can tell a difference between this "cheese" and regular cheese in a burnt-ish grilled sandwich, which is fine by me and Mister didn't appear to mind.  I could justify adding this to my fridge-pantry list, though I would like to try some of the other brands out there now that we have so many choices....here in the city...not in Lancaster.

Enough Lancaster-bashing (for now), let me tell you about my soup!  The broth was extremely flavorful and there was a definite Asian influence, probably owed to the minced ginger and tamari.  The soup was actually far chunkier than I thought it would be, which I believe was its saving grace with Mister.  Half the ingredients are herbs or spices and the other half are celery.  Okay, maybe not, but it sure seemed like the celery was almost as prevalent as the beans!  The grilled cheese didn't necessarily go, cuisine-wise, with the ethnic-inspired soup, but grilled cheese and soup go together like Angst and his blanket.

1 curry, 2 curry, old curry, new curry!

In her witty introduction to the curry I made last night from VwaV, Isa makes the bold statement that she pretty much lives off of curry. In the same way that I could be perfectly happy to eat soup/stew for every autumn and winter dinner, I think Mister would be in paradise if he could just eat three things:
1. pizza
2. coffee
3. curry

Every time he smells the sauteing spices that start each curry recipe, I can feel his heart soaring all the way from the kitchen. By the time he finds words, they usually sound like this:

"Oooh, that smells goooooood." And then we play the "is it done yet" game.

This week was really a Total Grocery Fail. I was so proud of myself for "finishing" my grocery shopping on Wednesday night until tonight, when I realized I was lacking one crucial ingredient from each of the three recipes left on my menu.

1. Red Lentil Coconut Curry - missing cauliflower
2. Jerk Seitan - missing lime (and I figure it's important since there are 3 Tbsp of lime juice in the recipe)
3. Chickpea Broccoli Casserole - missing....broccoli. I'm a dumbass.

So I used my rainy 45-minute drive home to brainstorm a plan of action. It came down to how easily and where I found parking. If I ended up near Essene, I would stop in for all three of my missing ingredients (or at least one). Well, I didn't, and I actually forgot about my lofty goals by the time I found parking. Fortunately, I had come up with an alternate brainstorm.

I almost completely improvised and said "forget this menu...it's caused me nothing but heartbreak!" Then I settled down and started chopping my carrots for the Red Lentil Coconut Curry while the rice cooked. By the way - just a few shakes of turmeric in the water turned the rice a gorgeous shade of sunshine-in-a-bowl:
How happy is that? Seriously? This meal ended up being very photogenic.

Anyway, I decided the cauliflower wasn't that important, so I substituted about 1/2 cup of frozen edamame and then I diced one Gala apple. I absolutely love fruit showing up in strange places. It turned out really well, and the taste of the apple blended with the rest of the vegetables better than I thought it would. Also, the original recipe calls for 1/2 tsp of honey, but when I was at Whole Foods on Wednesday night, I got me some Agave Nectar, so I used that instead.

you want it - admit it.

All food should be this pretty.

Despite all of my posts being about what fascinating, colorful, and scrumptious things Mister and I had for dinner, I think my favorite meal of the day is actually breakfast. I think that's because my cold-weather breakfasts are just so darn tasty! I am having a ton of fun finding new ways to cook my oatmeal. Admittedly, I have to figure out what breakfast adventure I want to have the night before, since I can't function in the morning, much less think.

A few days ago I cooked the oatmeal in unsweetened soymilk, then crushed two Sweetzel's Spiced Wafers into it and mixed it up thoroughly. That was awesome. I actually have yet to make my "standard" oatmeal - cooked in a half & half mixture of apple juice and water with a good sprinkling of cinnamon. Here's what I've done so far:

1. Soymilk & dried cranberries
2. Soymilk & maple syrup
3. Water/Soymilk & Chocolate Caramel truffles

4. Water & maple syrup
5. Pineapple juice & coconut
6. Soymilk & spiced wafers
7. Water & peanut butter
8. Water & Dark Chocolate Dreams

Number Nine happens tomorrow; when I was at WF, I was inspired to pick up a bag of frozen mixed berries, and I have a fantasy where I drop about 1/2 a cup of them into my little oatmeal pot in the morning with just a touch of agave nectar and let them sizzle until they get a little juicy and goopy. Then I stir in my 1/2 cup of oats and let them soak up some of the sweet before slowly pouring my 3/4 cup of soymilk in and letting everything simmer gently for a few moments while I pour my coffee. Mmm...doesn't that sound like a tasty breakfast?

I'm also considering spending a little time this weekend making myself a "just add soymilk" pancake mix, because I have seen too many pictures of absolutely luscious looking pancakes, and I think the berries would also make a delightful little compote to spoon over the pancakes. I just happen to have a copy of Vegan Brunch that is chock-full of such recipes...

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!