still cooking

Awhile back I made the lentil balls from the Vegan Lunchbox and thought that my Honey would love them (he was traveling). The kids were not that thrilled about them and I thought it was the brown lentils so this time I tried it w/ red lentils. I cut down on the cooking time but, they ended up being a bit too mushy and well, just plain not as good as the original ones.

I made some more "beefy" seitan from La Dolce Vegan and covered them in some homemade bbq and baked them. Really good flavor but, the seitan didn't firm up enough for Honey who suggested a light fry after baking would have made this over the top good!
Sweet potato curry. One of Emma's favorites.
Ginger hoisin noodles from the Everyday Vegan. I double the recipe for the sauce and marinated the tofu in it- then lightly fried it up. I used udon noodles instead of rice, which was okay but, would have been better w/ rice noodles I think. Emma LOVED these noodles. Very kid friendly.
From the Real Food Daily- I made the basic seitan in the morning (4 lbs worth!) then marinated it using the Salisbury seitan recipe then smothered it w/ some Golden Gravy(all from the same book). The kids I must say had to be coaxed to eat this one. I thought it was good. I think it was the texture of this seitan more then the flavors the kids didn't like. Everybody in our house prefers the Vegan w/ a Vengeance seitan.. So now what do I do with the other two pounds of seitan? Along side I made Granny's hurry-up dinner rolls. Which were okay.
Roasted pepper Cannellini bean Sauce from Vive le Vegan. Honey liked it - The kids and I -not so much. I added some red pepper flakes to mine.
So, I saw Bazu's post w/ her walk the other day I thought I would share w/ you what our walk looks like.. I am 5'11 and the wall of snow is about eye level. It has been one heck of a crazy year here. We are working our way to braking the snowiest year on record here in Juneau. So far this is the fourth snowiest year w/ about 177 inches the record is 194 inches. The weather forecast calls for yet another storm headed our way and snow likely all week... uuuggghhhh! Yes, I know I live in Alaska but, we live in the rain forest not way up north.

Well, truth be told I don't fair well in hot weather - but, right now I am dreaming of a warm sandy beach and a cool drink something w/ an umbrella in it!

Snow ball fight anyone?

Busy week = Vegan Fast Food

Wow, a whole week has just zoomed by. DH had to leave again on business and that makes life a bit hectic around here. Before he left, our little social butterfly Emma had orchestrated a family date. We went to a noodle place kinda like a Mongolian barbeque kind of thing. You fill your bowel w/ veggies, noodles and a sauce and they fry it up. All of the sauces that are vegan are clearly labeled. So, I couldn't decide on which picture to post .. The one w/ o the flash or the one w/ the flash.. This is the Gee Whiz Spread from the Uncheese cookbook on the noodles w/ green beans. The kids ate it, but I think they would prefer the my normal cheese sauce on their noodles. I was intrigued by this one because it uses white beans for the base..And I had just pressure cooked a boat load of beans (white, chick and black). Besides I am always on the hunt for the next family favorite. This sadly wasn't it though.
A meal on the run, the kids and I got home after school and running around w/ just enough time to make a quickie sandwich and steamed asparagus before we had to leave again for a preschool meeting. I had bought a tofu cutlet- blahh very bland. But, affordable and quick. The real selling point was the new bread from Costco.. The kids just loved it! I was pretty surprised they both don't like to eat crust but, LOVED this crust.
From the Vegan Vittles cookbook the Cheddary Cheeze Soup. Well, sort of my modifications include using two cups white beans instead of silken tofu, sweet potato rather then a white, veggie broth instead of water and added some of the left over cauliflower from the other day.. Yum, I Love this soup! The kids - ehh,, I can't say they love it, but they will eat it. They did love the bread sticks though.
One very dolled up Annies cheesless pizza.. I added oodles of zucchini, red peppers, mushrooms, red onions, and veganrella. From The Everyday Vegan some Soul-full Chili. We had my daughter Amber and her boyfriend for dinner that night and need to make something that wasn't going to our weird vegan food. I.e. no tofu, seitan and what not. This chili got mixed reviews though, a bit to tomato-y for some. It did age well, the leftovers were great.
To go w/ the chili I made corn bread using the country corn muffin recipe from How It All Vegan. Only I cooked it in my cast iron skillet.

whew!
I see a lot animals on other vegan blogs out there. Now, let me introduce you to our dogs.. Emma is on the girl dog her name is Tani. A great big love bug! They were trying to ride her. One would throw a snowball to get Tani to jump up and chase. Nobody got a ride though, it was more like being thrown from a bucking bronco.

Here is the boy dog Timber.

They are Black Russian Terriers my honey got them from a very good friend and colleague from Russia. They are very good family dogs, Timber however is a guard dog and will bite when a stranger approaches the door. Once inside he will be your best bud, and leaving generally isn't a problem either. It is just getting guest into the house that's the problem. He is a very sweet boy though once he gets to know you. They have quirky personalities and are very smart and playful.
Traditionally their breeds hair looks like this.. They don't shed, their hair just grows and grows. Ours are outside dogs and living in Alaska we don't want them to get a chill during the winter.