The Vegan Oxymoron

Again, because the fresh veggie market in Florida slows down for the summer, we don't have as interesting meals as we used to. Being an amateur, at home cook, the one thing I really enjoy about starting a vegan, plant based, whole foods diet (besides taking care of my health!): finding and trying new recipes! So I have dug up some older pictures from sometime during the spring when the veggies were flowing.

But first, the vegan oxymoron: Can you have vegan animal cookies?

I found some really awesome woodland creature cookie cutters at Ikea one day and I just had to make cookies. I used this vegan sugar cookie recipe. They weren't the best cookies I have ever had, but they worked and they are vegan!

Beets did really well in our garden (as well as the local farms). Coming up with good recipes for beets is hard for someone who really isn't a big beet fan (Mike on the other hand loves beets!). This doesn't look very appetizing:

But it was quite tasty and very simple. It's a roasted beet salad. The vinaigrette that I made to go with the salad had chopped fresh green onions. Highly recommended if you are testing you beet palate.

This was a made up recipe (Green Lentils with Rainbow Carrots and Collards):

Once you get the hang of it, coming up with your own vegan meals can be very easy. This recipe consists of green lentils, rainbow carrots, and collard greens. As the green lentils cook (according to the packet or these directions), saute the sliced carrots and sliced collard greens in a little olive oil until both are tender (you will need to start the carrots first, depending on how big your slices are, and then add the sliced collards). As for seasonings, you can add what you like. I added ground sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and a little ground nutmeg (I like collards with nutmeg for some reason). Just mix together when everything is fully cooked. It wasn't too bad :)


I forgot why I was alone one night, but Mike was out doing something, so I wandered out to the garden and pulled one turnip and two beets for my dinner that night:

On top are the simple glazed turnips. No matter how I cook turnips, I really don't like them. Mike loves them, so I keep trying to like them for him. The recipe sounded good, and if you like turnips then you may enjoy it. As for the beets, I modified this beet casserole recipe. I didn't have fresh ginger, so I used ground. And instead of grated onion, I used onion flakes (since I had no other onion in the house). I do really enjoy this recipe. It has graced our table plenty of times since. 


And last for today, something spectacular:

Homemade rosemary bread! You can make this vegan by using a vegan butter in place of real butter, it still turns out the same. This is sooooooo good! If you are thinking about making your own bread, but think it's too hard, try this recipe. It is very, very simple and a great starter recipe. 


Until next time, please enjoy this photo of Pineapple trying to figure out who is in the mirror:

Beans, beans, they're good for you heart!

If you are thinking about switching, or trying, a whole foods, plant based vegan diet, one thing you might consider is how you will get your protein. All vegetables and fruits have some protein content (it's science: all living things are made of cells and all cells contain protein) and you can fulfill you daily requirements by eating a plant based diet. As I mentioned before, local produce is scarce in Florida during the summer. Mike and I rely more on dried (see side note about canned) legumes/rice for meals, than fresh vegetables. If you can, I recommend you buy from the bulk bins: you can buy only what you need, it's cheaper (when you compare versus pre-packaged), and, if your lucky, you can  find organic selections. I buy all my dried items from bulk bins at Whole Foods; it ends up being much cheaper than the organic packaged counterparts. Right now I have a supply of brown rice, black beans, pinto beans, great white northern beans, red lentils, green split peas, and quinoa (all organic).

*Side note: We avoid canned goods at all costs (and we use glass containers for storing food that will need to be re-heated) because of the BPA risks. Especially now since *spoiler alert* Mike and I will be trying to conceive come August!

Working with dried beans may seem like a big task. The main issue in working with dried is that you can't decide at 6pm that you want beans at 6:30pm. Planning is necessary, but not more than 24 hours of planning! I use two methods for incorporating beans/legumes into my meals.

Method 1 (same day method): If you decide you want black beans and rice tonight, you can still make it as long as you have about 2-3 hours. You can call this a "quick soak method". Fill a pot with the amount of beans you need for the recipe. Cover beans with 3 inches of water. Bring to boil, uncovered. Once they have reached a boil, cover and reduce to simmer. Allow beans to simmer for about 60 minutes. At that time check to see how soft they have become (they won't feel like they have been cooked, but won't be super hard). If they are still very hard (which may happen with larger beans), allow to simmer for about 30-60 minutes more. If they are beginning to soften, turn off the heat, leaving the pot on the burner, and let the beans stand in the water until you need them in the evening for the recipe (you can even do this in the morning and let them sit all day). You will still need to cook the beans (at least 30-40 minutes) to get them to soften all the way. For this method, I will some times add a little flavoring to the soak water: veggie stock, bay leaves, salt, etc.

Method 2 (the most awesome method): This is the plan ahead method which I use more for the days I am working. The night before, I decide what beans I want to use and allow them to soak in water overnight. I also prep all my other necessary ingredients the night before (i.e.: chop any onions, set out the spices). In the morning before I leave for work, I drain the beans, add them to my crock pot with the other ingredients called for by the bean recipe. Then just flip the crock pot to low and, when you get home at night (yes the house will smell like beans), you will have perfectly cooked beans that can be added to any recipe. Most recipes for beans in the crock pot call for about 8 hours of time, but if you leave if for more it is fine. For example, I start mine at 7:15am in the morning and I won't be home until 6:30pm and everything is fine.

Here are two of my favorite bean recipes for the crock pot:
Black Beans - for this one, I like to add chopped jalapeno
Pinto Beans - for this one I used banana pepper instead of green pepper because that's what I had

I am still looking for some good crock pot recipes for lentils and split peas; I will let you know when I find some good ones!

Alright, this has probably been too much talking for you. Here is a picture:

Not the prettiest picture, but it's stuffed green peppers. I sort of made the recipe up. Cooked rice and great white northern beans make up the filling and it is all topped with a homemade tomato sauce. A very filling vegan meal.

And another picture:

Look at those cute little carrots! These pre-roasted carrots came from our garden and Magnolia Organics from sometime back in May. They are simply roasted at 425 degrees after being sprinkled with a little salt. We paired them with a vegan okra gumbo (make completely from local, organic veggies from Magnolia):

I never thought I would like okra, but I was forced to find recipes for it when they appeared in our harvest boxes. Okra really is not that bad. Unfortunately, I cannot find the recipe I used for the okra gumbo.

That's all I got for today! Until next time, enjoy another picture of my babies:

Sad News

This is sort of old news, but Magnolia Organics is no more :(
It took a while for it to sink in. It really hit me when I went to pick up my last harvest box about 3 weeks ago. Tears started creeping into my eyes as I drove down the sand/dirt road from the farm back to the main road. It was very bittersweet (and I had just discovered a awesome local bagel shop near the farm!). Not only is our local veggie supply cut off for the summer, but now for good! Mike and I had visited a CSA named Sweetwater Organic Farm once before we discovered Magnolia, but decided not to join because Magnolia was better deal (and closer). Well guess who now has a full membership for this coming fall? So we will still be able to get local produce in the fall but in a slightly different manner (if you are curious as to what a CSA is, click on the link for Sweetwater above).

..........................

It has been the year for new electronics (Mike gifted me a nook color for my birthday back in August, I purchased an iPhone 4s back in November, and Mike bought me a new Sony Vaio laptop for our 1 year wedding anniversary last week). One thing I finally got around to doing was uploading some pictures from my iPhone. When our turnips were doing really good back in January, we needed to pick some to make room for more to grow. Happy Mike with his harvest:

If you look in his left hand you can see a radish. Our radish had legs!!!

I don't remember what we made from these, but all I remember was that by the time turnip season was done, I was pretty sick of turnips. I hope next year I can find some recipes that make me love and crave turnips (if you know of any, let me know!!!).

Jump forward to Memorial Day,  classic grilling holiday, the unofficial start to summer. Of course we don't eat meat, but we can still use a grill!

The ultimate grilled vegan meal! We grilled up some zucchini and yellow squash from Magnolia and organic corn from another local farm (I forgot the farm name, but we purchased it at the local Whole Foods). There was still some dough left from when we made naan, so we decided to grill it as well.

Ta da! Doesn't that look heavenly? My mouth is watering looking at this while I write. Here is the recipe for the naan/flat-bread. It is a general, all purpose, no knead recipe. Every Sunday Mike and I whip up a batch. We used half of it to make a simple loaf of white bread. The remaining dough is divided and packaged for the fridge to be pulled out during the week as we need it to make flat-breads, naan, etc. It is really an excellent recipe.

Finally, today. The only local, organic produce I can find at Whole Foods is yellow squash and zucchini (the potatoes in this recipe were a guilty splurge), so I modified this recipe for Herbed Summer Squash and Potato Torte, I didn't use cheese (for obvious reasons) and used fresh rosemary in place of thyme because that is what I had. As for the the green onions, I had frozen some from the last big harvest I received from Magnolia Organics. 

You really won't miss the cheese in the recipe. But without the cheese, it turns into more of a bake than a torte that holds together when you try and lift it from the pan. It would be a nice side dish for some steamed greens.

Until next time, please enjoy this photo of my baby Pineapple with her Christmas gift from one of my brothers, Christopher:

A little harvest

I had the pleasure of traveling the 25 miles to Magnolia Organics this morning to pick up our weekly harvest box, but I found out a sad truth: next week is going to be the last week of the harvest boxes for the season. Just as Ohio's (and most of the north) farmers markets are starting up, ours in Florida are closing down. Because of the increased heat and moisture, pests become a problem for organic/sustainable farmers in Florida. The head farmer at Magnolia was telling me the herbal oils they use for pest control will burn the plants in the hot, summer, Florida sun. Even though we will have to wait until September, I am grateful for all the wonderful food Magnolia has provided us with.

Speaking of harvests, this photo was taken after we returned home from our vacation back in January:

Okay....I don't know why the photo is sideways...its normal on my computer...anyway, what we have here are some jalapenos, a green pepper, some oranges, some radishes, and some turnips. I was excited to see everything had survived while we were gone for 3 weeks! I don't remember what I made with all this, but I am sure it was good :)

Now something delicious:

This is a vegan vanilla cake with vegan cashew frosting. Who says vegans can't have sweet treats!! This was really good and a great way to introduce people to vegan baking. The frosting has a slightly different texture than store bought stuff, but it tastes the same (not like cashews!). The cake is good for a day you want a sweet treat, but don't have eggs or milk (you don't have to say it's vegan!).

That's all I have for today :( 
Until next time, enjoy this photo of Pineapple with her cone....so sad!

Holiday

Looks like a holiday weekend brings out the blogger in me. Work has been great but tomorrow I start back on my dreaded 2-a-days. That means for the next four weeks (excluding today) on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday I teach from 9 am to 1pm and then again from 6:30pm to 10:30pm. One day of it is not so bad, it's the Monday/Tuesday back-to-back combo. I arrive home around 11pm on Monday only to turn around and wake up an 6am Tuesday (not my typical 7-8 hours of sleep, so I am little cranky....but that should prepare me for kids right?).

In a few previous posts I said it would explain "opportunistic vegan". I guess now is a better time than any. As you already know (if you are kind enough to read my blog  *thank you!!!*), my husband, Mike, and I are both now vegan. And by vegan, I mean 95% of the time vegan: no meat, no dairy, and no eggs. Now our reasoning behind all this is different and complex. Mike does it for health reasons; I do it for a combo of health, animal welfare, and environmental reasons. Normally when you tell people you are vegan you will receive a multitude of negative responses: "don't you miss meat/dairy/eggs?", "you're one of those tree-hugging hippie types", "you're a food snob", "being vegan is impossible", "I could never do it". The last one always gets me. Sure you can do it. Even if just for one day a week. Keep an open mind and anything is possible. You may find you like it :) 

The opportunistic point is that when some one cooks something for us, goes through all that effort, we will eat it. A little meat or dairy here and there won't kill us. We aren't snobs when people buy food for us, that's just rude. But when we get to make the decision (at a restaurant or the grocery store) we will always buy vegan. We also don't force our eating habits on people. So when some one comes to my house for dinner, I always ask them ahead of time if they would prefer something non-vegan to eat because I would gladly make it for them (because I love cooking!). For the most part, our friends and family are very open to trying vegan meals. Usually the only request I get is for cow's milk (for coffee and cereal).

Veganism comes with a lot of negative connotations in American society. A few movies and books I have enjoyed instead call our eating habits a "whole foods, plant based diet". Doesn't that sound friendlier? I still say vegan because I only have to say one word as opposed to five. So what I advocate to people who will listen (i.e. my Advanced Bio class that is forced to sit and listen to me for 4 hours, 3 days a week), is to have an open mind and at least try it for a day or two or more. You may like what happens not only to yourself but to the world around you.

I have probably bored you enough today with my lecture, so I will save my suggested movies and books until the next post. Now to get into some older photos.  We planted jalapeños last year and had an over abundance in the late fall. It is quite hard to find things to do with jalapeños but I did find this website: Jalapeño Madness. This is not from that website, but I took a basic bagel recipe (from my Southern Living cookbook) and added diced jalapeños. Here is the result:

Fantastic! I recently made them again (about a month ago) when two of Mike's friends were staying with us. They were a big hit even without cream cheese or butter (did I mention the recipe is totally vegan)!

We weren't around for the holidays (instead we were in Ohio and Hawaii), so I had to make my co-worker Christmas gifts early. I wanted to make all vegan treats to show how good vegan baking can be. Here is one of my batches of vegan peppermint sugar cookies (make sure to use a vegan butter!):

Eventually, they were iced with a simple powdered sugar/almond milk glaze.

Here is one of the assembled boxes:

 In the top left corner are apple jellies, in the top right corner are vegan fruit and nut balls ( I can't find the recipe), in the bottom left corner is dark chocolate peppermint fudge (again cannot find the recipe), and, finally, in the lower right hand corner are my sugar cookies all iced and with sprinkles. I guess they were a big hit (I found out later when I got back from vacation).

Speaking of returning from vacation....one of the many things Mike and I discovered in Hawaii were açaí bowls. Amazing! We had as many as we could while we were out there. When we returned home, we tried to recreate them:

Doesn't that look good?!? Below all the fruit is a blend of açaí berry puree (we got it frozen at the store), almond milk, frozen blueberries, and a little agave nectar. You then top it with granola (in this case, my homemade granola), sliced strawberries and bananas, and then you finally drizzle local honey over the top. The absolute best way to start your day!!!

Overload comes to mind after reading all of this, so I will stop. Until next time, enjoy this photo taken near the Ringling Bride in Sarasota on Thanksgiving day, 2011:

Seasonal Eating

Our growing season is almost over (and by "our", I mean at both my house and all around the Tampa Bay area) and I know I should have taken pictures of our garden in full bloom. At the peak, the turnips and beets were going crazy, and we had lettuce and scallions and herbs galore! Now, as we wind down, the last of the blueberries are ripening (we had a great turn out on our one surviving blueberry bush!). As a hint of whats to come, the orange tree has about 15 tiny babies that will grow through the summer and be ready during the Florida winter (can't wait!). Our carrots and fennel are almost ready to harvest, and I will make sure to take pictures. But to hold you over, here is one shot I took while sitting in the back of the yard (you cannot see the raised beds behind me). Visible in this shot are the blueberry bush, the lemon tree, the lime tree, the orange tree, scallions, fennel, and the tops of the carrots:

Previous posts have talked about "knowing" where our food comes from and becoming vegans. It is still as true as ever, and now, to add to it, the slow food movement and being a "locavore" have starting creeping into my food/cooking choices. I have been reading.... a lot (having my Nook Color totally helps). Recently I have read "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser, many Michael Pollan books, and "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingslover. Not only do these books advocate knowing where your food comes from (i.e. avoiding processed and fast foods with ingredients you can't pronounce), but also about supporting the local, small farmers as they face the industrialized food system. It takes a lot to change your thinking about food (trust me, it took a lot of reading and research), and I am not trying to preach to you, but just ask that you take some time to consider your food and what you really know about it and where it comes from. I know it's lofty to think that we can change the system (the big companies controlling our food system), but I believe every small step counts.

One thing all this reading has opened my eyes to is seasonal eating. Seasonal eating is exactly what it sounds like, eating based on the season. When I lived in Ohio, I had a very vague concept of this: corn was ready at the end of summer, and apples and pumpkins were plentiful in the early fall. But the American grocery store has almost bust destroyed the concept of seasonal eating. All food is in season. You can purchase a tomato all year around. Yea, that tomato is cheap, and usually pretty tasteless, but now you can make that recipe you have been dying to try. Never mind that the tomato was shipped over 2000 miles to your grocery store (what a waste of gas!), was grown with lots of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and is most likely genetically engineered to last that long trip yet still be "fresh" when you buy it......you know what, I am preaching.....I am sorry. I am very passionate about all of this now (I wish I had found this passion before I went to college!).

Really the point I was going to make with this post was, luckily, Mike and I discovered this awesome, local, organic farm back in October that we have been buying veggies from. Magnolia Organics is about a 30 minute drive north of where we live (though some weekends they come to local farmers markets that are closer to my house). From September to June, we can purchase a harvest box from them every week with what ever seasonal produce they are growing (in Florida, the season are slightly different than up north). It is totally awesome!! Since we discovered them, we have been planning our vegan meals around what we get in the box each week (aka: seasonal eating). I am currently researching ways to eat more local in this area. I don't think we will ever be 100% local (agave isn't grown any where near here), but something is better than nothing (small steps!). So what I would like to share with you are two dinners from this week (and there are more backed up pictures that I will hopefully share soon) that are almost entirely local, organic, and vegan (the prefect trifecta).

This meal was from a few days ago: red fish from the Gulf of Mexico (my bro caught it back in March when he was visiting), and organic zucchini, fairy tale eggplant, cherry tomatoes, and scallions from Magnolia (the fish is hidden under all the veggies). This was an entirely local meal :)

Tonight's dinner was a little more ambitious. Homemade naan, celery and rice soup, and fresh green been salad:

Now the flour for the naan was definitely not local (I don't think I can get local flour here) but it was organic. The organic green beans from Magnolia are topped with scallions from Magnolia, olive oil (not local or organic), and homemade spicy mustard from Mike's dad. The soup has organic onions and celery from Magnolia, homemade veggie broth (made with left over pieces and parts from Magnolia veggies), vegan butter (not local), and organic brown rice (also not local).

I guess the take away message should be that you should make your own food (so you know where it comes from) and take pride in it (I will try and take less pride so you don't think I am a food snob).

Until next time, if you decide to come back next time (and don't hate me too much for being a little too wordy), please enjoy this photo of a mommy turtle guarding her nesting hole on Honeymoon Island;

Finally....Photo Dump Part 3 (and a few new things)

As you might have guessed, I have quite a few photos clogging up my computer. Let me begin with the final addition to the photo dump. These photos are from April of 2011 (so when the garden was just starting up), but since then we have expanded the garden quite a bit and had a few more harvests:

 

Some flowers that I won at a Tampa plant show:

The roses Mike gave me for St.Valentine's Day in February 2011:

My cute lizard planter:

Baby blueberries!

Sprouting cantaloupe seeds:

Baby pepper (green, banana, and jalapeno):

Baby orange:

Now for something new. As I mentioned, Mike and I are both now vegan. When I have more time I will explain. We are also keen on avoiding processed foods. Really the only processed foods we eat now are almond and soy milk, and tortillas and tortilla chips. Everything else we make: cereal, bread, ice cream, etc. That being said, here is tonight's dinner:

Corn tortillas, organic avocados, local organic tomatoes, local organic onions, and jalapenos and green pepper from our garden. To my surprise, 3 of them were very, very filling. This is a very simple vegan meal. Just saute the onions, green peppers, and jalapenos in a little olive oil. Use the same pan to toast your tortillas, and assemble. If you feel you need more, just add a side of rice or bean (or even put the rice or beans in the tacos).

Until next time, enjoy this photo of my Pineapple that I took with my new iphone:

Happy 6 Month Anniversary!

It has been just over 6 months since I posted last....holy crap!

I have been thinking a lot about starting up again. Of course I have not taken many pictures of the amazing things that have happened or have been created since last time.

A quick run down of what has happened (since the last real post which was in April):
-I got married :)  On June 24th, 2011, I married my boyfriend of 10 years on our 10 year anniversary at the Cleveland Zoo!
-We bought a brand new car (a 2011 Honda Fit).
-We expanded the garden by adding about 20 feet of new raised beds.
-My husband and I became vegan (or what he calls " an opportunistic vegan"; I'll explain more later)!
-Some idiot ran into my brand new car (I had only 2000 miles on the car!).
-I started buying my veggies from a local, organic farmer for way cheaper than any grocery store.
-I ran my 3rd half marathon the weekend before Thanksgiving (with my Dad and his girlfriend).
-My husband's sister and her family came down for a visit in early December.
-I joined a gym :)
-My husband and I went to Hawaii in December for our honeymoon and discovered some great foods!
-I am still working as a teacher at the exact same University (I guess that's not really a change).
-My husband and I have decided that we are going to start trying for a child towards the end of this year :)

Busy is a word I would use to describe what has been going on.
Hopefully I can get back on the train (just for my own amusement, since I am sure everyone stopped reading when I fell off the face of the earth).

Until next time (which should be soon), enjoy this picture of my husband after we kayaked out to the sunken island in Kane'ohe Bay on Oahu, Hawaii:

I'm not dead yet!

Just wanted to say hi to everyone! The new job is totally awesome and I love every minute of it, but it has kept me super busy! I hope in the next week or so to finally get photo dump 3 out and some new stuff for you. Hope all is well and you are enjoying your summer!! ~Steph

Photo Dump : Part 2 of 3

After the last post took me about 3 hours to complete I didn't know if I would have the energy for this one. But don't worry....it will be short. Just a few crafts I recently completed, mostly as wedding/baby gifts for my cousin. I have some other things in the works for bridesmaid gifts, but, shhhh, those are a secret :)

Mike found this book some time ago. We have made quite a few animals from this book (including some Pineapple and Charlie look-a-likes Mike made for me before I went on a trip). I thought this hedgehog would be good (especially with sew on eyes instead of the button ones I usually use), plus its one we haven't made yet.

He's a little awkward and a little crooked, but lovable (I hope!). He sort of looks like a long potato with hair, but soft.

My next slightly awkward item was a cupcake pincushion:

I found the idea here. Obviously this woman has been making them for a while. First thing I learned is that you should probably sew more than just a seam on the cupcake part, like sew through the whole thing so when you are assembling it you don't push it through and unravel the whole thing, like I did, and then Mike had to fix it. Yea.....plus I picked a sleeve cuff that was a tad too long. At least it is functional!  Top view:

I wanted to make something I knew how to make pretty well and would be a passable wedding gift. Napkins and placemats. I found this fabric for the napkins in my bin and thought it would be perfect for my cousin:

I needed to make 4, so they had to be rectangular instead of square, but then again they sit nicely across the lap. As for placemats, I wanted to send these to my cousin:

They matched really well and I like the not so straight stripes. Well....I only had enough fabric for 2. Did not realize that until I had already made 2. Bummer. At least Mike and I have a kitchen table for 2. So I made these instead:

These match, sort of, and they were a little thicker and I could make 4....score! I hope they work!

Alright....that's all I got for part 2.....stay tuned for part 3.....until then enjoy this photo of Pineapple and her doppelganger:

Photo Dump : Part 1 of 3

Ha....I don't know what to say. I just spent over 2 hours editing all my back photos that have accumulated since March 1st. Kinda makes my head hurt actually!

First off, news! I quit my job as a vet tech (long story) and I have been off for the past month getting stuff ready for the wedding (which is less than 3 months away!!!!). As of May 2nd, 2011, I will begin my career as a professor! I am in the process of finishing up paper work at a local private university to be an adjunct biology professor (with the potential to go to full time in the fall). How awesome will that be! I loved teaching so much when I was in grad school, so much that I cried after teaching my last lab before I graduated. This will actually be a career for me instead of jumping from job to job and being treated like I have no education. Exciting!

Second, an explanation....for the title. Since I have so many photos to dump on you poor people, I am going to be kind and break it up into 3 sections: Food, Crafts, and Garden. I don't know if I will get them all done today, but sometime in the next 3 days for sure since I already have all the photos edited!

If you recall in my last post eons ago I mentioned a book call "The Food Matters Cookbook". An awesome cookbook for those who may not want to go completely vegan or even vegetarian (which Mike just cannot do). Right now the only meat I stock the freezer with is organic chicken which I use very sparingly because of the price and fish that Mike has caught during this fishing trips to Sarasota.

First up from "The Food Matters Cookbook" we have Chicken with beans and rice (and peas for fun). A very simple, very healthy dish.

The cookbook also has some good recipes for pantry staples. How about some homemade crackers?

Not too bad. I did half with poppy seeds, but you can top them with whatever you like. Mine were crunchy to start with but after sealing them in a container they became a little soggy. I think they need to be baked longer to remove all the moisture. But a great idea none the less. A lot of processing goes into conventional store bought crackers and they usually have a lot of sugar and salt. With these, you can control pretty much everything that goes into them and still use them like you would normal crackers.

The basic whole wheat bread recipe from the cookbook:

I think I always over-knead my dough. My whole wheat loaves never rise as much I would like and sometimes come out very dense. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Next from the cookbook, Roast Potatoes and Chicken with Romesco:

Yea, I know it doesn't look very appetizing, but I was very impressed with the flavor from the roasted red peppers in the sauce. Subtle but unique. Roasted chicken and potatoes are a very basic dish that anyone can do and your options for sauce is incredible!

 Panko breaded fish fillets (I forgot which kind it was!) with roasted carrot spears in a general tso's glaze:

Not exactly a recipe from "The Food Matters Cookbook" but close. The fish was my doing, but the roasted carrots spears was his idea (but he had you making your own ginger glaze). I have this great, all natural, no high fructose corn syrup, general tso sauce in the fridge that was given to us and I though that it would be useful as a glaze for the carrots and it was. Putting your twist on every recipe is one of the joys of cooking!

 And the last recipe of the bunch from the cookbook:

My version of Cream of Vegetable soup. I used his basic instructions and some ingredients. This soups has celery, organic carrots and onions, spices, organic soymilk, butter, and flour used for the creaminess, and fresh parsley from the garden! Mike really wanted beans with this so he can get more protein (but instead I made veggie chili the next night, which I forgot to take a picture of!).

These photos are not really in chronological order just because I wanted to group that first set together. Let's see....what's next....

Just a breaded, baked fish recipe with broccoli. To be honest, I really don't know why I took a picture of this since it's really nothing impressive or exciting.

I still get the Food Network magazine and still enjoy it, though I don't make a lot of the meat dishes any more.

This was the Instant Chocolate Cake from the April 2011 issues. Really good! Probably really high in calories and fat, but good for that chocolate fix during that special time of the month :)

Another Food Network Magazine recipe, this time from the May 2011 issue. This is my version of their Mix & Match Quick Break recipe: carrot, walnut, and oatmeal bread with chocolate glaze. Mike really liked the bread but didn't like chocolate combo. Its want's that bad. Maybe next time I will try the vanilla or cream cheese version.

A pile of cookies:

I really do not remember where I got this recipe or what sort of cookies these are. They are probably the white chocolate chip cookies I made a few weeks ago because we were out of normal chocolate chips. Oh well....I thought you might like a picture of a pile of cookies.

Oooh....this is a good one:

Mike's parents were in town for St.Patty's day and, of course, how can you not have corned beef and cabbage? I had to work all day, and Mike made this all by himself! Apparently he found a recipe that called for some bacon and other ingredients not commonly found in this sort of recipe. It was amazing! He did such a good job that his mother was calling him after she returned home for the recipe.

I also still get the Better Homes and Gardens magazine:

I made this spectacular Carrot Bread with Cream Cheese Icing  from the magazine for when my Dad and his girlfriend were in town. The only thing I would change is maybe cutting the carrots a little smaller for the top, but other than that this was a great.

Umm....I think this was just a simple vegetable soup I made. Sorry, I got nothing.

Sometimes I like to grab a free copy of Creative Loafing, and I actually tried a recipe from it:

Buttery Lemon Bars, not in any way healthy, but super delicious and homemade!!

Can you recall the last time I cooked a whole chicken? I cannot, but I did save the carcass from it and I finally made stock from it:

I have followed a few different stock recipes in the past, but this time I just winged it. Here is my basic recipe:
1 chicken carcass (with some meat, cartilage, and what not left on it) or saved chicken bones (can be frozen)
2-3 washed and chopped carrots (no need to peel, just wash)
1 medium onion roughly chopped (any kind will work, use an older one that is about to go bad if you have it)
3-4 medium celery stalks chopped (leaves can be left on)
1 tbsp oil
Water
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
Various seasonings (whatever you have or like): parsley, garlic powder, dried basil, etc

1.Saute your chopped onions in the 1 tbsp of oil for about 5 minutes just to bring out more of the flavor.
2. Add all veggies and chicken to the pot and cover with water (enough to just cover everything).  Stir in your seasonings. Bring to boil. Now some people say to skim off the fat at this point and while the stock cooks. I do not. I like to have a layer of fat on top of my stock so that is stores longer in the fridge. Plus the cold solidified fat is easier to remove right before you use the stock.
3. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for about 30-60 minutes, pretty much till all the meat and what not has fallen off the bones and the veggies are really tender.
4. Allow stock to cool for 10-20 minutes.
5. Strain (I use a mesh metal strainer) stock into a large bowl (I do this so I don't make a huge mess trying to strain it into jars). Don't worry if some of the seasoning makes it through, it will make the stock taste better when you use it later.
6. Pour into your containers. I reccomend old glass jars for storing in the fridge. If you want to freeze it, which you can, I would use a plastic bag or plastic container but wait till it has cooled a more (you don't want to melt the plastic bag!).
7 After pouring into desired container, allow to cool to almost room temp before placing in the fridge or freezer.
Ta da! Homemade chicken stock! I use mine in soups, rice dishes, to poach things, to make healthy mashed potatoes. There are a lot of uses for it. And it's nice because you can control the salt.

I was craving coconut one day:

 And I found this recipe for Coconut Lime Wedding Cookies. Loved them! Never thought lime would be good in cookies, but I was wrong. If you are adventerous when it comes to cookies you need to try these!

And another craving: strawberries:

Whole wheat strawberry scones! I didn't save the recipe, sorry! They were great for a lazy Sunday morning breakfast!

That same lazy Sunday, Mike and I went to some local markets in the area and came home with this:

Local, organically grown, rainbow chard! It was so pretty! I had never seen rainbow chard before, let a alone know how to cook it, but I had to have it (along with some local organic onions as well). I found this recipe on Dr.Oz's website, of all places. And it was a great place to use some of the homemade chicken stock!! The chard cooking:

Yes, I know, it's meat!! When Mike's parents were in town they left us with some ribeye steaks. You can never throw free food away (unless it's rotten I guess)! I figured why not balance out the super healthy chard with some grilled steak. Of course they were both great! I highly reccomend rainbow chard!

One of the Borders near us went out of business, but before they did Mike and I picked up some books (and Kobos!) at some great prices! One book I got is "Home Made Simple".  I still had puff pastry in the freezer so I picked this:

Crispy Cinnamon Suagr Palmiers. Really easy and really good. These would be great for a party since they are so rich you can cut them really small and have a lot to go around.

Fish was getting low in the freezer, so we had to go fishing last weekend (well Mike fishes and I sit there and read and tan). Look what we came home with:

A whole pompano! My Aunt reccomend for us to cook it whole. So after Mike de-headed and gutted it, I stuffed with salt, pepper, garlic, and limes. I slit the skin on both sides and coated it with olive oil and then baked it. A better picture of the stuffing:

 For some reason I wansn't really hungry after I made this, so Mike got the whole thing. I did try a bite and it was delicious. Mike loved it. It was all the could talk about for the rest of the evening. Yea for free food from the gulf!

Bread was running low in the house and I didn't want to go buy more:

This is a variation on this Whole Wheat & Rye Yogurt Flax Bread. I ommited potato flakes and gluten and used ground flax seed in place of both of them. As for the yogurt, I used goat yogurt we picked up from a local farmer. The balsamic vinegar was something I had never tried in bread before. Again, this bread came out very dense, but had an excellent flavor! It has been great for breakfast toast.

And lastly, in the food section, orange cupcakes!

Another food item Mike's parents left were some oranges. I have a hard time eating oranges for some reason, but I can juice them all day long. Why not use fresh squeezed orange juice in baked goods! I used the cupcake recipe from this page and the buttercream frosting from this one. 

They were amazing! Great texture (for the batter I used 1 egg and then substitued the other with applecause and baking powder like they do in vegan recipes), and they set up really well. I wanted to goof off with the icing, and I only have 2 tips (I am still practicing so I have not invested in more sizes). Here are my decorations (don't laugh!):

But my favorite by far was this one:

I don't know why. Just because. As you can see though, I need more practice icing and decorating things!

Until next time, part 2, please enjoy this photo of something magical Mike found at the local Goodwill:

A like-new artisan, tilt-head, 5 qt Kitchenaid stand mixer with 3 attachements and pouring sheild for $30!!! You read right, $30! Now what would I do with two mixers (well I told Mike we should start a bakery but then he wanted to rip out the kitchen wall). Well I tried both, and Mike said the one I didn't like we would gift to some one who will not be named. After a few test runs, I still like my white lift-bowl one. Maybe it's because I was already used to mixing things in it, I don't know, but me and the tilt-head did not get along as well. I hope the lucky person is excited :)