Two new additions

I know I said I was going to try not to clutter up my pantry anymore, but Bob was on Leslie's blog and found a recipe for these raw cookie balls she made from oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almond butter, etc. He was dying to try them, but we had to stock our pantry with a couple of essentials first. So we walked over to Earth Fare, and we came home the proud owners of two products that are probably a part of many a vegan's well-stocked pantry.

The barley malt syrup, we discovered, is a lot like molasses but not nearly as thick. The brown rice syrup is so good--similar to maple syrup but not as maple-y. Next time I make the pumpkin bread I will try using it as a maple syrup substitute instead of the molasses.

Anyway, we made the cookies that Leslie showcased. They're sooo delicious--and frozen instead of baked so they're pretty unique too. They're full of good stuff. I'm going to have to watch how many of these I eat, but Bob will probably go through them so fast that that won't be a problem.

Yesterday I made the Scrambled Tofu from VWaV again, except this time I customized the spices. I cut the cumin in half, and instead of the thyme (which got stuck in my teeth last time) I used oregano. I also added several good dashes of cayenne pepper. I was out of mushrooms so I left those out, but I added bell pepper again as well as a jalapeño. At the end, I added several large spoonfuls of medium salsa. So this time there was quite a bit more heat in the dish than when I made it before. I served this for brunch (around noon) inside of a whole wheat tortilla, and we had scrambled tofu tacos. Yum! Along with it I made some very strange green beans from The Grit--weird for brunch, I know. But I had them on hand and wanted to use them up. They were very horseradish-mustard flavored, but even the tiny amound of maple syrup the recipe called for was too much for me. Next time I'll either leave it out or use something else (brown rice syrup?).

Finally, dinner. We weren't very hungry, so I thought I would just make something light that would use up some of the stuff I have in the fridge and the pantry. I have about ten different varieties of pasta, and pasta is something we don't often eat. So I boiled up some rigatoni noodles (I got these before I made the switch to whole wheat pasta). In the fridge I had two portabella mushroom caps, part of an eggplant, some red onion, and some white bean pesto that we needed to use up. I sautéed the onion in some water, then added the portabella and eggplant along with some soy sauce, garlic powder, and black pepper. I deglazed the pan with some white wine, and then I just let the veggies cook until all the liquid had cooked out. Served them on top of the pasta with some snipped scallions and a dollop of the pesto on top. Here it is--not beautiful or complex but tasty enough, and now I am free of some of the food that's been sitting around waiting to be used.

Today--church. And then leftovers for lunch. And then probably red lentil soup for dinner. And it's about time to bake some more bread. It should be an exciting day!