Much cooking fun

I finally tried the Lemon Herb Tofu from Vive! We were looking for a quick, easy, light dinner last night, and I had a block of tofu that needed to be consumed, so it seemed a pretty obvious choice. It was so quick to make, and it was quite delicious! I loved the way the tofu soaked up all the flavors... It was probably the most flavorful tofu I've had. As it baked, I just made some frozen broccoli and re-heated some brown rice and some of the yeast gravy we made last weekend.

We went for a hike today, up near Helen, Georgia, in the Chattahoochee National Forest. Autumn is absolutely the best time for hiking because you don't get all sweaty as you ascend steep inclines, and the insects don't bother you, and the weather and the world are gorgeous. We hiked up to Raven Cliff Falls, a 5 mile round-trip hike. It was one of the shorter hikes we've been on, actually. But here are the intrepid adventurers at the top of Raven Cliff:

The view was gorgeous. Everything was gorgeous about today.

Last night I made Dreena's Totally Nutty Bars, again from Vive! as an energy-rich snack to take hiking. Modifications: I used walnuts instead of pecans, and I left out the almonds entirely since I was out. The recipe also called for cashew butter or almond butter, but I was fresh out of both so I just used some natural peanut butter. Other than that, I went just by the recipe. Result: Fabulous taste! They were really very nutty, very earthy. As far as texture, these did not hold together on the hike. In fact, the only time they would hold together is when they came straight out of the refrigerator. I packed some in a small Tupperware, and when we finally got on the trail, it had all disintegrated from bar-form to giant clump-form. Not that this was really a problem; they were fantastic and really helped keep us going. I guess I was not really surprised at this result, either, since there was really no binder in the recipe. What do you all think? Have you made these before, and what was your result?

We also took some fresh bread and peanut butter and apples, and had peanut butter-apple sandwiches for lunch. Have you ever had a peanut butter-apple sandwich? Try it sometime--yum...

Speaking of apples, we stopped at a roadside fruit stand on the way home and picked up a peck of fresh apples. I got a lot of Granny Smiths because I want to make some applesauce using them. We also got some Jonagolds, some Golden Delicious, and some other kind (I can't remember everything we got, actually). Apples... Have I mentioned how I love autumn? :)

Since we had such high-energy (= high-fat) food on the trail, I really wanted a low-energy, veggie-laden dinner. I also wanted a quick dinner. So here's what I came up with:

Some of you will remember my last attempt at Garlicky Kale from VWaV, when my garlic got all charred to a crisp. Well, tonight I gave that recipe another go, this time following Melody's advice--put the garlic and the oil in the pan together and let them heat together, the garlic infusing with the oil and making delicious flavors. Success! This recipe was awesome. As far as the sweet potatoes, I just peeled and sliced them, then marinated them in some orange juice while I heated up my Foreman grill. I grilled the rounds until they were somewhat tender, yet still firm enough to skewer with fork (about 8 minutes, I guess). When they came off, I melted just a little bit of margarine over them and sprinkled them lightly with cinnamon. Mmmm... What a delicious, flavorful, simple, healthy dinner.

Lastly, I have been impatient to try Isa's pumpkin muffins from VWaV, so I whipped them up tonight. I wanted to make them healthier, so I used whole wheat pastry flour, I cut the sugar down somewhat, and I replaced half the oil with unsweetened applesauce. After mangling the recipe, they still tasted fabulous. I'm very glad I cut down on the sugar because they are still very sweet. The pumpkin flavor is wonderful, and they are light and moist and spicy.

Oh, what a sublime day...