No time at all...

I have not blogged in several days, and it's likely to be another several. I hope to have a little time this weekend, but other than that, I'm going to be really busy the rest of this week--test week is rearing its ugly head. And next week, I'm taking a break from blogging (and probably even cooking, for the most part) for personal reasons. So don't think I've disappeared--I just have some things to take care of.

I have done some cooking recently, and I wanted to show you all the few things I've been up to in that regard. On Sunday for brunch after church, I made the Apple Oatmeal Pancakes from Vive! along with another shot at the Tempeh Bacon from VWaV. The tempeh worked out a lot better this time--I took someone's advice and tried a different brand (I don't remember the name of the brand, but I will recognize it in the store again), and it did not crumble at all. Perfect! Again, the flavor is just so wonderful. As for the pancakes, they were quite delightful. There's no wheat flour in the recipe--it's entirely ground oats. The texture was like nothing I've ever seen before. They were a little tricky to flip, but they were really wonderful and light. The apple slices in the batter were very tasty. I think on the whole we liked the Banana Bliss Pancakes better, but this recipe is one I'll gladly make again!

On Sunday evening, I made the Roasted Red Pepper and Mushroom Soup from The Grit. It was a really simple recipe, and it made enough for both of us to eat all week! It's pretty low fat too, which is a pleasant surprise because when I had it at the restaurant it didn't look low fat at all. It's really creamy tasting, but that comes from a whole jar of puréed roasted red peppers and a little bit of soy milk. I love the color--it almost looks like butternut squash soup. Mmmm... I need to have some of that sometime soon.


On Monday we had leftovers for lunch, and for dessert I wanted to try the "shake & make" ice cream that Vicki made with her beautiful kids! I added 1/4 tsp. of peppermint extract to the mixture, and it was great--it's been a long time since I had homemade ice cream! It melted quickly--next time I'll try more ice and see if that helps.

Monday night Bob took me out on a surprise date! We went shopping downtown--I found a used copy of Coda in a used music store, thereby completing my collection of Led Zeppelin albums. Cool! Then we went to Bombay Cafe, a quite authentic Indian restaurant downtown. The vegan items on the menu are marked, and when we told our server that we were vegan, he had the store owner himself come and take our order so that he could ensure that everything was vegan! Very cool! They brought us some papad, which is a crispy lentil wafer, as an appetizer. Then I ordered the Spring Dosai, which was curry-spiced vegetables wrapped inside a lentil crepe. Bob got the dhal and roti. It was a delicious meal. We had not been to that restaurant in a long time, not since before we went vegetarian even. But now that we know the place is so friendly to vegans, AND pretty cheap, I hope we can go back more often.

That's it for me. I hope to have a little time this weekend to post and to catch up with all your blogs a little bit. After next week, life will slow down again and you'll see more of me around. Have a happy week! Peace to you all.