Domestipithecus

So we have two cousins of Boo’s that are going to have children this year. A third child for one and a second child for the other. I don’t know who is due first, but neither should give birth until I am done with the baby things.

For baby #2 I will be making Trellis from Knitty. I am making it out of the same yarn (had it left over) as I made the Alphabet Blanket for their #1 baby. I thought that would be a cute touch. I am also going to design a hat to go with it. Probably something basic with the twists from Trellis. It is going along pretty quickly, though when my confidence in how simple it really is goes up, so do my mistakes. I am almost done with the right/buttonhole side, but I have to rip back a bit because I screwed up somewhere and can’t figure it out.

Progress so far:
Back:

Left Front:

Detail:

I intend on making the same things for the baby #3 from the other cousin, but in a different color.

And going in backwards order from the entry title, I baked some cookies. Happy Vegan Cookies from VegWeb. Boo brought these into work today. We had a few last night as well. They are so good. I love the touch of cinnamon in the batter. I will be making another batch soon and freezing the dough in individual cookie balls. I like to be able to pull a couple of balls out of the freezer and pop them in the oven for a quick cookie or two. Also keeps Boo and I from eating too many at once.

I was using up some chocolate chips that aren’t vegan with the vegan recipe. Boo and I, starting in the new year, are slowly getting rid of everything not vegan (though we had already mostly been doing that). In dribs and drabs we are using up/gifting/giving away non-vegan stuff (like the chips). We don’t want to waste anything by just tossing it.

This made for some densely chipped cookies. More chip than cookie, but hey, nummy. And as of now, Boo has informed me that they are all gone, so I don’t think anyone complained.

Cookies:

So for dinner last night, I made my mother-in-law’s turkey/chicken “meat.” I made a double batch and formed half of it into a log for baking and slicing for sandwiches, and the other half into nuggets. Fried the nuggets up in oil (yeah, not too healthy but mmmMMM good) and made a ranch dip for them.

Frying up:

I had also spent the day simmering a Roasted Garlic and Tomato Soup. I had a boatload of tomatoes from the box scheme and needed to use them before I had to throw them out.

We sprinkled in some Tabasco sauce to give it a kick. Also note that Boo and I love, love, love garlic, hence the two whole heads.

Roasted Garlic and Tomato Soup
1 large onion, chopped
2 small carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 heads garlic, roasted (I roasted these ahead of time)
8-10 smallish tomatoes, cut in quarters, skins on.
1-2 tsp salt
(all herb additions are approx as I was throwing some in, tasting, and altering from there)
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp “italian seasoning mix” I used Ralph’s brand
A sprinkle or three of red pepper flakes
2 bay leaves
oil for frying

1. In the bottom of a soup pan, add oil and onions. Cook until translucent (though if you want a slightly different flavor you can go until carmelized)
2. Add celery, carrots and salt. Cook for a few minutes.
3. Add parsley, bay leaves and seasoning. Mix around and let cook a few minutes more.
4. Add tomatoes and fill with water to cover. You can use veggie broth here. I used water so it wouldn’t be too salty and the onion/carrot/celery mixture would sort of make it’ own veggie “broth.”
5. On high heat, wait for it to boil then turn the heat down and simmer for um… well I let it simmer for about an hour.
6. Remove bay leaves, throw in roasted garlic and use an immersion blender (or you can do it in a real blender too, it’s just messier) to puree the stuff.

You can serve from here but since I hadn’t made the nuggets yet and I like my soup a little thicker, I let it simmer for quite a while. Lowest heat. It thickened a bit and was a near perfect consistency. This made enough for Boo and I to both have a bowl with dinner, sent a bowl into work and froze 3 Earth Balance containers full.

Mmmm soup:

Boo went out to drop a bunch of stuff to Goodwill, so on his way home I asked him to pick up a baguette for the soup. I like to eat my soups with a bread “spoon.”

This is our dinner spread:

Oh the ranch… easy peasy
Few blobs of Vegenaise, couple shakes of garlic powder, onion powder and dried parsley. Add water to make more liquidy… and there you go.

Whew, that was a long one.

Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to kiss me once ore even twice, but it has been a long, long time. In internet time it’s been almost a whole generation!

I have been cooking away and taking pictures when I remember. I think the wedding stuff settled down (oh the thank you cards I had to write, my hand be cramped up!) just in time for the holiday buzz. Not to mention we have THREE weddings next year (possibly 4) of good friends and relatives.

A good friend and ex co-worker got engaged in Vegas this year. She and her guy have been together for years and have been friends for even longer. I used to ask her all the time if she was engaged yet. She finally was able to beat me to the question by telling me she was This one is in June.

I think I mentioned that Boo’s sister got engaged in August. If not, Boo’s sister got engaged in August. We had all traveled to Hawaii for his brother’s wedding and she and her guy stayed an extra week. He proposed on the top of Diamond Head on their one year anniversary. Soooo romaaantic… Boo is officiating his sister’s nuptials and I will be a bridesmaid! Wait… I’m married now, does that mean I will be a bridesmatron? Ugh. This one is in October.

Our friend that officiated our wedding proposed to my other awesome friend after 5 years together. They are so perfect together and Boo and I are crazy happy for them. They are the awesomest. Is that a word? This may happen in Sept. They don’t have a date as they just got engaged this past weekend.

Boo’s cousin got engaged to his long-time love the day before our wedding. They kept it so quiet I didn’t even know until she had already flown back to their home (he stayed here to visit with family a little longer).  This one has no date and this is the “possibly 4″ I mentioned above. They talked about wanting something very small with immediate family only. Though, Boo and his cousin are very close and cousin considers Boo one of his closest friends, so we may end up going. We don’t know if this one will happen next year or in 2010.

Whew.

Married life is pretty much the same as before, with more stuff. Boo and I lived together for about a year before we were married so not a lot changed. Except we do the sappy “Good morning my wife” “Good morning my husband” thing.

So what have I been up to in the kitchen, you ask? Wait, you didn’t ask? Eh, I’m going to tell you anyway.

Broccoli and Noochy Mac.
Fresh broccoli from our box scheme

Amazing Mac and Cheez sauce from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook which is our favorite nutritional yeast (nooch) sauce

Horrible picture of the meal (it tastes awesome)

I mostly just steam the veggies we get, so this is how the broccoli was prepared. Veggies taste sooo good just steamed.

To give the noochy mac an even homier feel, I like to cook some chopped up Tofurkey Kielbasa and add it to the mix. Reminds me of a grown up version of the hot dogs and mac and cheese I had when little.

A while back I asked a friend of mine what to do with too many sweet potatoes. Our box scheme has them in there quite often and sometimes there are just too many. He had a lot of great suggestions, but I ended up doing a delicious sweet potato soup. I pretty much cut up sweet potatoes, onions, one yukon potato and garlic and then tossed them with olive oil, dried sage and thyme.

Then I roasted them until I felt they were done (sorry no real recipe here), pureed and served.

This freezes great. All pureed veggie soups do. Roasted root veggie soups are a favorite in this house so now that winter is coming there will be more of them. I love making a huge batch and using up the saved Earth Balance containers to freeze it for lazy, cold nights. A little bread for dipping and you have an amazingly comforting, filling meal.

As a side note, I have to go to Whole foods today. So. Not. Happy. Of course, it was my scatterbrainedness (bzuh?) that made this have to happen. I need Earth Balance Buttery Sticks for my sweet potato biscuits I am bringing to the Thanksvegan feast. I don’t want to use the tubs because it is softer and the biscuits may spread to much.

Yes, I said Thanksvegan. I am lucky enough to be going to Boo’s parents’ home for the holiday. An all vegan household. Mom is making her own “turkey” and sides and I will be bringing the biscuits and a Tofurkey, just because Thanksvegan isn’t Thanksvegan without it.

Oh and I made Bittersweet’s pumpkin pie “ice cream” last night that I may bring a bit of. But Boo and I might want to keep it all for ourselves. It’s crazy good.

I promise to be a bit more posty going forward. I will definitely be bringing my camera to the Thanksvegan (I love that word) feast so you all can share in the yum.

When my fiance (still no luck with a cute nickname) and I were in Ireland, the one vegetarian dish we could count on at most any place was a vegetable soup of some sort. I think the veggies in it depended on what was extra in the kitchen and in season, but they all had it.

We enjoyed it so much that when I saw a little “Best of Irish: Soups” book(let), I got it so I could make them at home.

Since I am sure that the recipe/book is copyrighted I won’t write it here, but I can tell you that there were parsnips, garlic, potatoes, onions veggie stock (this is what made it so orange looking) and dry white wine. It made the house smell amazing.

Here’s the roasted bits and all other stuff simmering on the stovetop:

After processing the whole thing (I used a blender):

Servings for two with a side of homemade sourdough:

Mmmmmm dipping… you can see the thickness of the soup here:

And last, but not least, clever nickname having his first taste:

It was pretty good, but needed something (there were no herbs or spices) that I just couldn’t put my finger on. I think cilantro would have been an excellent choice, however, I despise it. There is no way I would put that dread herb in my mouth voluntarily. I’ll most likely make a small batch and experiment sometime.

I think the next soup I make will be a leek and potato soup made on the same day as some fresh bread to use as a spoon.

I am waiting for the Cafe Paradiso cookbook to arrive. I ordered it online just a few days ago. It’s from a very good vegetarian restaurant in Cork, Ireland. Cute nickname, his sister, his brother and I went there for an early dinner one evening. Everything we had there was delicious and I can’t wait to get the cookbook to have their exact parsnip mash recipe.

Plans for the coming week:
Finish Ribby Cardi
Start paint stripping in living room
Order rat cage