Nourishing the mind, body, and soul along the vegan highway.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

One Disaster After Another!

Hi everyone,

I know it has been almost 2 weeks since I have posted anything new, but I have an excuse. (Don't you just hate excuses?) Well many of you know I have been out of work for about 15 months with a back injury. It became quite clear that money does not grow on trees, and the health insurance fairy does not exist. This meant I needed to go back to work to survive. My doctor released me to work 3 days a week, 4 hours a day. I can tell you after 1 week that is truly all I could handle. I work from 8-12, but by 11 I am ready to hit the road. So enough about my wonderful work schedule and financial ruin. lol

I came home from work starving and hurting. I needed to cook. but hurt. I had nothing prepared, no leftovers, no bread, nothing, which led me to a pouting party. DH decided to take a nap (I think he was trying to leave the party gracefully), which left me alone to pout. Have you ever noticed it is no fun to pout by yourself. Shoot, there isn't anyone to feel sorry for you. lol As DH slept I figured I would empty the fridge and see what I could make. Of course, all vegans know you make, a stir fry! I cut up some broccoli stems, cut fresh corn off the cob, some potatoes, and frozen peas. I wasn't lying, there really was little to use. I also added spices, tamari, and some broth. Oh my, did it taste good! I grabbed a small bowl of applesauce and off I went to sit down and eat. Somehow as I sat my plate down it tipped and my entire lunch went on the floor including the applesauce. Needless to say I went without, but my dogs had the lunch of a lifetime. This is the before shot. Trust me you didn't want to see the aftermath!

Disaster number 2- I once again tried another seitan roast recipe. I can tell you that this one may look interesting

and even the slices

seem to be the real thing, but the texture! That is a whole, different story. When you were a kid, did you ever chew on silly putty or rubber bands? If so, do you remember that funky rubbery texture? You know the one where you bite into the silly putty and it gave a cracking kinda noise. That is the texture of this roast. It was so bad that I put it in my food processor to make ground seitan. The funny thing isn that I had just finished emailing Kleo telling her that you never have to throw seitan away because you can grind it up and it makes perfect ground "meet". All seitans are salvageable with this technique. WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! This seitan would not even chop up. It looked, tasted, and felt like little cut up pieces of rubber bands. GROSS! In to the trash it went. Moral of the story, not all seitan is created equal and not all is salvageable.


Last and final disaster, Coconut Cream Pie. DH loves this pie. It is one of his favorites. I looked through another vegetarian cookbook, which I will leave anonymous, and found a vegan Coconut cream pie recipe with an oatmeal crust. I was so excited. I made the crust and began to get my ingredients together for the filling. Oh my gosh! The recipe calls for 2 containers of silk tofu. I couldn't believe it. I only had one. So when all else fails hit the Internet. I found Dreena's site and fell in love with her pie. I got out her cookbook, The Everyday Vegan and saw that I had everything needed. I was thrilled! My only regret is that I would have opened her book sooner because the crust I made sucked!! It was hard, dry, and tasteless. Here is my pie. The filling is wonderful and it will be a regular with our family, but the crust is out the window. Next time, I will be using Dreena's suggested crust recipe. Trust what you know is good! Thank you, Dreena!

Just a shot of a slice of this yummy pie. Well, yummy filling. The crust went in the round file. We ate coconut pudding. :o)


That pretty much ends my disasters for now. I have wheat soaking to make sprouts so we will see what my next adventure will be. Thanks for stopping by and listening to me rant!

(((hugs to all))))

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

im sorry that you have so many disasters. the food looks so good.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

oh my goodness, that's terrible about your lunch spilling on the floor (oh my, I've defintely done that before; not only was the floor a mess but the plate broke as well, when everything dropped to the floor!) and your seitan. I hope you can look back on this and laugh, and know that good things are sure to come :0)

by the way, thank you so much for your kind words on my blog, about the award - I enjoy reading your blog as well, and honestly I wish I could have nominated more people!! keep up your blog - I love tuning in for new posts and adventures of yours!

Monika K said...

It's so frustrating when you go to the effort to make/bake something and it doesn't even turn out! The pie looks delicious, though, so 1000 points to you for giving it a try!

laura k said...

Disasters happen... and you get up and try again, right? :)

I hope your new job gets easier with time. I'll be praying for your back to hold up!

bazu said...

Oh, I'm so sorry about your recent disasters! I hate putting time and effort into a recipe only to have it turn out bad, or worse- on the floor! The coconut pie looks great, though!

I hope your back gets better. My husband lives with back pain, and I know how soul-sucking it can be. Take care of yourself.

urban vegan said...

Kitchen disasters are funny but only in retrospect. My worst one was when I was making borscht (red beet soup). The blender lid wasn't on tight enough and in 2 seconds, my white kitchen looked like a murder scene.

The coconut pie looks great to me (Crust aside, right?)

Vegan_Noodle said...

Bummer about losing your food to the floor!! Decided not to use the 5-second rule?
Hopefully you will start feeling better as you continue to get used to working a few hours a day, getting back can certainly be tough!

KleoPatra said...

Sheree', what can i say? Your disasters don't LOOK bad! And as my dad tells me, "You can't win if you don't enter." (that's for all the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes i never won... and i entered them all - at his urging!)

Of course what i mean in this instance is that at least you TRY to make stuff and you are almost always successful. i guess that's one of the things that struck me when i went to your house a few weeks back (and hope to see you soon, btw...) is how much you make at home. i rely way too much on prepackaged, pre-prepared foodstuffs.

i respect you and your cooking SO MUCH, Sheree', you are a true inspiration.

Keep tryin' 'cause you're sure to get every recipe right in the end. i know it.

BTW, if you can get a copy of today's U-T, there is a coupon for 25 percent off any one non-sale item at GTM!! Good until, i think Aug. 7. i can save you a couple of papers if you want, it's in the "OUR REGION" section... and i believe you can also get the same coupon on line at gtmstores.com

*HUGS*

P.S. How about that fire near my house today, thankfully away from you in Santee, just up the road on Mission Gorge. i was pretty freaked. *YIKES*

julie hasson said...

How frustrating for you Sheree! I love though that you persevered, and kept on cooking. I have had many days like that myself.

I have to tell you that your pie is gorgeous!

I hope your back feels better soon!

Julie

Don't Get Mad, Get Vegan! said...

sorry about the seitan. tis true that not all seitan is created equal. i just had a seitan disaster myself. unfortunately, i'm not the type to keep tinkering with a recipe til i get it right so i'm afraid i may just stop while i'm ahead with the one i tried. ;)

that coconut creme pie looks sooo good! (i find that i like the nutty vegan crust recipes more than the ones i've tried that mimic traditional crusts)

Kate said...

You know what they say, if at first you dont succeed...

dreamy said...

Your pie is awesome!! :d The dish with potatoes, I actually thought it was a kind of chinese stir fry carrot cake at first :)

MeloMeals said...

I have soo had days like that.. I've learned now if my second thing doesn't work, to stop immediately! hehe...

I'm sorry your back is still hurting to much.. and I hope that it becomes easier to work.

aTxVegn said...

I'm so sorry you have back trouble. I hope you can get back into the routine soon and painfree.

The pie looks absolutely wonderful!

Peggy said...

That's too bad about the 'disasters', but it happens to everyone. :) Live and learn, right?

That coconut cream pie has convinced my sister to buy me the Everyday Vegan! :D

Judy said...

Sounds like you've had a hard run lately. Hopefully you've got it all out of your system, so you can get back to making all that wonderfully delicious stuff we are used to seeing on here! Your pie sounds fantastic, by the way.