VeganMoFo Day 3 and Sauerkraut

VeganMoFo is to expand your horizons, go where you have never gone before, or at least not very often. I rarely try to really veganize an omni recipe. Why? Because so many of you out there do it for me! Thanks! Well today was my day to reach deep inside and go for it. I am in love with the Food Network Channel. Watching people cook is a fantastic learning tool. I watch the shows and DH and I talk about how I can veganize the recipes, but by the next day we are back to our usual meal plan. Today I ventured out. I knew yesterday that dinner would involve sauerkraut and had our main dish planned, but I wanted to go further out on a limb and it's good to report that the limb didn't break.

Before vegetarian days and vegan days I made a sausage, kraut, and mustard pita pockets. Thanks to Vegan Dad and Julie vegan sausage were born. Really though, I am not sure where they started, but they are where I first heard and saw them. Now the recipes are all over blogland, which is a very good thing. I know have my own additions to both of these wonderful vegan chef's recipes and our family loves them. Needless to say my pita pockets were really easy to veganize. Our side dish was a little more adventurous. I went to the Food Network and found one of Emeril's recipes and I made it! Mary Beth's Sauerkraut Balls! Everyone knows that potatoes and sauerkraut go together so this was a perfect dish. Enjoy!

Sausage, Kraut, and Mustard Sauce Pita Pockets

(I don't measure a thing for this recipe. I just depends on how much you want to make)

Ingredients:

Vegan Italian Sausage ( I use homemade)

Sauerkraut

Onions sliced thin

Olive oil

salt and pepper

Whole Wheat Pitas

Sauce for both pita pockets and sauerkraut balls

Plain soy yogurt (if anyone knows an unsweetened brand I would love to know)

Dijon mustard

Turmeric

Salt and pepper

Fresh chopped parsley

First heat your skillet add about 1 tsp of olive oil, your onions, season with salt, and let them slowly caramelize stirring often. This can take up to 20 0r 30 minutes. While they are cooking make up your sauce by mixing all the ingredients together to taste. Once the onions are done remove them from your pan, add your sliced or diced sausage , season, and cook until done to your liking. Add the caramelized onions back in along with the sauerkraut. Stir to combine and turn down to low. Meanwhile heat up your pita breads. When they are warm, slice them in half and begin stuffing them full of goodness, add your sauce, and dig in!

Sheree's version Mary Beth's Sauerkraut Balls from Emeril Lagasse (Here is original recipe)

Ingredients:

1 pound Idaho potatoes, peeled, diced and cooked until tender

2 cups sauerkraut

1 cup vegan ham, homemade or store bought

2 flax eggs

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons chopped onions

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 flax eggs, beaten with 2 tablespoons soy milk

3 cups fine whole wheat dried bread crumbs

Oil, for frying

Using a food ricer, rice the potatoes into a large mixing bowl. If you don't have a ricer (I don't) You can use a metal colander. Just push the cooked potatoes through the holes of the colander, plastic colanders don't work. To the potatoes add the sauerkraut, faux ham, flax eggs, 1/4 cup of mustard and chopped onions. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Form the mixture into small balls, about a tablespoon each. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place in the freezer and freeze for 30 minutes.

Preheat the fryer to 375 degrees. Place your flour, flax egg mixed with soy milk, and fine bread crumbs into 3 different dishes. This will be your coating stations. Make sure you season the flour, flax egg wash, and bread crumbs, with salt and pepper. When the oil is hot take the balls from the freezer and roll each sauerkraut ball in the flour, coating completely. Dip each in the flax egg wash, and roll each in the bread crumbs. Fry the sauerkraut balls in batches until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the fryer and drain on paper towels. I use cooling rack over a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. This way they don't get soggy. Season with salt.

This recipe makes about 4 dozen. I have not tried this since I just made them, but I am going to freeze the leftovers. My plan to reheat them is to cook them frozen in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Remember this is just guess work.

The final verdict is in! The sauerkraut balls are very tasty and moist inside, this recipe will go into the recipe box for sure. :o)

What adventure I will be on tomorrow, time will only tell.

VeganMoFo Day 2 and Split Pea Soup

Today's dinner was by request. DH and I have been together for over 32 years and it took me at least 20 of those years to convince him that Split Pea Soup was delicious. He always said the same thing, "Looks like baby poop" and I would respond well, it doesn't taste like it. :o) One day at a restaurant he ordered it instead of salad and loved it. Too bad that meal ended badly with glass in his soup. Since then I am the only one that makes his soup. I know many of us and many omni's still believe that you need that ham hock in there to make good soup, but I am here to tell you that you don't. My recipe is simple and the only thing I measure is the amount of dry peas. Of course corn bread is fantastic with it. Perfect Autumn meal. Enjoy!

Simple Split Pea Soup

Serves 2 -3

6oz of dry split peas (I mix yellow and green)

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 carrot, diced

1/2 celery stalk, diced

2 cloves of minced garlic

1/2 medium potato diced

About 3-5 cups of vegetable broth ( I use "No Chicken" Broth)

Salt and pepper to taste

Spray bottom of 3 quart pot with cooking spray or use 1 tsp of olive oil. Saute your onion, celery, and carrots until semi tender. Add the garlic and stir for about 1 minute. Add in the potato, peas, and enough broth to cover the peas. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for about 45 minutes. I stir mine about every 10 to 15 min adding more broth as needed. Once the peas are soft and the veggies are cooked I use my hand blender or "boat motor" as it is called in our home, to puree the soup. A blender will work well also. Next serve it up and enjoy!

Whats for dinner tomorrow night? I am playing with the idea of using sauerkraut, but how? :o)

HAPPY VEGANNIVERSARY TO ME AND VEGANMOFO HAS BEGUN

Today marks my 2 year anniversary of becoming vegan! Funny that when I made the decision don't remember the fact that today is also World Vegetarian Day. So how does one celebrate both of these days at the same time? Hmm, SICK! Yes folks I did a bad thing. I let my PH level get too low and opened myself up to the flu. How did I do this? I ate one too many delicious chocolate chip cookies, thanks to Compassionate cooks, and too much ice cream, thanks to soy delicious ice cream. Can you believe I let all that sugar get in front of broccoli? What was I thinking. Well, kids it has been a wake up call. Time to get back on track! This is really my 2nd day with this bug and I am trying to get my system back up and running at peek level. Granted this may take some time, but Susan's Garden Vegetable Soup will help in the process. I make this quite often and usually play around with it. This time I used a can of diced tomatoes in place of the tomato paste, cut the recipe in half and used a cup of small white beans I had cooked up in the freezer, and "No Chicken" broth, which we love over boxed veggie broth.

And I forgot to mention that today is the first day of VEGANMOFO! Veggie soup may not be creative, but it sure is good eats!


What else is one to eat when the flu bug has them? My mother told me drink 7-up, GROSS!! High Fructose chemically filled nasties! I found a new product called ZEVIA. It is sweetened with Stevia and I like it. It contains pure, natural, essential oil of lemons and limes sweetened with Stevia. It also has Erythitol, which I have never heard of, but read about it here and it seems like a much better choice over the dreaded HFC!

Well, that is my post for today. I hope everyone has a wonderful celebration on World Vegetarian Day! Hug a furry friend today. It will make you smile!

Fun cooking and delicious meals

Yeah! Blogger finally let me on. After deleting and emptying files, history, cookies, and whatever else I could I was given the right of passage to post on my blog. I was a bit worried that I would never get logged on. Anyway, I have been cooking up a storm. It was time to defrost the big, bad, boy freezer in the garage. I usually keep a good amount of go to meals ready for weekday meals and when I saw that my stash had been deleted it was time to break out the ice pick and hair dryer. All kidding aside the blow dryer does work on those last, few, stubborn ice chunks. Next came the fun of filling the bad boy back up. I cooked up a huge batch of my marinara sauce. To achieve a great sauce I mix to sauces together. The first, is a recipe adapted from an old Mennonite cookbook that I have made for over 25 years and Melodies awesome marinara sauce for that extra kick! Sorry folks it is a test recipe, which is fantastic. Here is the sauce ready for the deep freeze.

Next, over run with zucchini I made some zucchini pancakes. I found this recipe on Su Good Sweets and they are awesome. They have a really nice flavor and they freeze really well for those on the run mornings. I can grab one, toss it in my lunch bag, and use the toaster oven at work. If you are trying to get your kids to eat more veggies this is a way to do it. I used agave in place of honey. So, so, good!




I also made Susan's favorite lasagna, which has become our household favorite. This recipe freezes really well. I freeze it in single serving portions and put a spoon of added sauce over the top. Defrost it and place in the toaster oven and you have a wonderful meal. For those of you who use the microwave it works well in it too. Sorry no picture. I packaged it up and tucked them all nicely in the deep freeze.



After all that cooking it was time to try a new recipe. I broke out my Vegan Vittles cookbook by Joanne Stepaniak. Mine is the older edition. It is a wonderful cookbook. This week I made "Barbecue-Style Braised Short Ribs" on page 130. They are very simple to put together, but take an hour and a half to cook in the oven. You turn them every 30 minutes while baking. The sauteed onions, carrots, and garlic along with the sauce turn your home into a summer BBQ. Give them a try!





Finally after a few really lousy days with my back and I mean lousy it was time for a comfort meal. My dear hubby is my knight in shinning armor. He has been helping so much around the house and even helping me get dressed (I am not able to bend these days), he still had time to help make this comfort meal. I know we have all made this same meal, but it was really good today. "Buttermilk" Biscuits with cream gravy, scrambled tofu with zucchini, Vegan Dad's sausage made into patties, and good old country potatoes. I tried hash browns, but they never turn out. They just stay soggy or burn. If anyone has any great solutions to this problem please let me know. DH loves hash browns. And to top it off, my DH did all the dishes and boy were there alot. Thanks babe!

Lastly a smile from our grandson. Enjoy!

Finally back in the kitchen with homemade bread

I am back! It seems as though I am finally out of the fast lane and can stop to smell the roses. It has been a very hectic 6 weeks or so. Saying "good-bye to my parents was very difficult. Packing them up had some pretty emotional moments, but they are happily and safely living in Rosharon, Texas with my younger sister. I have popped in on your blogs as much as I could and it is safe to say that I am way behind. While packing my parents I pretty much lived on bean and potato burritos, falafel, and toast. I am so ready to eat GREEN!!!!! I miss living food. After checking so many of your blogs I don't know where to start. You are all such wonderful and inventive chefs! Thank you to all of you who kept checking in on me and not forgettng me. Look out kitchen here I come! It is so nice to back in your own kitchen with the supplies you need to make VEGAN meals.

On a perfect note, our grandson is doing wonderful. Growing like and weed and melting our hearts every time we seem him. He has spent the night with Gma and Gpa twice and slept through the night for us on both occasions. He has rolled over from his tummy to his back and is now beginning to grab for things. Especially Gma's hair. :o)

Mommy leaving her pride and joy overnight with us for the first time. Poor Brandie was being brave, but was crying before she walked out the door. Just in case you all wondering, Brandie and her husband had a wonderful time together even though they missed there little one immensely.

Here we are getting ready to leave for church. We had to wake him up to dress him for church. I don't think he really woke up until we got to church. Gma loves her little man.

Gpa isn't proud or anything is he?

Being so ready to get back in the kitchen I was asked to demonstrate homemade bread at the ladies preparedness night at church. I did not want to do it, but I just don't ever say no. It was good to be cooking again and had a blast doing it. Just the kind of therapy the doctor order. I used the Dave's Killer 100% whole wheat Bread Recipe over at Everyday dish. Julie has amazing guests and recipes for all of us to try. Stop by and check her site out. I only have 2 bread pans and was on a roll so I improvised and made "whole wheat french loaves" and "whole wheat muffins" along with regular sandwich loaves. I made the recipe as it is written for the sandwich loaves, but went from molasses to honey for the "french loaves and muffins" This bread is KILLER bread. Thanks Dave and Julie!

Tradition Sandwich Style Bread

French Style

Tasty muffin or roll style

Please don't forget me!

Hi everyone! This is a quick not to let you know that I miss you all, but have been so busy with our new grandson, packing my parents to move to Texas, going to work, and physical therapy for my back that there has been little time to cook or post.

I have been sneaking peeks at all of your blogs and can't wait to say hi and make some delicious food. Looks like I won't have much time until after I get my parents to Texas to post. If I do it will be quick pics of who else, our little grandson.

Please don't forget me and I will be back soon.

Hugs to all of you! I miss you all!

I am a Grandma!

I am a grandma! Brandie and Micah did an amazing job birthing our little angel. Weighing in at 9lbs 1oz and 21 inches long I give you Micah Robert Jr. I believe there is nothing more precious. Brandie and Micah went all natural at an amazing birth center. I am so proud of both of them and know that they are going to be awesome parents. He is 100% natural baby. No shots, no pain meds, no antibiotics and fed 100% mommy's milk. Brandie has spent her last 9 month reading everything she can about how they can achieve the best health for their son and her and her DH have strong convictions, which I respect and admire. Just look at him, an angel from Heaven! How blessed we are!

Look at those perfect little features!

I know this is primarily a food blog, but I think it is written somewhere that grandma's have bragging rights. So consider this blog one big brag of our beautiful daughter, our amazing son-in-law, and the star, our Grandson!

On a cooler note, we have been having a record heat wave and cooking has been out of the question. DH and I have spent our days in the pool eating oranges and fresh blackberries from our neighbors yard. Hmm... must be the garden of Eden. :o)

Julie's Healthy Pancakes, Vegan Dad's Breakfast Sausage, and Testing Grammy's Meatless Balls

Breakfast is usually the same for DH and I . He eats a variety of cereals, soy or almond milk, and banana. My breakfast, as of lately, has been grapefruit, oranges, and mango or melon, which ever I have on hand. Somehow we got into a tradition of making Sunday morning breakfast a bit hardier. Why Sunday? I have no idea. We are always super busy getting ready for church and still this tradition has taken hold. This past Sunday we tried Julie's new pancake recipe from http://www.everydaydish.tv/ Well, it is the main batter minus the blueberries and orange juice. I increased the soy milk to compensate for the missing orange juice and added a bit of vinegar to the milk to make "Buttermilk" pancakes. We used what we had on hand and they are wonderful. Julie makes hers with what looks like about a 1/4 cup but I used 1/2 cup. Shall I say right now, make 1/4 cup, they are huge! DH who usually eats 4 pancakes could only eat 2. :o) They were a hit. Along with them is Vegan Dad's breakfast sausage recipe. Simply put, a staple in our home. They freeze well and taste delicious!

Thank you Julie and Vegan Dad for making this Sunday a meal to remember!

The Happy Herbivore has done it again. Here is another mouthwatering preview of another great recipe for her upcoming cookbook. Enjoy, drool a little, and let your imagination go wild.

Here we have Grammy's Meatless Balls, which happen to be the best vegan "meatballs" I have ever tasted. Forget the frozen ones, these put those to shame! Here they are accompanied with mashed potatoes, gravy, and veggies.

Ok, now I know this meal is not the healthiest, but some days you just need some good old fashioned comfort food. Grammy's Meatless Balls worked wonderfully in this Vegan Alfredo dish by Don't get Mad get Vegan. By the way the Alfredo sauce calls for white wine, which we never have so I added 2 Tbls of "No Chicken Broth" and it tasted great.

And finally what everyone has been waiting for Spaghetti and "Meatballs". Once again Grammy's Meatless Balls did their job quite well. They hold up so nicely

in sauces and taste fantastic.

Well, it is time to wipe your chins and enjoy life. :o)

Fresh from the garden and recipe testing

I have to say, I am thrilled to have my computer back up and running. So far this inanimate object that has caused me such grief the past few weeks has finally gotten its attitude adjusted. :o) With that I share with you the first summer squash from our garden. These plants are just thriving, which we are so happy about. Brandie stopped by yesterday and her eyes lit up with pure joy when she say them. Yes, I sent her home a little care package of delicious home grown squash. Tonight's meal was simple and delicious. I stir fried, with cooking spray, some onion, yellow squash, and the little scalloped squashes. I love how they got a little bit caramelized. Sprinkled a bit of garlic and sea salt on them and they were ready to dish up. When dinner was over I wished for more. :o)

We also have an abundance of Swiss chard growing in our garden. I went out this evening before dinner and cut some beautiful 2 1/2 foot leaves off. I am not kidding, they are huge! Simple and quick. Saute some fresh garlic add the washed greens, some sea salt and pepper and let the magic begin. They so hit the spot!



Here we have a few tester recipes from the Happy Herbivore. You will so want to get her new cookbook when it comes out. Trust me mouth watering recipes! Her banana bread is so moist and delicious. I have tried many vegan banana bread recipes and this one is by far the best ever.

Vegan corn dogs anyone? Well, you will just have to wait. :o)

I made a Double layer pumpkin cheese cake today,

Susan's recipe, which is the best. Trust her when she says you can feed an omni and they won't be able to tell it's vegan. My DH loves this recipe! My dilemma was, what to do with the leftover pumpkin? After all the reason I made the cheesecake was because my canned pumpkin had been sitting in the cupboard just begging to be used. The answer make pumpkin bread, using the banana bread recipe as a base. It worked!! Just as moist and tasty as the banana bread. Yahoo!!!

On that tasty note I will close for now. Happy cooking everyone!

Edible flowers and grandbaby count down has begun!

When it rains it pours! I hate computers, well just my computer. I have not been able to upload any pictures from my camera. The program has a mind of its own and it has decide to YELL NO PERIMETER FOUND! What the heck is it talking about. I have uninstalled and re-installed it 4 times and still NO PERIMETER FOUND! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH it is enough to make a person nuts. I even took my computer back to bare bones and still the same smart attitude.

I am lucky enough to have a couple pictures to put up of Brandie and Micah's baby shower. Can you believe only 12 days to go until there due date? Time sure flies! Micah's mom put on the whole baby shower. I helped with vegan food. Brandie had requests :o) I made vegan ribz, tofu quiches, and a fruit salad. Of course silly me only got one photo of the fruit bouquet I made after some of the flowers go picked by hungry guests. I hope we can get my computer working so I can share some goodies I have been testing for the Happy Herbivore.

Until then, I leave you with a couple shots of the happy expecting couple.

One of the games was to guess how big around the two of them were belly to belly. That is Micah's mom, mamma huff in the picture. She is getting ready to measure the bellies.

My son-n-law is crazy, but I so love him. The shower was 3 weeks ago and my has Brandie popped out. We took pictures yesterday and I am waiting for Brandie to email them to me. Oh by the way, Brandie is loving being pregnant and already misses the big tummy moves. There is little room for little one to roll around so he/she just kicks and kicks now. The baby's head is down and there is no way that little one is going to change position now. There simply is no room. :o)

Finally on the mend and chickpea patties!

Hi everyone! First, thank you all for your kind thoughts and concern. I hope I never have to go through anything like that again. I am still cautious, but as you can see my meal has evolved from cream of anything to something I can sink my teeth into. Our Library finally got V-con in and I was the first to check out the copy. I love the chickpea patties. I know the picture is lousy since me and my iron skillet had issues, but it did not change the taste of these yummies! I also made the herb potatoes, which are similar to scalloped potatoes. They are easy and take no time at all. Lots of wonderful spices. DH love them. OH, the chickpea patties are even better the next day. I will cherish this recipe.

Update on Brandie. She has 5 weeks to go. Her baby shower was yesterday and it was nice. Sadly to many people were not able to make it, but we enjoyed. She has been having some labor warm ups, which back in the day we called them Braxton Hicks. The midwife told her to keep an eye on them because if she goes into full labor in the next 9 days she can't birth at the birthing center. They consider her premature before then. They are not consistent so that is good. We are praying for no labor for the next 10 days just to be sure. She so badly wants a natural water birth.

I promise more yummy food now that I can eat.

Hugs to all!

OUCH and baby food lol

Hi everyone,
Just a quick note to let everyone know I am ok. I am on a diet of cream of anything and mashed potatoes. lol... I had a date with my dentist and my wisdom tooth. OUCH!! I should be back to normal next week and back in the kitchen. Thank God! for Vegan DAD. I have been eating his cream (pureed in my case) of broccoli soup for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. DH has been trying to help by making potatoes. :o) I am off to drool over all your wonderful yummies postings.

Testing is so much fun!

How I wish there were more hours in the day to do recipe testing. With that said here are just few reasons all of you will have to get The Happy Herbivores cookbook when it come out!

Crispy "Chickenless" Nuggets

Double Chocolate Muffins

Apple Crisp Muffins

Sorry, I can't divulge anymore information then this. Now wipe that drool off your chin. :o)

Fun mail and good food

Look everyone, I got a package in the mail too! Galaxy foods contacted me about taste testing some of their products and of course I jumped on the chance. I know a quite a few of you are enjoying a similar package. Thank you, Stacey! Not pictured is the pepper jack, which happens to be Brandie's favorite. She is no longer able to find it around here so I gave it to here and told her she had to do a review on her blog. "Mom, my review is that I love it"

A rushed night, which gave us a quick meal of cheddar mashed potatoes, sauteed green beans and spinach with garlic and olive oil, and apricots. I grated some of the cheddar block cheese onto the potatoes. As you can see it didn't melt right away, but after giving it a mix into the hot spuds it melted great. I have not had cheese in a very, very, long time, but this stuff is great! I took the same thing to work the next day for breakfast. Who said I had to eat a "typical" breakfast. :o)

Next I made some of Vegan Dad's broccoli soup. With the addition of some more shredded cheddar block cheese we had broccoli cheddar, which was fantastic.

Here is the finished product. DH who will not eat cooked broccoli (throw it in a salad he says) loved this soup. It had to be the cheese. I was thrilled beyond words. That gives the vegan block cheddar cheese a 5 star rating! *****

As you can see in the picture above I also received mozzarella flavored sliced cheese. Of course that meant Italian of some kind. Pizza seemed to be quick, easy, and it also gave me a chance to use some more of the "new kid on the block" steamed sausages. I used Vegan Dad's recipe again, which I have posted about before. For those of you who have yet to try them, you really must. The crust recipe is from Vegan Lunch Box and it is really good. It is a multi-grain crust. Here are the little darlings just out of the oven. As you can see this cheese did not melt, but the flavor is spot on for us. My mom stopped by and also gave the cheese and the pizza a thumbs up!

Ok, everyone needs to go check our Rural Vegans site. She made some awesome stuffed shells and listed the recipe. Take note, I quartered the recipe because I was short on tofu and it still made a dozen stuffed shells. I used melody's simple marinara sauce that I have tested for her. I also put the mozzarella cheese on 4 of the shells and coated them with some olive oil before baking. I thought this might help the cheese to melt. Well, the verdict is in. No melting, but fantastic flavor.

Out of the oven and onto the plate. These are even better the next day. Although the cheese does not melt it has a very creamy texture, which in a sense is kinda melty, but just holds its shape. Does that make sense?

Well, it is now 1 am and I figure I should hit the hay. I will be posting again real soon. I am testing for Lindsay from The Happy Herbivore so look forward to some fun food porn. Just enough to wet your whistle and drive you crazy while waiting for her cookbook. :o)

Seitan rules this post!!!

Well, I posted this once and blogger deleted it along with Diann and Judy's sweet comments. Hey guys if you stop by I am sorry your comments are gone. Lets see if I can write something quick and to the point. I know that this looks like real meat, but hey this is a vegan blog. NO MEAT ALLOWED. :o) This is the newest craze. Thanks to Julie and her steamed sausages there is no limit on what you can do vital wheat gluten and spices. Vegan Dad made some awesome spicy sausage and linked over to Isa's blog. Don't forget to check out these two great blogs. This recipe is for Spicy Pinto Bean Sausage. I had canned chili beans so I improvised. I also added the red pepper flakes, that Vegan dad left out for his boys. They are spicy and delish. No omni would believe they are not meat. My DH is on cholesterol meds so I am on a mission to make the perfect seitan for him and get him off of them. He was raised a meat and potatoes man so he really misses meat. Thanks to all of you out there we are coming up with some great substitutes. Thanks to everyone!!

Here is another version, Breakfast sausages, by Vegan Dad. This little yummies are just that! Yummy. The recipe made 25 little sausages. They look like the real thing and taste great. I think next time I will add 1 tsp. of salt to the recipe. DH thought they were great, but I thought they needed a touch of salt. Needless to say they were gone in 3 days. We had homemade waffles and sausages 2 nights in a row. What can I say except YOU GOT TO TRY THEM!!!

So in my first post I was in search of the blogger who turned me on to RFD (REAL FOOD DAILY) and low and behold Diann let me know right away that it was her. I had been waiting to get this cookbook from my library and lost her link. Well, kids this stuff is amazing. It is really simple to make. The hardest part is waiting. It bakes for 2 hours, but it is so worth it. It makes 4 pounds of the most tender seitan I have ever had. Thanks Diann for the great tip and the reminder. Everyone go check out her delicious meal.

This meal a clean out the fridge meal. Leftover mac and cheese adapted from Susan's recipe, ribz from Susan's blog, and our first head of bib lettuce made into little wraps with tomatoes, avocado, and Asian dressing drizzled over the top after the picture was taken. Comfort food!

I leave you with the cutest picture. Look at our kitties. Abby is long, slender, and almost panther looking, but in this picture she looks like one of the Pokemon characters. She was so comfortable that she fell asleep in this position for about 20 minutes.

Hugs and comfort!