meatless monday

Check out Meatless Monday,

 a part of


 Healthy Monday.

Everybody's doing it.

A very good friend had us over for dinner some months back and quickly realized he had no idea what to cook. He managed to scour the kitchen and put together a very good, if slightly unconventional, mix of side dishes. Like others, this friend was baffled by the "what to eat?" question when meat was taken out of the equation. It was kind of amusing to me, and I thought it was incredibly sweet that he would even try.

I can see how eating less meat can seem restrictive, but really, doing it opened up my eyes and my tastebuds, not to mention my arteries. You can make chicken into seven very different tasting meals, but you'll still be getting the exact same nutrients day after day. Choosing to eat vegetables has helped me be more creative and venturous in my cooking and eating. 

So, how 'bout it? Can you go meatless once a week? To check out the benefits, click on the top link. It's easy to find vegetarian recipes on the internets, but I'll recommend one on the occasional Monday.This one was inspired by a recipe in my red and white checked BHG cookbook. It is called "meatless tacos" but Clark objects to it every time I propose it for dinner, so at our house, they're just "tacos" and we love 'em. An added bonus to the deliciosity - these tacos are quick to make and they're super cheap. In fact, lentils are basically free. And if you made your own tortillas or even if you used store-bought corn tortillas, you'd be eating for pennies.  (Something for your meat-eating maw to chew on :-)

image

This image is of the tofu taco original. The recipe below is the "inspired by" version sans tofu.

• 1 cup water
• 1/2  cup lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 12 taco shells or tortilla - if you use a whole grain tortilla like corn or wheat, the meal will have complete protein
• 5 teaspoons taco seasoning mix- make your own taco seasoning - it's so easy and it will have a gazillion fewer grams of sodium (esp. important if you are using canned ingredients)
• 1 cup black beans (either canned or soaked & cooked)
• 1/2  cups shredded lettuce
• 2 tomatoes, chopped and separated (or a can of diced tomatoes)
• 1/2  cup shredded cheddar cheese optional
• 1 avocado - or, if you're like me, 1 per person or taco  

Directions

1. In a medium/large saucepan combine water, lentils, black beans, one tomato, taco seasoning, and onion. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 25 to 30 minutes or until lentils are tender and liquid is absorbed.

2. Spoon into taco shells. Top with lettuce, tomato, and cheese and avocado. If desired, serve with salsa.

Makes about 12 tacos.

fall fun

So, it's been a while since I've streamed my consciousness here. I just haven't really felt like writing. . . Well, maybe I have felt like writing, but I couldn't allow myself write recreationally when I have so much obligatory  writing to do (see Administrative Ethics. I never wrote this much in an English class). Anyway, here I am.

Fall has already melted . . . or, rather, frozen into winter around here, and I can't wait for Thanksgiving. Despite my loathing of all (most) things Halloween, I had fun taking the nieces and nephews trick-or-treating. This year Clark put together a great costume for the obligatory Halloween fun at work.

it was more effective in the dark - complete with flashing lights

I wasn't home most of the time he was constructing this amazing costume but every night after class I would come home and see the progress on his robot. One night while I was away, he got stuck in his costume - for an hour. Somehow, he got out of it without ruining it before I got home. I found a distressed-sounding text message much too late to be of any help.

In other news, Clark placed second at the poetry slam put on by the Eagle Rock Art Museum. It's a fun event that the museum puts on twice per year. The facilitator randomly assigns people in the audience to rate the poets and then she averages the scores. Before the finalists are announced,  she passes a hat to collect whatever the audience is willing to donate to the winner. Last spring Clark took first place. His winnings: $90 and some change, a half-empty pack of watermelon-flavored gum, and a cigarette. This time he made off with a gift card to Barnes and Noble.

bread fail and other adventures

I have a small obsession with food. I love to talk and read about it, grow it, bake it, cook it, eat it, and feed it to others. Though cooking has come pretty naturally, I am relatively new to baking. In fact, Clark is the baker in this family because I just can't resist experimenting - an endeavor that, when baking, usually ends in disaster. This is the latest:

(The red fan at the top is blowing away the putrid smoke
pouring from the bread machine.)

We didn't have any milk, so I thought, "Why not try almond milk? Who cares if it's chocolate?" Then we didn't have any eggs, and I was already in it too deep by then. I tried an egg replacement technique (corn starch + water) but got the ratios wrong - - obviously. Also, I used honey instead of brown sugar. Maybe three substitutions was two too many.

The bread machine is usually pretty safe for me. Anyway. It's not all failure. I made some amazing pita bread for falafel on my first try. Also, Mom G has taught us how to make artisan bread and it works out well most of the time . . . unless you try to substitute whole wheat - then it burns on the outside before it finishes cooking on the inside and the loaf ends up weighing about ten pounds.

(Yeah, I take pictures of my food. So?)

This post inspired by Cake Wrecks, which I found on Sara's blog, and Craft Fail. Check them out.

say cheese

In my quest for achieving a respectable level of domesticity, I have recently made my first batch of delicious mozzarella cheese (quest currently limited to making delicious things I can eat). I will probably never rival the creative craftiness and stellar sewing ability of the amazing Gardner sisters (sisters-in-law included. See example here), which makes it a good thing it's not a contest.

Making cheese is so much fun; each time it's a revelation that I can make something that often comes in plastic pods that have been sitting under winking fluorescent-lights for days, weeks, or months. For example, this

used to be MILK - just minutes before this picture was taken - and I made it into yummy CHEESE with some assistance from my friend Jessica. I love that you can trace the short line of where this milk/cheese has been - cow's udder to jug (with some pasteurizing step in between), jug to stock pot, stock pot to my mouth. Incidentally, I also made this bread and nourished the Basil leaves. Many of the best meals are so simple and hand/home made; Y. U. M.

Thank you, Jess, Barbara Kingsolver, and Ricky Carrol. And thank you, Reed's dairy cows, for your locally-produced, artificial hormone-free, creamy goodness.

cupcake bonanza

Happy Memorial Day! We missed going to SLC to see family and help with the graveside cleanup, but the good news is that I'm feeling much better. On the whole, it's been a great weekend: finished homework, planted more vegetables in the garden, made and ate delicious Pad Thai, rode bikes with Clark, spent time with friends, enjoyed church, and slept-in three days in a row. I also made these crazy, delicious cupcakes. I saw the idea online and wanted to try it despite the lack of healthy ingredients. (I think whole wheat flour would have ruined the effect.) I wish some neices and nephews lived near us so they could marvel at my cute cupcakes and eat them up.

robot parade

Clark is obsessed with robots. So, for his 27th birthday we watched an episode of Mystery Science Theater, danced to Robot Parade (They Might Be Giants), and ate this sweet, custom, made-from-scratch (by me) robot cake (red velvet with cream cheese frosting). What better way to commemorate entering one's late twenties?


happy birthday!
Clark: "Oh, cool; my robot is named 27."
Linds: "Actually, that number is how old you are now."