I've Been Busy

As the cost of absolutely EVERYTHING has gotten higher, I'm trying to be creative in how I spend my money.  My family is full of big eaters (me included), and I am used to going to the grocery store once a week and coming home with enough food to feed an army.  I am a sucker for fruits and vegetables, and I've found that I often end up tossing a bunch of stuff that has gotten lost in the back of the refrigerator (I know I'm not the only one).  So, I've decided that I will walk over to the grocery store during my lunch hour to buy the food I'll need that night for dinner.  Of course, I'll make sure that the staples are there for the kids-breakfast and lunch fixings, but I'm not wasting more money buying things for a recipe I might or might not make.  I started today, and I got the ingredients to make homemade Marinara Sauce with Olives to have on top of my Spaghetti with Beanballs.  It was perfect.  The beanballs are really popular at my house, so I always double the recipe.  If you haven't tried these, why wait another minute?

I also got down to serious cooking business this weekend.  I made Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Backyard BBQ Sauce (for BBQ Tofu) and Messy Rice.  The cookies lasted about 2 hours.  I normally don't really like raisins in my cookies, but I followed the directions and added the whole bag.  Wow, they were actually delicious.  Chewy, oaty, with a nice hint of cinnamon.  

The Backyard BBQ is a winner.  I've made this before, but this time I added maple syrup instead of molasses.  The flavor was a little sweeter, but not in a bad way.  I appreciated the spiciness of the red pepper flakes, and it tasted great on the tofu.  

As for the Messy Rice, what can I say?  I am sucker for all rice.  This was no different, though the coriander seeds really added to this simple, yet tasty dish.

As I continue with Julie and Julia, I have to admit, I am really happy that I picked Veganomicon to cook from.  Some of those dishes that Julie makes are even hard to read about.  Soaking and boiling calf hooves?  Extracting bone marrow?  Putting chicken livers in jelly (from the hooves) and refrigerating it (and then eating it cold).  My god.  If you are ever doubting your resolve as a vegan, just open that book and read about some of the things that she cooks.  Unbelievable.