Again it's Morning

And a lovely morning it is. There is a frost warning but it's beautiful and sunny right now.

I've had a pint of water with vinegar and a banana this morning so far.

The boy got off to school and the man off to work. Strangely the truck was out of gas this morning and he had to drive the old beater car to the gas station to get some. Weird. It was probably a problem between the steering wheel and the seat or what we used to call "operator malfunction" when I was a casino slot technician. But it also scratches in the back of my mind, "someone stole it." But anyway. I just wanted to document it here in case I need to know what day the gas disappeared.

EASY Creamy Dill Potato Salad :: Cooked Vegan Dinner Idea :: Barbecue :: Picnic

A great side dish to bring to a pot luck or barbecue. No one will know this potato salad is vegan. The omnivore's will love it!












Wash 6 medium sized potatoes. Boil them whole for about 2 hours or until you can stick a fork in one easily but it doesn't break apart. Let them cool and then peel them. Save the peels for use in making vege broth, seitan, soups, etc.

Cut the cooled potatoes in to large chunks. They will break down a lot when the mixture is stirred so make large chunks or you will have a mashed potatoes salad. Some people like that.

In a large bowl combine the potato chunks and

1 cup celery, fine chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion, fine chopped
3 tbs dried dill
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs ACV
5 tbs Vegenaise or other vegan mayonaise

Mix well, chill and serve.

Good Morning

I just had a bowl of Raw Vegan Chili for breakfast.

I put it in a glass ramekin in the toaster oven for 20 min at 200F. and then I topped it with sauerkraut. It was warm, but not hot and it was SPICY! after sitting and marinating for two days. So good. I'm going to have to use that dinner idea again sometime. It's just one of those things that you have to hang around the dehydrator for a day. Next time Maybe I will make double batch and freeze half...

Tonight we are having a picnic or barbecue style dinner. Corn on the cob, potato salad, and tofu dogs on store bought buns I'll have mine on a collard leaf, thanks. with all the fixins. I will warm up some sauerkraut and slice some onions and whip up some cucumber relish real quick. And a big green salad, of course.


Ok, I better get busy, the kitch is a disaster area. At least all the plants got watered today, go me.

Yoga

Raw Vegan Dessert Ideas! RAW Strawberry Shortcake

This is sweet and light. A refreshing raw dessert.

Inspiration from Rediscover Raw Food

Serves 3

Cakes!

1 cup pecans
5 dates
5 figs
2 tbs flaxseed, ground
2 tbs lemon juice
1.5 tbs coconut oil
Vanilla to taste
Puree until a dough is formed. Make 6 small cakes and dehydrate on parchment until firm enough to flip off the paper on to the rack.

Dehydrate until they are firm but not crumbly, About 8 hours at 115F.

Sauce!

1/2 cup berries
1 tbs sugar
1 med banana
1/2 granny smith apple
2 tbs lemon juice

Blend until positively saucy.

I made two sauces for extra color on the plate.

Put one cake on a plate, pour a bit of sauce and arrange some berries. Put the second cake on top and add more sauce. Garnish with blackberry sauce and serve immediately.

Raw Chili and Cornbread :: RAW Vegan Dinner Ideas

I have been wanting to make this for months. I was waiting for corn to come into season, none around here, much in the winter.
Then corn came. I bought a bunch of ears! I thought of making cornbread. RAW cornbread. Then I read the recipe again and realized it calls for frozen. RAW corn makes the bread taste "funny". Sigh. Fine.

I bought a one pound bag of frozen corn, World. Are. You. Happy? Anyway, it was worth it. Do read on, dear Reader.
The best is yet to come.

Raw Chili

I adapted this from a recipe that I found at Rawkin'

Chop up:
2 carrots
2 ribs celery
1 red bell pepper
1 cup leek

2 roma tomato
2 leaves kale (2 cups, approx)
Chop
all veges and put on a flat dish. Drizzle over veges a tbs or so of
olive oil and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt. Place in the dehydrator at
105F for 2 hours.

If you want crisper veges, they can go for a shorter time in the D or just skip it all together. Softer veges, go longer.

Meanwhile,
Puree into a paste in the food processor:
4 roma tomatoes
1 avocado
2 tbs ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 med onion
1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp curry powder

The curry gave it an Indian food flavor. I loved it and it was a hit here. You could sub chili powder for a more Tex/Mex flavor

Mix the two together and serve immediately or store until an hour before supper and dehydrate at 125F for 30 min.

Serve with

RAW Cornbread

I made this up, pretty much. I wanted a sweet cornbread to balance out my spicy chili.

Inspiration from Sunny Raw Kitchen

8oz frozen corn
2 tbs vege juice pulp
1/3 cup ground flaxseed
1/3 cup sunflower seed
1/3 cup chopped celery
3 dates
1 tbs vinegar

Puree
in FP and spread 1/4" thick on parchment paper. Dehydrate it on one side, score
it, flip it off the paper on to the tray, dehydrate it more, depending on how crisp you want it.

Oh, my this was soo good. The hot and tangy chili was an excellent pairing with the sweetness of the cornbread. I left mine with a bit of bend to it and used it like a scoop to eat my chili.

I also served steamed quinoa and some cooked beans for the omnivores. Let me tell you, for a mostly raw dinner, they were thrilled. The man said he's glad I am making more raw dinners, my raw dinners are Bomb. He actually said Bomb. :D

Pretty Minnie Kitty

My cat died last night.
She had liver disease and it got the best of her. She died pretty peacefully, on a blanket, with a pillow. I was petting her and trying to comfort her in some way, and I did the best I could to help her ease in to the next plane or level or just out of this one. I didn't know what to do and I was not ready to handle the soul transition of a cat. I doubt if I did it right.

We adopted her in February. A five year old female whose elderly owner, Violet, had died. Fixed, all her shots, ready to be a lap cat for the next ten yrs or so. When we got her home she was naturally shy but was coming out to play and explore learning to know us and the huge house. So much to see and do here after living in a studio apartment with Violet her whole life. Soon her behavior changed. She was withdrawn and wouldn't eat. She stopped pooping but still drank water and peed, I chalked it up to anxiety and figured she would snap out of it, but she didn't. We took her to the vet 2 weeks ago after I picked her up and her spine was poking out. I decided to weigh her and she weighed under 6 lbs. She weighed 8 lbs when she got here. This was more than picky eating and we took her in.
The vet said "advanced liver disease, 2 months or less to live. Give her lots of water and antibiotics and steroids and if you want there is a $$$ operation that might or might not help. Bring her in to be euthanized if she stops using the cat box or doesn't respond when you call or seems to be suffering".

I gave her the pills three times a day. She didn't fight much, took them well and they really seemed to make her feel better. She ate a little every day for a couple of days and even had a bowel movement. Then one day I tried to give her a pill but she gagged and gagged and gagged and GAGGED I will spare you the full five minutes of gagging, until the pill came up wet and mushy but still a pill. I didn't give her another pill, it was too traumatic for both of us. That was Tuesday, last. I was ready to take her in this morning but she died last night.

She passed last night before dinner but I didn't say anything to the boy until this morning. It was creepy enough for me sleeping with a dead cat in my room, I didn't want to freak out the boy.
She lay in her carrier all day on the back porch until the sun started shining then I brought her back in the house for a couple of hours.
This evening before dinner we had a nice funeral for her. I dug a big hole and got some rocks together early in the day and then when the man and the boy got home we took the cat out and buried her with a toy and a mouse that Mickey cat had killed the other day. That way she's got something to play with in the afterlife.

We covered her with a towel and laid heavy rocks on her body to hopefully prevent any wild animals from digging her up. Then we put a layer of earth and some flower plants and watered the whole thing down. It was a nice ceremony. I took a photo.
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There are no words after this.

Don't scroll down if you don't want to see a photo of her in her grave.
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RIP Minnie Kitty, Pretty Little Bitty Girl. You are with Violet again. We will all miss you even though we barely got to know you.

Obituary

Minnie the cat died last night, 4/26/2009. Her age is estimated at 6 years.
She was originally from Eagle Point, Oregon. Her current family adopted her in February 2009.
She passed on peacefully last night in her home at 7 pm with her companion, JJ, by her side, trying to make her transition to the next plane as comfortable as possible.
She will be buried later today with a small funeral in Klamath Falls, Or, attended by her adopted family and close friends.

Iconoclast Cat Ruins Smoothie Photos

It was a really good smoothie.

Banana, avocado, fresh mint and Renew Me Total Body Blend













The cat thought he should be part of it and threw quite a fit, insisting on being in all the photos and even completely obscuring the smoothie at some points.














"I am far prettier and probably more nutritious than any smoothie. But don't eat me."



The small rainbow paratrooper was not available for comment.


















Last night's dinner was a lovely pot of cabbage and carrot stew with my famous garlic baked potatoes and this dish.















Still with the huge seitan sausage that I messed up last week.




The Man had his with barbecue sauce.

This was inspired. Layers of thinly sliced seitan with sauerkraut and seed cheese in between.

It was like a Reuben Sandwich and was quite a hit. I may make this with some good sausage and see how that tastes.

Vegan Dance if you want to.: Hail Seitan!

Seitan is going Mainstream

Vegan Dance if you want to.: Hail Seitan!

Food and the plants they come from...

Dinner last night

Clockwise: vege bread, butter lettuce, salad made from grape tomatoes, broccoli, avocado and I can't remember what else, leftover carrot curry salad, and a meatloaf that I made.
















The meatloaf was a franken-sort of thing. I made a seitan sausage that came out all wrong. I forgot the salt and the foil split while the thing was cooking so it puffed up instead of staying all dense the way the sausage should. Boo.
So I took a huge hunk of it and ground it up fine in the FP. Then I added and onion, some vege pulp, pecans, and some barbecue sauce, a wee bit of olive oil. I can't remember what other seasonings. I baked it in my silicone loaf pan for about 2 hours at 350F, covered, then let it cool to room temp. I baked it for another half hour at 400, uncovered. Yum.

Here it is in a butter lettuce leaf ready to be eaten by me.















Both of these salads were REALLY GOOD

















****************
PLANTS!!

I got a tomato plant from the Eco Store which is on east main. I couldn't find a online listing for it but I didn't look really hard. I don't think I have the name right.














Anyway, I bought a tomato plant and some swiss chard today, cheap.
I put the tomato in the Topsy Turvy that I bought months ago.


Swiss Chard
















My lily is blooming.































The new starts.
















A carrot top, rooting.

















My celery, rooting. It's growing a lot of leaves!

















Tonight for dinner is cabbage soup and something. Baked potatoes, maybe.

Cheers!

Meatless Tempeh Meatballs

Armed with a load of inspiration from HappyVeganFace, an 8 oz package of tempeh and nothing to lose, I made these "meatlessballs" from tempeh. mmm.
















Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a medium wok saute in 1/2 cup vege broth:

1 med onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced


When onions are translucent add and mix in well:

1 tbs peanut butter
1 tbs sesame seeds
1 tbs dried mint
2 tbs vege pulp

Add more water or vege broth if needed to make something like this:














Then add:


1 tbs nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 oatmeal, ground almost to flour
1/2 cup water

Mix well, cook over low heat in your wok, stirring constantly until onions are mushy and mixture is very thick.

Then add:

8 oz tempeh, steamed, cooled and ground with S blade in FP until a crumbly paste. Add to your thickened mixture and mix well.

Form balls, or patties and bake covered at 400F on a greased baking sheet for 60 minutes. Carefully turn the balls and bake covered for 30 min more at 400F.

They were big balls, almost more like patties. They were 1/3 cup each and I made 8 of them.













The man said they were good but I should have made more.

Clockwise:
Beans on vege bread, quinoa, curry carrot salad, leftover potato casserole and balls of tempeh with seed cheese on top.















And for dessert, applesauce cake, sliced, toasted and buttered with buttery vegan spread.















Left is the applesauce cake, right is a vege bread.

Both are basic soda bread recipe. Applesauce cake adds 20 oz of applesauce, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and vanilla and 3 extra tbs of sugar. Vege bread is just regular bread with a half cup of vege pulp added.

Raw Vegan Curry Carrot Salad

I am reading Victoria Boutenko Green For Life. It's interesting and well written and filled with lots of great information. Good to have around. Armed with Knowledge.
I got some other books from amazon and I've been doing a bunch of reading.

Dinner last night was this:














A colorful and refreshing chilled root salad is a perfect starter or side for a summer meal. Serve it on a bed of greens or wrap it in a large collard leaf or tortilla for a quick and filling lunch.

3 med carrots and one cuke, grated
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped fine
Juice of 2 clementines and 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and toss well. Chill and serve. Drain if you are using for wraps, it's a juicy salad. The juice makes a nice dressing for green salad.



Carrot Curry Salad in a Collard wrap with seed cheese for a fresh and quick, delicious and satisfying raw vegan dinner or lunch.


see the juice?








You like the juice? I give you more juice.















Today I had carrot, celery, broccoli, cucumber juiced in my Acme Juicerator
















I'm still wiped from the vacation. But I have almost caught up on the laundry so that is a light at the end of the tunnel.

First entry of our trip to San Francisco From Klamath Falls for the Boy's 9th Birthday

The boy is gone to school and the man off to work and I am here alone. I have a metric assload of laundry to do but I also have a metric assload of photos and videos to process and email and post, etc. Much work ahead but for now...

I managed to stay raw for most of the trip, other than the alcoholic beverages and a couple of nutter butter peanut butter sandwich cookies, which are horrible junk but at least they are vegan. I brought a large amount of bananas, oranges, grapes and raw flaxseed crackers so I had plenty to eat. I didn't go to restaurants except the man took me to Cafe Gratitude. We split the appetizer platter, had a green juice and a shot of E3live, shared an enchilada and a slice of ginger pear cheesecake.

And now a word about the Repaired Kitty Fund. You can click the button over there>>> if you want and donate.

**********************************

Thanks to everyone who has donated to the Kitty Repair Fund. We have raised $880 the last I heard and that is just pretty great if you ask me, but if you can, please give a couple more bucks.


Here is a photo of Repaired Cat and a new friend. Please do go here and read about her progress






















*********************************
Back to the story.
I know it's a couple of days late but here is my tribute to 4/20.


We left at the crack of dawn, 7 am. We wanted to get in early and be able to relax.















And now, the terribly coincidental places we stopped in on the way there.


This is the water tower that I keep telling you about that says POT on it. I think this is Dorris, but I'm not positive if that is the of the name of the town.






The town could be named POT for all I know. After all, we are coming up on Weed.







I love the classics.













You know some teenager risked life, limb and freedom to scramble up that rickety old tower and inscribe those three letters. It warms my heart.




Grass Lake.

















There are many beautiful rest stops on the way. Grass Lake is in the perfect location for a last minute bathroom stop before we get into the winding mountain and we have stopped there before.
There are usually a lot of birds there but I didn't see any big cranes.














Goofing off
















Looking like my mother.














And then we went to Weed, California.
Usually we just cruise through Weed and I say, Look, Boy, a TOTEM POLE, and he says COOL! or AWESOME! and we keep going but this time, for 4/20 the man thought it would be a good idea to get a Weed, Ca, commemorative t-shirt.



Something like this









While they were in the store I got this photo of the mountain and the arch and the sunrise.















And that was it for the marijuana themed 4/20 entry. An illegal drug that I NEVER DO and you shouldn't either. Cheers.

I will come back later with more photos and witty commentary. I'm tired and need rest.