Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Buried, Gone mad, and lunchbox (not in that order)

TODAY'S LUNCHBOX
I had to go to a curriculum night at Matthew's school last night, so Dave was in charge of supper duty. He made a basic thick crust pizza using commercial soy cheese, TVP s'sage crumbles (i keep this made ahead in the freezer ready for nights like this) and a good pizza sauce. Today's lunchboxes include pizza leftovers, a banana, and a container of green beans that grew in our garden. Sorry if the picture quality is not the best... I am working on this and hope to be able to allow you to click and access a larger picture. Until then I leave you with a tag and will show you what I must be doing the rest of the day. My post tomorrow afternoon will be my entry for the vegan t'ART contest. The t'ART I will be presenting makes excellent leftovers also. I have been having alot of fun toying with this concept so come back and check it out, I'll think you'll enjoy it. :)

ALSO - I just switched to the BETA blogger. Gotta say the spelling moderator is great. I'm sure anyone who has read my blog at any time knows there were typos everywhere because I never took the time to spell check using the old way. This new version of blogger should help me with that now. :)

TAGGED AGAIN
This one comes from Catherine of Albion Cooks. And looks like it originated from the Traveler's Lunchbox, an interesting piece to read so I'll place a link to them to. I present the five foods that I think everyone should try before they die.
1) Bryanna's Seitan Wellington Roast with Madeira Gravy... time consuming so only for a special occasion but an awesome presentation as well as an awesome eat. It uses a wonderful mushroom pate as well as phyllo dough sheets.
2) A simple stir-fry of fresh picked (from your own) garden greens... Swiss chard is my current favorite. But a pot of spicy southern greens would work to or maybe even a soup with some greens added. I can be flexible here, it's all good.
3) Three sister's pizza: A concoction of squash, corn, and a savory white bean spread with vegan Gruyere cheese. Autumn time is near and I am really looking forward to eating this again soon.
4) Acorn squash, roasted to perfection in the oven until the edges are browned and filled with my five bean soup. Use the squash as the bowl and make sure to pull up spoons of it with the soup.
and last but not least (drum roll please) ...
5) Stufado an Italian vegetable stew that includes all sorts of peak of the season fresh garden produce. It's nice and thick and wonderful, esp when the leftovers are served in calzone pockets.

LIFE ISSUES
My dining room table is a mess. What you see here is an assortment of paperwork I have laying everywhere. I am writing a grant proposal which is a final project for the last class I had to leave to take (the one week one in which I stayed in the sorority house). My idea is a program that will be a bridge between the public school and the homeschooling community ... a true alternative approach to education. The focus of my program will be supporting the parent-teachers who teach their students. So what happens when mom is lost in a mess of paperwork?

Well I "force" others to cook...

What happens during this cruel and unusual time of punishment? This time Dreena's Home style Chocolate Chip Cookies were made. Oh, oh, oh, (to the 7th degree) .... so good! I have made some fatty sugary vegan cookies in my lifetime (the kind that I would often not eat due to the high wasted calorie content, but I sure sold alot of them). I LOVE THESE COOKIES! I ate these cookies and didn't have a problem with the ingredients.Melissa used olive oil instead of canola and I can see many variation options with this recipe. For example ... need to lower the sugar content? Sub stevia and if you don't mind the chemicals use sugar free pancake syrup. Want a wheat alternative... use Bette Hagman's Four Flour Bean Mix (gluten free) or spelt flour. We used a dairy free chocolate chip (sunspire brand).

I have to warn you though. When you force this kind of work on your family, it causes them to react in animistic ways. Don't say I didn't warn you... none of these cookies made it into a lunchbox - no, not one.

Tomorrow is the last day to enter urban vegan's vegan t'ART contest.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

The pizza sounds delicious. In your five foods to try post, I am intrigued by the roasted acorn squash with soup. I love roasted squash but I've never used the squash as a soup bowl. Great idea :)

Good luck with your grant proposal. I still haven't tried Dreen'a Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies. Everyone just raves about them so I know I'm going to have to try making them soon.

I had to smile when I read "they reacted in animalistic ways" with no cookies leftover. Ha ha.

Mikaela said...

Those cookies are making my belly growl...

:) Mikaela

Catherine said...

Great answers! I can't wait to try some of these! Have you seen the vegan bento box group on flickr? I have a link on my sidebar if you want to check it out - it's cool!

urban vegan said...

Melissa reminds me of Christina Ricci in that photo. OK, a blond Christina Ricci.

Your dining room table looks like my office. Paperwork is like laundry--there's always more waiting.

KleoPatra said...

Dori, i just have to tell you how much you really and truly make me smile with all that you write, create, do - and just because of who you ARE.

Love the "messy" dining room table. I find your grant proposal fascinating with its emphasis on the parent/teachers, and hope to see it implemented one day! I would be interested in finding out more about this alternative approach to education to be sure. If you ever can share with us, sometime in the future...

Nice food picks there. Needless to say i haven't made any of them, but they all sound wonderful! Stufado sounds totally healthy and wonderful and Bryanna's seitan situation is a "wow" that i'll never be able to make for myself, but i'm a pizza fanatic so the Three sisters pizza would be my first choice to "do" out of all this! Where can one find the recipe for this pizza? A white bean spread with vegan Gruyere cheez? Whew!

I have heard SO MUCH about Dreena's Home Style CC Cookies. I think it's soon time for me get here cookbook and whip up a batch of these already.

A good lookin' lunch box and love the pizza leftovers made by Dave. Good supper duty there, 'eh? I can't even imagine growing green beans... ah life in a condo. That's so beautiful in every way, Dori.

Lookin' forward to your tART contenst baby...

Do you think it's true that once you go BETA you never go back? I have seen others have "issues" w/it and i'm pretty happy with the basic blogger at the moment...

Keep up the good work, Dori. You are such an inspiration. Fab post as always. How you find time to do EVERYTHING never ceases to impress and amaze...

Unknown said...

I agree...the spell checker in 100 times better in the new Beta verison. I'm very happy with it as I can't spell to save my life.

Looking forward to seeing that amazing sounding tart!

Tanya Kristine said...

well yay! i can comment.

now i have to go back and read your blog...you always have great things to say!

Shananigans said...

I haven’t had pizza in quite a while and that looks sooooo good! I’ve finally managed to budge a pound or two and it’s because I’m tying to stay away from foods that will tempt me to overindulge (sadly, that include pizza and cookies). When I’m trying to make cookies healthier I usually use whole wheat pasty flour and xylitol in place of sugar. It works pretty well. I wonder if you could substitute apple sauce for part of the oil? I do that in quick breads a lot but I think it might make the cookies to soft. In any case I won’t be baking any cookies for a while.

That pile of papers on your table looks very familiar, hmmm…

MeloMeals said...

Oh Dori, we made these cookies last night after our soup dinner.. I sub'd very scant 1/4 tsp of stevia for the sugar, but still used real maple syrup. I made 12 small cookies, and in 6 of them, I used a bit of mint extract. They were sooo good.. and we ate them all last night. I had 2 cookies and so did my husband.. the boys ate the rest.. and it was OK with me. I wonder if using a bit more stevia and some of bryanna's oil replacer mixed with pure maple syrup could be used to lower the sugar content even more.. without using chemicals...

btw, I LOVE your grant idea... what a great resource for the community.

Can't wait to see your tart.. I don't think I'll make it.. I've got a bunch of stuff to do tomorrow... and I was going to make it then, but school/band stuff is going to take up a bunch of time.. (I have to type up a bunch of stuff, copy it all and mail it for the high school band)

Eat Peace Please said...

I am looking forward to your tart. This post made me laugh, sorry you have so much paper work, but Melissa's cookies look and sound amazing. Everyone has been drooling over Dreena's cookies. Maybe I'll make the batter and use someone else's oven...

Anonymous said...

This whole blogger beta thing is crazy. I switched my blog over to Beta also. Hoping everyone else does too so we're all on the same wavelength and commenting is easier. I'm also trying to put together a blogroll to help me keep track of the blogs I read and when they're updated. Hopefully it helps. There are so many good blogs out there, it's hard to keep them all straight. Anyway, I popped back over here to see if you had any new posts and didn't see the T'Art post and thought I had gone mad! Really. Then I saw your comments. Whew! Happy for the sneak peak anyway.

Sorry this is a ramble, but I also wanted to ask you how Matt's schooling in the big city has been going? I'm anxious for details. :)

Dreena said...

Dori, thanks for your recent comment on my blog. I really appreciated it, since I am always trying to strike the balance between healthy foods and treats we can still love to eat! So glad you liked the cookies... :)

Nikk said...

Pizza and cookies. What more could anyone want?

:)

Anonymous said...

The cookies look great (so does the pizza). I have to get Dreena's cookbook. Everyone says such great things about it.

It looks like the apple doesn't fall from the tree -- you're kids are as creative as you are. Very nice.

Carrie™ said...

Dori, love your post, as always. I quite often take leftover pizza for lunch. I can never have too much pizza. I spotted this top 5 list on some other blogs and saw that someone tagged you, so I couldn't wait to see what you picked. Mmmmm!! Great choices.
And those cookies. Your daughter did a wonderful job. Good luck with your proposal. Looks like you're hard at work. I'm sure it will pay off.

Anonymous said...

I love your grant proposal idea ! Love it ! Keep us posted !

Those are the next cookies I try from Vive. Did you try the Double Chocolate Almond Explosion Cookies ? They are amazing !

And thank you for the comment you left on my blog this morning :) You made me laugh out loud LOL
I sure am glad that you finally came out of your basement LOL

funwithyourfood said...

I was "forced" to cook as a kid. I'm saying it was a good thing because I love it now :)

way to show em hehe

Teddy

Kim said...

Lunch Looks good.

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

melissa, you are such a cutie-pie --- ahhh, i mean cutie-cookie!

laura k said...

Your food picks--that pizza sounds incredible! Vegan gruyere? I didn't know such a thing existed! And roasted acorn squash filled with anything would be right up there on my list too... I'm sure your 5-bean soup is wonderful!

I love looking at those cookies... and at your daughter about to devour them!