New Knowledge

I learned how to make crackers! And it was so easy! I'll include the recipe at the end but now I'm on a kick to learn how to make everything I usually buy. I still haven't gotten my tortilla press but once I have that I will be on my way. Though I suppose the biggest challenge might be rice cakes. Hmmm.

Thursday last week I made a recipe from Yoga Journal. It was very different from my normal fair. It was a green sweet potato soup with sage, essentially sweet potatoes cooked with sage and then blended with two large bunches of kale and chard. A dash of lemon completed the picture. It was refreshing and filling at the same time with a major dose of greens.



Last weekend the Mother-of-Law came for a visit and then Dandelion the Bitter Green threw out his back and was incapacitated for several days. But before the injury happened on Friday night we went to Millennium where the waiter practically knew our names. He gave us tons of free food and drinks and insisted we try new and interesting things. He has always been my favorite waiter and now more so. I only hope he gets to be our waiter during the Cheerful Baker's wedding reception.

I had a Berber spiced portabello on a teff cake with a garbanzo sauce and a meyer lemon salad. For desert I had a chocolate cheesecake with hazelnuts. But I was so full I could barely move, hardly ate my dinner to begin with after the two appetizers and bread. I didn't think the cheesecake was that good at the time but when I ate it the next day I thought it was much more cheesecake like and much tastier.



Saturday was the fateful back-throwing-out day so while Dandelion the Bitter Green recovered, I went to a show that night at a tea house (and Buddhist temple) and drank my body weight in Pu-erh tea.



Sunday we had pancakes and watched movies so we ate leftovers and a quick dish I made for Dandelion the Bitter Green since he didn't have leftovers.



Monday night was squash and adzuki bean soup with my favorite: rice and roasted veggies!





Tuesday night we had soup 2.0. I added the rice to the soup and made a big batch of broccoli and kale as a garnish as well as the best new thing I've learned how to make: crackers! These were whole wheat versions and I didn't use the cuisinart as suggested but they turned out ok. I'm sure next time I make them they will be even better. And the best part? It took about 15 minutes.



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Crackers

1 cup flour (I use half whole wheat and half whole wheat pastry flour)
2 Tblsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
water

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Put the first three ingredients in a bowl and begin mixing. Add the water slowly, in 1/4 cup increments, until a dough forms. It shouldn't be too sticky but should stay together. Roll out the dough on a floured surface as thin as you possibly can. Score it with a knife if you want to break it into nice neat squares. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until brown. Let cool on a rack and then eat or store in a bag. Note: If you want to add fancy flavorings (herbs, sesame seeds, cheese) I recommend doing that in the mixing stage. Nothing really stuck to the dough once it was rolled out.

Home cookin'

There haven't been a lot of homemade meals this last week between the work dinners and the visiting relatives. Here's what has happened.

Saturday night we ate at Millennium, "San Francisco's Premier Vegetarian Restaurant". The food was more amazing than usual. I think it's something about this time of year. Our waitress even comped us a plate of sorbets! (I <3 Millennium.) I can't even describe what was in my entree because it was so complicated and good. I think it was a forbidden black rice cake with Asian veggies in a coconut, lemongrass and cauliflower sauce. Divine!



The huckleberry cheesecake was not all that. The vegan cheesecake at Weird Fish was actually better in a traditional cheesecake kind of way, though this was delicious in a huckleberries are awesome kind of way.



Monday we finally cooked again: stuffed butternut squash with broiled tofu. The squash was stuffed with (and by) a suggestion of Dandelion the Bitter Green. Brown rice and lentils (which we already had cooked), carrots, kale, and walnuts. It was an especially delicious combination with the butternut squash.



Tuesday was my choice of roasted veggies (carrots, leek, parsnip, and sweet potato) with the secret ingredient-- hijiki!( a small skinny seaweed) Served with another rice/lentil/kale combo.



Wednesday night is pasta night, this time with tempeh instead of tofu. I fried the tempeh first with onions then cleaned the pan and fried a whole mess of kale (redbor and dinosaur) with garlic and lemon juice.