21 and counting

Hey, it's my 21st post! Not that it is very significant, but I'm just suprised.

Beans and greens seem to be a trend in my kitchen lately. Here is something I call Health on Toast.
I sauteed some garlic in olive oil, added leftover baby limas, simmered them a little, then threw in a handful of chopped parsley. Then, I sauteed some thinly sliced swiss chard. I smeared a piece of cranberry-walnut bread with mustard, then piled the beans and greens on top. Viola. Simple, delicious, and healthy. Your welcome.

For the upcoming Canadian Seal Hunt Protests here in Houston, a couple of us crazy activists got together to make some signs. Here is a finished poster with one of our catchy phrases.

I wanted to make dinner for everyone, so I pulled out my Teany Book and made the classic Indian dish. Green tea-Jasmine rice in the top corner, curried potatoes and peas to the right, and coconut creamed spinach in the bottom left. They were all so delicious, and complimented each other nicely. We were full and happy vegans.

Last but not least, I want to talk about the new love of my life. She is a beautiful, vivacious, loving rescue puppy. A friend found her in a Walmart parking lot in the middle of the night. He took her home, cleaned her up, fed her, and named her Cocoa Sorbet. They came over for a visit and I fell in love. She is hard to capture in a picture, since she is so active (and a little afraid of cameras). She is black, with brown tints and a white patch on her chest. The vet thinks she is a shepherd, and says she is very healthy. Since I am not allowed to have dogs in my apartment, I offered to babysit at any time.
That's it for now. Happy Easter everyone, and I'll see you next time I'm in a free wi-fi area.

Gratins, greens, beets and beans

Sadly, I don’t have the internet at home anymore, so my web surfing time is limited, as well as my blog posting opportunities. If my bills end up being fairly reasonable this month, I will be getting the internet. Until then, I have to work around the library's hours. So here are some things I have created over that past month or so.

After picking up some organic sweet potatoes, and locally grown tomatoes at the co-op, I decided to make the Sweet Potato-Artichoke Gratin from an old issue of Vegetarian Times.

With layers of a tomato, artichoke, white bean spread, and sweet potato, topped with walnuts, I never missed the ooey gooeyness cheesyness of the gratins I have always known. It turned out really good.

On my next trip to the co-op, I picked up some beets that were on sale. For $0.75 a pound, I couldn’t say no. I shreded them and combine them with shredded red potato, zucchini, some herbs and spices, and a little ener-g egg replacer and made potato pancakes. I topped them with a little soy yogurt mixed with green onions.

White beans sauteed with onions, garlic and celery, served over local collard greens. Simple enough, and a super delicious and filling quick meal.

I tried the Esme’s Sauce recipe again. Ever since I made it the first time, I have been wanting to try again with different veggies and a thinner sauce to see if I could get better results. This time it was with some spinach and leftover edamame. I added the lemon juice I forgot last time, and a little extra water. It turned out a little better, but this time is was a little too tangy for me. Next time maybe I will leave out the lemon juice. I definitely recommend it with spinach. At least the picture is good.

I will leave you with some pictures of a cute screech owl. We got to meet the little guy at a Vegetarian Meetup at Baba Yega. We missed the introduction speech, in which they also featured a hawk and another bird. But, the meal was good- we split a vegetarian loaf, and black bean burger. This little guy has such big, beautiful eyes.