Here's a shot of my breakfast this morning. Yum! It was so good I have to resist going back in for another serving. This is a warm bowl of my homemade applesauce topped with a new cereal I found at, of all places, Walmart. Here's the cereal:
I saw the word "Ancient" up there and had to have it. You know what ancient means. That's right . . . QUINOA, the answer to my protein dreams. I do so love the palpable protein boost of a good dose of quinoa. So yes, this cereal has quinoa, and also amaranth and teff. I don't know much about those two, but diversification is never a bad thing. All together, my warm applesauce and cereal topping tasted like the best apple cobbler ever, vegan or not.
I was glad to see a few vegan-friendly items at Walmart, and find it ironic that the Natural Foods Warehouse no longer carries Field Roast Apple Sage Vegan Sausage. Hmmm. I did ask about it and they said something about maybe the manufacturer was not willing to lower his prices enough for them to pass the savings along to the customer, yada yada. Then they suggested I shop for it online. Ummm, I didn't want it that badly. One step forward, two steps back.
Back to the applesauce: I've had a hankering for homemade applesauce every time I walk by a big wooden bowl of apples on my side table in the early stages of rot. My plan was to throw the apples into a crock pot and let them cook down on their own schedule, but lately my life has not even afforded me the luxury of enough time to peel and remove the bad parts of those apples, which is the only labor-intensive part of the sauce-making process. So last night, when I was creating a bit of a "hodge-podge" dinner for myself and the kids (my husband had a business dinner out) I began peeling and chopping apples for some future window of crock pot action, in between stirring, boiling and microwaving the dinners.
Here is my part of the hodge-podge dinner. I will call it "Eziekiel Pasta, Part Deux" (an hour earlier I had already eaten a lovely green salad from a tupperware while sitting in my car, waiting during my daughter's guitar lesson):
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may remember how I mentioned I acquired a taste for Eziekiel Bread and now love it, but didn't care for the Eziekiel Pasta. Well, with the kids choosing other random leftovers for their meals, I figured I was cooking last night just for little ole' me, so I would give the Eziekiel Pasta another go, since everything is different now that I've been vegan for a while. On the Eziekiel Fettucini I put Spicy Marinara (I am the only one who likes spicy) with mushroom slices. I topped it off with nootch, of course. The meal was very satisfying, and the flavors were delicious, better than I remember the Eziekiel pasta being, but the texture of the sprouted grain noodles necessitated a paradigm shift. They were very heavy like gritty potatoes or something. Not bad, just different. I did love the meal anyway, and I bet I will love it even more the next time. Don't serve this to your carnivores -- I think you have to have a healthy portion of hippy in you to love this!
Once I was well into the apple-prep during the dinner prep, I realized I did not want to wait for some future crock pot date. I wanted applesauce for dessert! So, before sitting down to "Eziekiel Part Deux", I put the apples (about 10 of them) into a pot on the stove on medium heat with a couple of tablespoons of earth balance butter. I stirred and stirred, while eating my pasta, and added ground ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and a drizzle of agave syrup. I am sorry I did not record the amounts. I kept tasting and adding more, in between bites of pasta. At one point the agave syrup seemed too pronounced, so I considered a squeeze of lemon juice, but finally opted to add one more fresh apple instead. Perfection! Again, I know I am not much help in the recipe department here, but something as warm and homey as applesauce should be an individual indulgence anyway. I encourage you to taste and add whatever you want until it is yours! To be clear, I did have applesauce for dessert after dinner, and again this morning, reheated for breakfast. I am so happy I still have half a potful in the fridge!
I am cognizant of the fact that this post is very A.D.D. Sorry about that. Hope you didn't get whiplash while reading it. It matches my current lifestyle. Now, I'd better gear up to put in another load of laundry, try again to wake the sleepy teenager (still trying to figure out what's wrong there -- bloodwork taken yesterday, MRI soon) take Ellie for her shots, nails and bath, pick up my new glasses, and a few more items for the dinner I am making for my friend who is having surgery today. Hmmm, maybe at some point I should squeeze in a shower -- maybe post-dog, pre-Optometrist? Thank God for quinoa. Off we go!
I'm heading to Wal-Mart tomorrow! I can't wait to check the ingredients. I may even be able to eat this on my current cleanse!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the cleanse. By the way, I forgot to fully answer your comment on the other post. I would definitely recommend marinating tofu, also press it first to remove much of the water. If you buy the kind that has already been baked, much of that "beany" aftertaste is already covered up since they marinate it before they bake it. Tofu's great, but I usually don't eat more than one block of it per week since it might throw off the hormones if used to excess.
ReplyDeleteGood to know, thanks Cheryl!!! And thanks for answering my above question about the pizza.
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