A Toast to Opr*h

Dern it! She's on my bandwagon, at least temporarily. Let's toast her with my:

Spring Fling Limeade

3 c. spring water
1 1/4 c. lime juice
3/4 c. vegan sugar
2 c. ice

Blitz and enjoy, preferably after cleaning my deck while I get the pleasure of watching Andy. Excellent division of labor as far as I'm concerned. Thanks, Karla and Jacob!

Say Cheese?

Andy Rocker: Black Label Society - Blood is Thicker Than Water

There's one department store left that gives you the rights to your images. Rhymes with "Nears". Thanks to them, and a brilliant photographer named Kelly, I can bring you this image. We started out the trek on a few interesting notes. Jacob, Karla and Andy are not in the same outfits that they picked out. Jacob was redecorated in optical yellow courtesy of his son, and Andy's little hearts and love outfit went the way of the diaper. Karla's first outfit was fine, but not great, so she was redecorated too, courtesy of me. Richard's attitude matched Andy's diaper at first, but we all gradually warmed up to the idea of having this moment preserved for posterity. Sick, fat, tired, dirty (my outfit came straight back out of the laundry), and massively fussy at times, but happy together. I'm glad Karla asked us to join them. There are more pics to come, but not here.

Rocking the Cradle

What would I do without John Mellencamp? As far as looks go--'compelling' would be kind. His politics? His personal habits? I sure don't resonate with many of those. Best parenting advice I ever got was from him, though. "Three spanks. Any more and it's not for them, it's for you." We can agree on limited force there!

Andy's been up at night, and if you think he's the light of our lives when he's googly and cooey in the daytime, add slight sleep deprivation into the mix. Potently wonderful combination, and so I find myself bouncing and holding His Swaddliness quite a bit. I'm the DJ at the All Hours Cafe, so I'm glad to have great cyber resources. 'Emotional Love' by John Mellencamp is the number one pick. It comes on, and a great happy shudder and sigh go through the assembled. Peace is the theme, and peace it brings. I'll put Mellencamp up against Bob Dylan any day. Whether it's scrutinizing a little subject from every angle or bringing home the big picture idea, I trust him to deliver in an infinitely listenable fashion. And yes, I know he didn't write this one.

Primavera

New life at Easter! Is anything more joyous? Nope. We're having a great time with Andy and his folks. Since I don't have as much time in the blogosphere, I pledge to make it count more. Here's some ancient history that's timely right now, what with the full moon and all the coincidi on the 21st. I present an early 80s tribute to the wild one in some/all of us. Walter Egan's sweet take on lunar lunacy-"Fool Moon Fire". Aooooo!

Dowel Sammie

Huh? Sounds like a weird sort of thing, but I just finished my second one. A bit of background. My Pop made us 'lefse rollers' out of dowels. They are the handiest rolling pins ever, and barely a day goes by that they aren't pressed in service. Cinnamon rolls, dog bones, bashing a recalcitrant ball of ice out of some peas-no problem for Pop's lefse rollers. A bit more background. I'm trying to watch the salt content of my food. I had no idea cereal was such a salt lick (The aforementioned BBQ sauce is better than any commercial one in salt content, BTW). My beloved tortillas came up way too high in sodium also, so I'm finding alternatives. Here's the...

Dowel Sammie
Roll out 1 slice soft whole wheat on a cutting board. Moisten slightly on edges. Spread down the middle with BBQ sauce and cashew cheez. Pile on sauteed onions and peppers and leftover tofu, if you're me. If not, do whatever. Roll up, spread outside lightly with vegan mayonnaise. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Guard from family. Laugh hysterically at anyone buying those lame, expensive Hot Pockets. BTW, my bread is Nature's Own Natural 12 grain. I do not eat sodium stearol lactylate or L-Cysteine, among other things. Human hair, chicken feathers and roadkill grease do not belong in food.

I feel slightly guilty eating my second one while watching a VegSource video from Dr. Fuhrman.

BBQ Time

I made some seitan today that wasn't quite cutting it taste-wise, and thought I'd slap some barbecue sauce on it. It was after 8, the natives were restless, and...dern! No 'cue in the house. I whipped up the following, and it went down well.

2T. Fruity BBQ-tea

1 can of peaches
1/3 c. catsup
1/3 c. apple cider vinegar
2 T. brown mustard (Norwegian)
2 T. maple syrup
2 T. molasses
2 T. tomato paste (left over from making the seitan)
2 T. minced onions
1 T. garlic powder
1 T. worcestershire (vegan)
1 t. black pepper
1 t. cayenne
1 t. dry mustard
1 t. liquid smoke
1/2 t. curry powder
1/2 t. salt
Blitz and cook down slightly.
Here's the glop shot. Sometimes good just can't be conveyed in a picture. Let's just say that no one complained about the ho hum seitan.

What have we been doing lately? Just settling in for a long winter's snuggle. Can you blame us? The light show behind Andrew is an illuminated spice rack...we didn't take him to the world's mellowest rave. He's such a great Valentine's gift! In this video, 10 day old Andrew is about to think about asking Mommy for some more food. Quietly. Yeah, right.

Bean Burgerrrrz

Yeah, I've achieved market weight. And I know that soon I'll be heading back into raw land. So I've been drinking hot chocolate like it's going out of style and enjoying the comfort foods of winter. Peanut butter on everything! Great recipe today. I had a can of butter beans floating around, and made this riff on a Vegan Vittles burger. They are so gone. They were good hot. They were good cold. I'll never find out how they are when they're nine days old.

Butter Bean Burgers

1 diced onion

1 T. canola oil

Saute onion 10 minutes. Mix with:

1 c. oatmeal

1 c. bread crumbs

1/2 c. walnuts

1 t. garlic powder

1 t. onion powder

In blender, put

1 c. butter beans

3/4 c. soymilk

1/4 t. sage

1/2 t. tamari

1/2 t. Kitchen Bouquet

Blitz until smooth. Add to oat mixture and stir. Let stand 5 minutes and make into 10 patties. Spray with oil and bake 20 minutes at 350.

Served in soft focus with Norwegian ketchup and mustard. You've seen a burger before, yes? On another note, I'm a Grandma now. there's nothing like this in the world, and I hope to publish a suitable paean in due time. I'm marinating in happiness right now, and as it's fragile and new, I don't want to do anything to hex it. As a cook, I'd like to note that Karla and Jacob seem to have the right ingredients to stir up one fantastic baby. Kudos. We're on a roll in the baby department!