Blending

Earlier this summer Phil bought me a blender.  Not just your $30 run of the mill blender.  We're talking some serious action here.  My man bought me the best--a vitamix.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with a vitamix blender, they have the same horsepower as a small lawn mower.  So yeah, we're talking some heavy duty blending.

The original reason I needed a blender was to make my own milk at home.  Trying to be a good steward of our grocery money, I realized that spending $7-$10 a month on store bought milk was an easy thing to shave off.  I also thought that if I baked all of our bread we would save around $20 a month.  And I tried, how I tried!  And it wasn't that it turned out bad or anything, it just wasn't soft enough, and the servings were too large.  We were eating more grains than we needed.  And living in a split level home with an upstairs kitchen, it was heating up the house too much.  So, we compromised and said, let's just keep the home made bread for special meals.  But I digress...

I read lots of recipes on how to make your own milk at home, and the first few were a flop.  One had me peeling soaked almonds.  It took our whole family an hour to peel a cup and a half of soaked almonds!  And then sadly, the kids spat out the results.

I'll let you in on a little secret: I'm a recovering perfectionist who tends to quit if things don't work out the first time or two.

But I've persevered, I had to make good use of this great blender!  Then I ran out of cheesecloth, and I discovered, you cannot put cheesecloth through the washer and dryer.  So I read.  I read and I read and I read.  I didn't want to keep buying cheesecloth, that didn't seem like a great way to save us money.  Also, I had guilt when I'd toss it in the trash.  And no, I didn't want to rinse out in the sink and reuse, that just didn't seem very sanitary to me.  When finally in the comment section of some random blog, I found my solution--flour sack towels.

I was thrilled to find that Sams Club carried them, and at a dollar a towel, I felt it was a great purchase.  Today was the first day that I used the towels.  I would have to say it was a raging success, there was more almond 'fluff' left behind than the cheesecloth ever did.  And the milk is wonderful looking, and tasting!  I told the girls that tomorrow is cereal day (a rare treat) and that they will have the equivalent of store milk to put on.

Just in case you were wondering the methods to my milky madness, here's my recipe.

Almond Milk

1 cup of preblanched almonds
4 cups water
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 dropper of liquid stevia (probably about 10-12 drops)

put almonds and 1c of water into blender.  Blend on high until a loose paste has formed.  Add remaining 3 cups of water and blend on high  until well incorporated.  Strain through flour sack towel and add vanilla and stevia.  Shake and enjoy!

Veggie Sausage--at last!

I've been a vegetarian for five years now, so I don't get asked 'is there anything you miss?' very often anymore.  But to be honest, I miss sausage.  I'm convinced it's the sage that calls to me.  I've tried the faux stuff from the store, and it's ok.  But it's so dang pricy, and the ingredients on the label make me a bit nervous.  Every once in a while I get the gusto to try again to make something that is reminiscent of sausage.  And usually I end up sorely disappointed.

 A few weeks ago, I asked Hyvee (through facebook!) if they could carry tempeh.  Lo and behold they could, would, and did, which I promptly snagged some up.  But then I got home and I just stared at my package.  Like the proverbial tofu, I was at a loss of what to make out of my beloved tempeh.  So I started surfing the internet for ideas when I came across the post punk kitchen website for Tempeh Sausage Crumbles.  I was a bit apprehensive at first, but when I tried them,  amazing!  Phil even asked what I had made it smelled so good.  Sadly, the recipe was for an italian flavored sausage, while tasty and thoroughly enjoyable, what I love is the breakfast kind.  So I got brave and tried my hand at combining the seasonings for the breakfast sausage with the methodology from the post punk kitchen.  Voila!  Finally a recipe that was edible and enjoyable.

What follows is the original recipe from the post punk kitchen, and below that is the breakfast seasonings modification:

Ingredients
8 oz package tempeh
1 tablespoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried margoram or oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
juice of 1/2 a lemon

Directions
In a saute pan, crumble the tempeh and add enough water to almost cover it. Over high heat, steam the tempeh until most of the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Drain the remaining water and add the rest of the ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

credit to the ppk--you rock!:

http://www.theppk.com/2008/10/tempeh-sausage-crumbles/

breakfast sausage seasonings (from the Dining on a Dime cookbook)

1 tsp sage (heaping b/cuz I loooove sage!)

1/2 tsp marjoram

1/2 tsp thyme

1/8 tsp pepper (heaping)

I just followed the same directions and used the same liquid ingredients as the original recipe

Now this story has an even happier ending.  I used some of the crumbles to top my blueberry corncakes with a bit of maple syrup.  Talk about yum!  And tonight I added some into my couscous with peas.  

And I still have some more left over!

I think there are some biscuits and gravy on my horizon...

Laughter

There is nothing better in the world than to hear the laughter of children.  Except maybe when it's your own kids.  Given that there is a five and a half year difference between Abi and Wesley, they don't 'play' together as much.  But when they do the peals erupt.  Tonight they were on opposite ends of the hallway throwing balls towards each other.  Lizzi would then proceed to run and chase down all the balls, trying to beat Wesley, while Abi about fell over laughing each time.

Another of their favorite games to play is a modified hide and seek, tag.  This usually happens after a shared bathtime and they are all nakie with hooded towels on.  Abi and Lizzi will run around the island and hide on the other side, and Wesley will chase them.  When he gets close they shriek with delight and he giggles so hard that he about smacks his head on the floor.

It's all so entertaining that Phil and I join the laughter and soon we are all just hooting our fool heads off.

Blessed.  So very blessed indeed.