Happy Birthday Amos!

For Amos' birthday I planned a kid-free getaway to our northern neighbor, Milwaukee. I reserved a bike at the indoor mountain bike park that looks completely amazing. What I'm really getting excited about is the vegan tot-cho's at Palamino.

Mexi Mac'N'Cheese

Half a package of TJ's Chorizo, cheapo noodles from our local grocery store and our basic nutri-yeast M&C base = Mexi Mac'N'Cheese.

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Pancakes With Brown Rice Syrup

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Pancakes With Brown Rice Syrup. I know we have posted a pancake recipe on this blog before, but I recently started making them with mostly oats instead of flour. Use quick oats if you want them a bit smoother or old fashion for that "oaty" texture.

‎1C quick oats
1/2 C flour or enough to make them pancaky
1T baking powder
1/4t salt
1C almond or soy milk

Layer with peanut butter and bananas and smother with your syrup of choice.

Sourdough Magic

Ok, so I made a sourdough starter by simply adding a cup of water to a cup of flour and let it sit out for a week covered with cheesecloth. After an unimpressive attempt at ginger beer I wasn't really expecting my sourdough to really work. I thought maybe we just don't have yeast in the air. Well, it worked and I have been exploring the world of sourdough.

After a few just ok loaves a sourdough bread I happened upon some sourdough crackers at a friend's house and could not believe how good they were. On the next store trip I picked up a box and it was gone the same day.

After a quick search I found this cracker recipe and adapted it using earth balance.

I did the first batch on a pizza stone and the second and third on cookie sheets. The final one I did on the pizza stone again after it had cooled a bit. The ones on the stone were a bit crispier and cooked much more evenly.

It has been years since I have had Cheese-It, but I immediately thought these taste just like them. Amazing good.

Wild Fermentation

I finally received the Wild Fermentation book I placed on hold at the library months ago. I skimmed through it and I have decided to try two different ferments to start. First, I am going to try and make ginger beer because it seems simple and only takes a couple of weeks. Second, I want to try to make tempeh. I found tempeh.info that sells starters and am about to place an order. I will post the progress of both projects once they are under way.

New Blogs

If I don't save blogs here I won't remember them. I don't usually have a whole lot of time to read online blogs/magazines/sites usually but my husband and baby are out and about and I found myself reading the interview with WoodlandBelle on Etsy which included some great links to some great new sites.

The Bright Side Project
Poppytalk
Pure Green Living Magazine

Now I just wish I had an IPad so I could lounge about on the couch and read on....

Miso Mac and Cheese

After buying Road's End macaroni n'cheeze regularly for a few years I decided that we could be making something very similar from spices and ingredients in our pantry. Our local ethnic marts have bags of pasta for 50 cents each and I usually add about half a cup of frozen peas or spinach at the very end of the cooking time. When I wrote on our recipe board that we needed to be eating more miso (so good for you) I had a stroke of brilliance and added some to our mac and cheese to substitute the sea salt I usually used. It proved to be rich and delicious compared to the somewhat pricey boxed mixes and only uses one pan which is great on a busy weeknight.

Miso Mac N'Cheese

You will need:
1 7 oz. bag of pasta (I also like to use brown rice pasta... so yummy.)
2-4 Tbsp. Miso (I've been using red miso recently)
1/2 Cup Non-Dairy Milk
1/4 Cup Nutritional Yeast
1/2 Cup frozen veggies, spinach or peas work great here
Curry powder (optional)
Tbsp or so of flour (if needed for thickening)

Method:
Prepare pasta following instructions on bag. Add frozen veggies in the last minute of cooking time, drain and set aside.

In pan heat soymilk over low heat. Dissolve miso (a good rule of thumb here is 1 Tbsp miso per serving) in the warm soymilk. Stir in nutritional yeast. Taste and adjust nutritional yeast to desired flavor and consistency. Add curry powder if you are feeling adventurous. Stir back in your pasta/veggies and voila - you've got it!

I have made other variations of this without miso with things like garlic powder and Italian spices that have turned out quite good as well. So if you have no miso no worries - you probably have something on hand to make a delicious meal.