Category: food

Found “cat” and cookies

Tonight I decided it was about time I baked some cookies. So I started flipping through Veganomicon looking for a recipe I had all the ingredients for. Ah ha! Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies it is! Although I was really short on the flour, so it ended up being more like 3/4 cup unbleached flour and 1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour. It worked fine though. These are nummy. Not too icky sweet. Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. Good stuff. Crap, now I’ve got a ton of cookies in my house. Shit.

chocolate chocolate chip cookies from veganomicon

While I was baking, this “cat” was out on the porch enjoying some crunchies. After he ate, he seemed to be in a food coma and just hung out on the rail. I finally decided to chase him off, but not before letting Tak get a good look at him. He had no fear at all. Just calmly waddled off while Tak was shaking she was so excited and girl kitty and Grover looked on. I guess he wasn’t a mean one like that lost “cat” from the poster. I’d kind of forgotten how sharp possums were. They seriously have some needle noses.

a visiting possum

Lazy pizza

A few weeks ago, I picked up a pizza dough ball from Trader Joe’s and tossed it in the freezer. And this week I finally got into it. Not having to make the crust from scratch makes this a pretty lazy pizza. Especially when I used pesto I already had on hand as the sauce. Roll out the dough, spread the pesto, grate “cheese” on top and toss on fakeronies and green beans. Yes, I put green beans on there. What of it? I was feeling guilty about eating the pizza and had to get some more green in. It cooked up nicely and quickly and stuffed me on up. I was kind of piggy and ate half the thing, but managed to stop there. The Trader Joe’s crust was pretty good. A little bit sweeter than I’d make, but that sure didn’t keep me from jamming it in my pie hole.

Here are gratuitous before and after cooking shots. See, now you want a pizza with green beans! Okay, maybe not.

vegan pizza, uncooked

vegan pizza, cooked

Bits & Pieces

  • I came home Tuesday to find girl kitten (Yes, I still have her. Do you want dis kat?) had somehow gotten herself stuck in my tall kitchen garbage can. Who knows how long she was there but she was really happy to get out.
  • Sal “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero just isn’t doing it for me as boy kitty’s name. I knew another name would come to me and it did today. When I pick him up, his limbs all just kind of dangle. This reminds me of Grover for some reason. So, Grover it is.
  • Speaking of Grover, he’s huge! Seriously, check out the size of his feet. This cat is just now 4 months old, and his feet are bigger than his mama’s.
  • Shuffleboard is fun even when you suck at it.
  •  If you’re veg*n and stuck in Sandy Springs, World Peace Cafe will take care of you. Our vegan lunch group hit it last Saturday and everyone enjoyed their food. I had the tofu scramble which was nice. Not too much nutritional yeast and greened up with broccoli florets. Oh, and I’ll say the magic word: dessert. They have vegan dessert.
  • It had better mother fucking snow this winter after the hell we’ve endured this month.
  • Took the peanut butter cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World to a potluck and they went over well. Next time I’ll use half the molasses. It was too strong for my taste with the called for amount.
  • Why is my dog whining?

100% Vegan Shopping In Atlanta

Saturday evening was the grand opening party for the brick & mortar version of Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe. And wow, a lot of people were there! And some nummy foods. I got my fingers on a brownie and a chocolate mint cupcake and both were delicious.

Here’s a big hint to anyone who feels like buying me stuff….go here. Everything is vegan. No need to fret over ingredients. Everything is acceptable! Shoes, purses, make-up, food, etc. All of it. And it’s conveniently located, well, here.

I had to pick up a few things while I was there. I just HAD to. A cute little English Retreads rubber purse, Lesser Evil peanut butter & chocolate popcorn (it’s way gone), smoked cheddar style Sheese, a Beauty Without Cruelty eyeshadow duo, and a couple of bath product samples. It has been my first experience with Sheese and it’s really good. It’s the first cheese substitute I’ve had that mimics a hard cheese pretty well. It’s a little crumbly and apparently it doesn’t melt. But I ate it sliced on sammiches, sliced on tortilla chips and just sliced and I was happy with it all three ways. As much as we all appreciate Vegan Gourmet, I don’t think anyone really considers cutting off a chunk and eating it plain. Ew.

my haul from cosmo's vegan shoppe

Trader Joe’s – not as cool as I remember

I finally went to the Trader Joe’s in midtown on my way home from work Friday. Trader Joe’s isn’t new to me. My first experience with it was when I lived in the Berkeley hills and I went to the one in Emeryville, oh, about 1992. Back then I thought it was the shit. But back then I was just learning to cook and I wasn’t vegetarian, let alone vegan. I seem to remember a lot of yummy box food, similar to Nile Spice rices, couscous, etc. Easy for novice cooks and tasty.

Now, I’m the person the cashier dreads with usually 2/3 of my purchase come kind of produce. And not the normal stuff, but things like organic golden beets, galangal, random asian greens, etc. Side note: the produce section of the shopping cart needs to be much larger at the farmer’s market.

So, I already figured Trader Joe’s wasn’t going to be any good for my weekly shopping. And I was right. Although they did have a limited amount of fresh produce which I don’t remember from California. I was hoping for a bigger section of frozen veggies. That was actually my reason for stopping. I wanted a big bag of collards or mustard greens for my freezer. They had neither of those, but did have a pound of frozen organic spinach for $1.69. Not bad!

Another thing I remembered about Trader Joe’s is that they used to have a great selection of dried fruits and nuts. They did not disappoint. They had quite a few unsulphured, unsweetened fruits available. I got some mango.  I also got some dried cherries that were sweetened. And I saw something that seems to be scarce around town, currants. So I’ll keep those in mind the next time a recipe calls for them. The prices were just average on the fruit. No deals here. But the selection will keep my home made muesli interesting.

The pasta section yielded a couple more things I could use. $1.99 for a jar of organic pasta sauce isn’t bad. And is good to have in the cabinet for emergency lazy food. And $.99 is unheard of for a pound of organic whole wheat rotelle. Now let’s see how it tastes. Because whole wheat pasta varies widely in its taste and texture. Hopefully this will be a good one.

Anyway, all in all I didn’t see any reason to go in there on a weekly basis. But since it is on my way home from work, I will probably stop in there more often than I would otherwise.