Hector for President and Other Silly Ramblings

Whew

I hope I learned my lesson this time.  I ate some spinach artichoke dip yesterday and within half an hour had swollen feet and hands and felt like a slug...It was delicious but not worth that.  Guess I will need to make my own version without the dairy and the salt.  If fact yesterday was a dairy binge - I had a bit of greek yogurt on my berries in the morning (can't find plain soy yogurt without traveling to cool springs and the flavored stuff is okay, but too sweet for me).  That dip for lunch and dinner had cheese on the veggie enchiladas and jalepeno dip and tres leches cake for dessert...(Chuy's rocks)  The veggie enchiladas were very good and next time I'll just have 'em hold the cheese, skip the dip and maybe the cake (but really it is the best dessert in Murfreesboro and very nearly irresistable).  Sooo, breakfast was a bowl of brown rice, pumpkin seeds and raisins and a couple of Morning Star link sausages and a mango and berries smoothie made with almond milk.  I could live on this, it was yummy and I feel better already.

This weekend is going to be a challenge - there is a huge gathering of Kermicles in Illinois and the food so far on the list of what people are bringing is not vegan friendly.  Plus this is a town with only a few restaurants, all meat and dairy havens cause it is farm country.  Guess I'll be bringing my own tofu salad sandwiches.....

What a busy day yesterday

Finished planting the new rose arbor...(pictures later) We rescued some sad looking roses from KMart - one is a beautiful yellow and orange - Joseph's Coat - and is blooming already, though of course it is small yet. I then mulched everything in the yard that needed it - all the flowers and the tomatoes Doyle planted (13 plants)  Don't know if they will produce the way the ones last year did in the square foot garden but it they do I will have tomatoes for sauce for a year or two to come.  I made up some olive oil with cinnamon oil  to combat the mosquitoes.  It seemed to help, they were threatening to pick Doyle up and carry him off and I only had to swat at a few from time to time as it wore off.  I got to pick dinner between rain storms yesterday too - a really big salad from the garden - lettuces, sorrel, mints, sugar snap peas and then Kale and chard for later in the week.  Also had some brown rice - just plain with some earth balance and raisins and pumpkin seeds.  yummy.

Oh the Garden......

Doyle had a long day on Wednesday...He tilled the existing garden bit, and then used the tractor to till up the rest - which we managed to plant mostly before the rain.

 I planted green beans, Armenian cucumbers - those long less seedy ones - butternut squash, acorn squash, watermelons, cantalope, a bizillion sunflowers......There is still room for more in the other end of the garden.

Then there is the square foot garden.  The garlic is high and still no scapes (I am not patient)

 We had tilled the remaining kale under - it was gettin buggy and going to seed.  There is a bit of red russian kale in the square foot garden, some chard and I will plant some more chard for the summer.  The asparagus is finally up and the peas are starting to have pods on them..

 Oh and lettuce, did I mention lettuce...

Here's a moth I saw yesterday morning on the garage....makes me want to knit something complicated.... a shawl is greys and black...mmmmmmm

New Recipe

While in Italy I had spaghetti cooked in Chianti...Here's my version.....Serves 2-4 people

A handful of dried Chanterelle mushrooms (morels or portabella or fresh will do as well) soaked for 30 - 45 minutes, chopped.

One leek, cleaned, white part only, sliced thinly.

2-3 c. Chianti - or other good red wine - don't use a wine that has turned vinegary - it''ll make vinegary spaghetti.

Spring rosemary

1/2 lb spaghetti - the thicker kind, not angel hair

Saute the leeks and mushrooms in a Tablespoon of olive oil til translucent - in a large flat saute pan.  Add a sprig of rosemary to the pot.  Add a bit of vegetable stock if extra liquid is needed. You can use up to a cup of  stock with the wine to cook the spaghetti.  Add 2-3 cups of red wine to the pan and the spaghetti.  Only break the spaghetti once.  (You can also cook it slightly in water to make it bendy before adding to the wine for the real cooking if you like to be able to twirl it on the plate)  When the spaghetti is cooked remove to plate - garnish with fresh parsley (or pecorino or parmesan if not vegan). The wine will have reduced to make a light sauce.

yumm!