Countdown to employment

Howdy.
I've been spending my time alternating between getting ready for my new job and enjoying lazing around while I can.

This evening I made Rustic Tomato Lentil Soup from 'How it all Vegan.' I used flax pasta and added a bit of that 5 Chinese Spice stuff because it seemed a little under-spiced. Turned out delicious and there's tons left.

I stocked up on salad stuff recently, so I've been eating a few of those. The picture above is the salad I had for lunch today: Earthbound Farm Organic mixed greens, organic baby spinach, bean sprouts, tomato and walnuts with Oil and Vinegar dressing.

And a few days ago I made TLTs (Tempeh, Lettuce and Tomato) Sandwiches for dinner, again. This time it had bean sprouts and baby spinach instead of regular lettuce. The tempeh was that smoked maple flavour stuff again.

Hey look I'm back.

I've been lazy about updating lately, but I've got two great entries comin' atcha, so stay tuned.

First news: I have invented possibly the best way to cook rice and lentils ever. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced (that means chopped)
• 1 cup white rice
• 1/2 cup brown lentils
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 4 cups water or vegetable broth
  
• 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp tumeric, dash of peper, 1 bay leaf
  

- In a large sauce pan or small pot, saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil for 10 minutes.
- Add the rice and lentils and stir to coat with oil.
- Add the water or broth, tomato, and spices. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and cook for 20 minutes, or until the rice and lentils are fully cooked.

I served this with Garlicky Kale.

I also made a super yummy Veggie and Hummus Sandwich at some point. This one had sliced cucumber and tomato, hummus, and garlic salt on toasted flax bread. Can't really beat a good hummus and veggie sandwich for lunch, in my opinion.

Okay I've got a delicious soup to blog about, but it's so amazing I'm going to make its own post.
Peace.

Inventing

Today I have two recipes that I pretty much made up. MAKE THEM!

Today I made Lavender Pancakes. I adapted it from the pancakes recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance.
To make them you will need 1 and 1/4 cups of whole grain flour (substitute 1/2 cup for white flour, if you like), 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, 2 tbsp canola oil, 1 1/2 cups of soy milk (or other milk substitute), 2 tbsp dried lavender (I bought mine in Kensington market), 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 tbsp maple syrup.

• Put 1 and 1/2 cups of soy milk in to a sauce pan and heat to a simmer. I used vanilla Natura.
  
• Add the lavender to the soy milk and let it simmer covered on medium-low for 15-20 minutes. (You don't want it to boil. If it starts boiling, reduce the heat.)
  
• Strain out the lavender, saving the milk in a large bowl.
• To the soy milk, add the wet ingredients (including the maple syrup) and mix.
• In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir (ideally with a wooden spoon) until just mixed.
  
• Fry with vegan margarine.

Yesterday I made a pretty nifty lentil dish, which I shall also share with you:
You will need 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 cup of brown lentils (or any kind of lentils, probably), 1/2 cup of brown or wild rice (you can use a full cup of rice if you want there to be more food with more rice, just add more water so it all cooks), 1 purple onion, 1 red bell pepper, spices.

• Saute the chopped onion and bell pepper (plus some chopped garlic if you want, I add garlic to everything) in the olive oil for about 10 minutes.
  
• Add the lentils, rice, and 3 1/2 to 4 cups of water (if the water is all gone and the lentils don't seem tender enough, add some more water), plus about 1 tbsp of cumin, 1 tbsp rosemary, 1/2 tbsp of paprika, 1/2 tbsp curry powder, and 1 tsp salt. (Adjust the amount of each spice as you like, or replace some if you want.)
  
• Cook until ready (about an hour).
• Add a couple drops of hot sauce, or something else to make it spicy, if desired.
  

Stephy needs a job

I've been out of school for a few weeks now and I should probably find myself some employment. Know anyone who wants to pay me for eating cookies? I'm really good at that.
At least I'm cooking and kind of getting some work done on a painting.
Also I got two more holes in my ear today. Yay for me.
Above was a meal I made with lentils, couscous, and garlicky kale. I love green things and also garlic. The kale was chewy and had a strong taste, almost like a mix between a green and an herb. I enjoyed it.

Protein!

Today for dinner I'm havin' a big ol' bowl full of protein.
Started out with my Omega Meal's sprouted rice, lentils and flax. I bought this in a package at the vegetarian food fair, but it's just brown rice, lentils, and flax seeds (germinated, which is supposed to be all extra good for you, but you could just boil the normal type together.) So lentils and brown rice makes a protein, and the flax seeds (which I talk about all the time and will always love) have Omega 3 fatty acids. I boiled them in with a vegetable bouillon cube (organic from GoBIO! brand) and added some marjoram. I like dumping random spices in my rice, partly to help me get acquainted with them.
Then I added some frozen peas, which also make a protein when combined with the brown rice.
This is a totally complete and delicious meal, which took about 3 minutes to make since the rice dish was left over from last night.
Completed with a glass of gingerale.
Make it and enjoy!