A Gift of Cookies

I got a message from a friend. She sent me a package and wanted to make sure it had arrived. I hadn’t, so the anticipation began. She had sent me a necklace as a surprise this summer. What could it be?

It came next morning. It arrived early without announcement. My husband saw it as he was pulling out of the garage. I needed to go to work so I ran it in put it on the table and left. It was addressed to the whole family. I got the feeling that she made us something. I couldn’t guess what. The box was bigger than I expected. A plain brown box with some dents from it’s journey. At work as I packed other boxes full of gifts for others it was all I could think of. What could it contain?

Eight hours later I am at home with the family gathered around the box. We get the scissors and with some difficulty we manage to cut the tape from around the top flaps of the box and open them. First brown paper then finally a tin decorated with squiggly Christmas trees and stuck on top a red paper with a handmade calligraphy label. “Cookies Handmade by Sherri and Christie”

It is the first time I have gotten cookies in the mail since I was a girl. I cannot wait even with knowing dinner is waiting I pull the top of the tins and rustling through the tissue paper I pull out a green sesame cookie and a ginger snap. They are better than expected. My first taste of vegan cookies.

The above is a piece I wrote for the writing group I am involved in. Until this week I had not gotten homemade cookies in the mail for many years. It moved me so much that. I felt I should post it here. Many thanks to Sherri and Christie who both write for Vegan Cooking Club. Sherri Let me know that many of the cookies come from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I look forward to reading that Cookbook. The above Picture was taken after some have been eaten. Getting cookies at Christmas time was something I looked forward to as a child.

Many years We got a big box of cookies from my grandmother and I remember the wonderful Santa sugar cookies thick with icing detailing his outfit right down to his black boots. She was an artist. Living half way across the country from her I never got to see her make them. I can’t remember when she last sent some.

Meatless Shepherd's Pie

A few weeks back my Friend Sherri posted a vegan Shepherd's Pie over on Vegan Cooking Club. This got me thinking. I am a great lover of shepherd’s pie and cottage pie. I did some growing up in the UK and it is standard fare there--great pub food. In my quest for Meatless Monday recipes I decided that I would take a stab at making a vegetarian version.

From what I understand and have been brought up to think, shepherd’s pie and cottage pie were inexpensive ways to stretch out meat in herding communities by adding a bunch of other things and topping with potatoes. Shepherd’s pie usually made with ground lamb and a gravy sauce. Cottage is made with beef and a tomato sauce base.

I made shepherd’s pie in cooking class as a 12-year-old in my 1st year of my English school. I remember making it, but for some reason that recipe is not in my lesson book from then. I always look there and then make it up but since I was planning on converting it to meatless, I decided I needed to start with a solid recipe.

I looked through all my cook books. I finally found a recipe for cottage pie that looked good and easy to convert in Graham Kerr's Smart Cooking. (For background Graham Kerr was once the Galloping Gourmet, he started to cook low fat and then minmax.  This is a cookbook from that era and so I felt that the little meat in it could be easily substituted.) So I set out to make it.

I started with the basic recipe that Mr. Kerr wrote, substituting the meat and the bulgur with texturized soy protein (TSP). I measured and stirred and tasted. With the tasting I came up ...”Hmm needs something”. I opened my freezer and found both white puree and green puree from The Sneaky Chef. I added some of both. It needed more veggies and I added peas. This was a good improvement but it still needed something. I began to think that I shouldn’t have skipped the bulgur and next time I won’t. I looked in my spice cabinet and added garlic salt and basil (I wanted sage but could not find it). I saw sesame seeds and added about a tablespoon of those. This made a big difference. One more thing I may add in the future is mushrooms.

So here is what I made:

Vicki’s Veggie Shepherds Pie--Round 1.

2 cups TSP/TVP
Fresh parsley
Fresh thyme
2 Carrots
1 onion
1 garlic clove
Garlic salt
Marjoram
Olive oil
Vegetable bullion and 1 7/8 cup water to rehydrate TVP
1/4 cup white
1/2 cup green
Can tomato paste
1 cup veg stock
Soy sauce
Frozen peas
Lots of mashed potatoes made with buttermilk
Cheese
Basil
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg

Rehydrate TSP with veggie stock and water. Meanwhile brown onions and garlic in olive oil. Stir in half tomato paste and TSP. Add seasonings and sesame seeds. Combine Green and White with remaining tomato paste and add to mixture. Bring to a bubble. Add frozen peas.

Put into oven-safe casserole top with mashed potatoes. Top potatoes with cheese. Put in oven until hot and bubbling


Everyone liked it but we agreed it needed something more. We are thinking mushrooms.

Beanie Weenies

During Holiday time when there are parties and food constantly involved in celebrations it is also good to eat simply.

I don’t know when or where I started making this meal. I think it may be a hold over from  beans on toast that I like to eat in the UK with a sausage (or banger) on the side.

For those who aren’t in the know bangers are not American sausages in the Midwest they are more like Brats, but very different in flavor.

My kids like to make or help make this meal.  It is very simple and cheap.
1 large can of baked beans (I buy vegetarian beans to cut back the fat and not mix too much meat.)
1 package of hot dogs (some times we use a whole package some time we use half depends on the day. We use either turkey or all beef hot dogs.)
1-2 packages crescent rolls.
Salad.

1. Cut hot dog and put in sauce pan with baked beans. Here is Griffin cutting the hot dogs.

He is using a “lettuce” knife. I bought it for him at the grocery store for a couple of Bucks Holly had a pink one I got through Pampered Chef. They don’t cut little fingers but have plenty of cutting power for fruit and veggies (not carrots) as well as other soft food like hot dogs.






Prepare the rolls. Holly’s favorite job here.

Cook it all. Stirring the beans and dogs. Beans and hot dogs are done when the cut ends are no longer flat and dome out a bit.


Simple easy and a quick lunch or a light dinner and it is always

Thanksgiving Day.....A week late(r)

An American eating blog with out an entry about all that was eaten for Thanksgiving. What was I thinking. Well I was eating.

We cooked and cleaned and ate. Poor Holly and her newly metal filled mouth (she got braces the day before) only ate olives, nuts and bolts (Kix, Cheerios, mini pretzels, and Goldfish crackers), mash potatoes and chocolate ice cream.everything else she tried just hurt too much.

There were few leftovers after Thanksgiving. Always a good thing.
Here is a quick round up in photos (not the best pictures but they will need to suffice):

Holly and Griffin ate snacks before dinner.









You can see the nuts and bolt on Holly's lap and corn chips, cookies, and baby carrots on Griffin's. I am proud to say he mostly ate the carrots.

PIES!

Bill's Blueberry pie and two stages of his Chocolate Ribbon pie before and after the top layer of Cool whip.

And then my cranberry mold next to Holly's olives.

 No pictures were taken of the rest of the food. I wish I had but all I wanted to do was eat.

We left for home sated. The kids slept and Bill and I chatted about how in comparison there is a lack of pies at his families events compared to my family (last year there was 11 pies and 13 people counting the 4 month old. The report from this year there was 7 pies and 9 people!