I finally decided today that I would cook, at home for US that is. I had every intention of getting started this morning, getting my cooking done, then cleaning the house some. Well, needless to say, things didn't go as planned. You might be starting to get to know me a little by now & see a trend here. At around 11 am in the middle of cleaning the kitchen, I decided that I needed to Skype my sister in France. (Skype is where you call another computer using your own computer, like talking on the phone but through the computer instead of the phone--for those who don't know what Skype is.) It was 6pm there & they were home. They moved the beginning of July & this was the first time that I have talked to her. Therefore, our conversation lasted over an hour. Then I was hungry & needed a late breakfast. Thank goodness I still have a few waffles in the refrigerator from the last mega batch I made. As I was finishing my waffles, it occurred to me that I needed to go online & pay Sean's tuition. Then I realized there was some paperwork that needed to be filled out for his college, too. As I sat doing that, I saw some bills that needed to be paid. Then I remembered I still hadn't sent in our Alltel rebate, so I proceeded to fill out all that paperwork & gather needed UPC codes, etc. Needless to say, I didn't get into the kitchen to start cooking until close to 5pm! Yes, I know, I have some time management issues when it comes to me getting things done at my own home! When I am working, it is a different story; but there are so many things to distract me at home.

I had first planned on making pizza for dinner. I got as far as mixing the dough & letting it rise. But in the mean time I decided to make a few other things, so I ended up putting the pizza dough in the refrigerator & will have it for dinner Wednesday night (Sean works tomorrow night, so I don't really cook much on those nights).



I made a batch of tofu burgers, this time I didn't have quite enough sesame seeds, so I threw in some sunflower seeds, too. I will see how we like the extra crunch. I have one packed for my lunch at school tomorrow. I then decided it was time for me to try Vegan Dad's corned beef. I have been thinking about making it & his veggie lunch meat; but seeing how I love reuben sandwiches, I went for the corned beef. I must say I was a bit skeptical; I have not had too much luck with seitan recipes. I had to substitute a couple of things (didn't have any allspice, so I made my own mix & didn't have any dried mustard or smoked paprika--so I substituted). But it turned out really good! I wouldn't want to eat this all by itself, but on a sandwich it was great. I worked in a deli, The Pickle Barrel, in my hometown, when I was younger. I came up with my own variation of the reuben & people started ordering it & calling it "the Jamie". So tonight's dinner was "the vegan Jamie". I slathered whole wheat bread with Earth Balance, put dijon mustard on one side of the bread, put the corned beef next to the mustard, then sauteed onions on top of the "meat" & sauerkraut on the very top, I closed it up with the other piece of bread & put in my George Foreman grill & grilled it. It came out all nice & hot & yummy! Sean added some yellow mustard & said it reminded him of bratwurst. I thought it needed some more moisture; I would have used vegan swiss cheese, but I didn't have any. I would have used regular swiss cheese, but what I found in the freezer was at least 2 years old & funky! Of course, Sean wouldn't have any part of that anyway. To make mine more moist, I ended up soppin' mine in my leftover salad dressing Sean made for our salad. Hey, I'm from Alabama, after all! I sop everything! A good friend of mine, a guy friend, once saw a pretty girl & exclaimed "I'd sop her up with a biscuit!"! I love it!



I have been wanting something sweet around the house & I had some silken tofo in the refrigerator. So I decided to make some chocolate peanut butter pudding. I heated 1/2 cup cocoa & about 4-5 tablespoons soy milk in a boiler. I only heated this enough to make it all mix together smoothly. I added the chocolate & the package of tofu to the blender, I added some vanilla, a little honey, some stevia, a dash of salt & about 1/2 cup or more of all natural chunky peanut butter. I blended this all together & checked for sweetness & adjusted to make it as sweet as I wanted. I then poured it into a dish & refrigerated. We had this for dessert. It was very good, the texture was a little different from normal smooth pudding, due to the fact that I only had chunky peanut butter, smooth would have been better. But, hey, I'm not complaining; I made a healthy, almost sugar-free (in a good way--no artificial sweeteners that will you) dessert & it's got protein! Sean just came back in with his bowl & got a refill! (Sean was on the phone when I wanted a picture of the pudding, so I attempted this myself, bad idea! I must take after my mother when it comes to picture taking! Anyhow, there wasn't much to show, just a bowl of brown yum-a-liciousness!)

Well, the floors still need to be swept & the bathrooms cleaned & the furniture dusted. But as I am trying to teach myself, those things will still need doing tomorrow....just go to bed now & think about that tomorrow.

Labels: corned beef, reuben, seitan, tofu pudding