Fire Ants on a Log

I am trying as hard as I can to get rid of the celery that is lurking in my crisper (especially since it's going on two week old). My solution? Updating the favorite (?) kids' snack of ants on a log. I have never been a big raisin fan, but I love dried cranberries (though not by themselves as much). This made the celery easier to swallow (since usually I can't stand it) and made for a healthier after-work snack than I usually have.

Like the rest of the country, we are experiencing some colder weather, somewhat welcome since we've had a mcuh warmer than average winter. Another method of ridding the house of celery? A veggie chili! I tossed in every veggie I was in the mood for, including onion, red pepper, zucchini, kale , and 3 kinds of beans (black, pinto, kidney). Add some diced tomatoes, plenty of chili powder, and a package of Boca crumbles and let it simmer for about 45 minutes. And what goes better with chili than cornbread? This was the recipe for skillet cornbread from V-Con, except I didn't use a skillet (pyrex) and I halved the recipe. And I threw in some jalapenos for good measure.
But did I mention there are benefits to having a warmer than average winter? Fresh, local strawberries!! These are from Wharton County, just up the road from Houston. They were so big and bright and juicy....
And all gone!! I love my little strawberry bowl. Reminds me of the time I spent in England with my parents (this is from Portmeirion).....
And finally, a quick dinner from earlier in the week. I have been really anti-going out to eat lately. Mostly because I'm just sick of explaining to waiters that I don't eat animal products and then they point out the fish on the menu. Ugh! No seriously, it's not that bad here. But I wanted to not go to one of my standard places I'm comfortable with. So I took Ruby Red Vegan's advice and hit up Pei Wei. I got the teriyaki bowl with veggies and tofu, and left feeling full and satisfied.
I am sooooo ready for Friday.

Learning Lessons

On Friday night, one of my best friends from high school and her boyfriend joined us for dinner at our home. We hadn't seen each other in almost five years, there was so much to catch up on!! Such an occasion called for a fancy dessert (and dinner, but I've already blogged about what I made in previous posts), the Caramel Machiatto Cheesecake from My Sweet Vegan.

Now you'll notice that there really isn't anything that looks like caramel on this cheesecake.... well, that's because I had a small disaster with the caramel sauce. Not sure if my arrowroot powder was bad, or it boiled too long, or if it was using light brown sugar instead of dark, my the sauce hardened like a rock in seconds. Boo hoo. So, in a pinch I used chocolate sauce from the fridge, so this is actually a chocolate machiatto cheesecake. I also learned a valuable lesson in the difference between regular and instant coffee (forgive me, I'm not a coffee-drinker), luckily just in time. This cheesecake was so creamy and smooth with a moderate coffee flavor. The chocolate cookie crust and the vanilla cream top layer complimented the cheesecake well. Oh, and another lesson ... although I painstakingly took the time to drizzle the chocolate on in an elaborate, fancy design, after putting it back in the fride, it ran all over the place! Next time I'll wait until just before serving to put on the finishing touches.

Needing to use some leftover tempeh (from tempeh nori rolls for appetizers) and celery (yikes! I never use celery, but it's in the chickpea tart I made for dinner), I decided to imitate a chicken salad I used to get from Whole Foods back in pre-vegan days.
The recipe is simple... I just steamed the tempeh for about 13 minutes, added nayonaise, fresh chopped dill, white pepper, chopped celery, red grapes, and walnuts (all in whatever amounts I deemed necessary). This was yummy by itself (as I had it for lunch today), but would probably be good in nestled between toasted whole wheat bread as well.

In other news... we had quite the warm weather here in Houston this weekend. I was tempted last night to turn on the AC. John and I went for a long walk along the bayou and I actually got a bit sunburned on my shoulders (since I had to dig out a tanktop to wear). Guess I should extend my resolution of sunscreen on the face daily to any exposed body part... lesson learned.