Scribbles and Scrambles ~ America's Birthday

Happy Birthday, America. May we remember that God's blessing has been on us and it would be a terrible thing to lose. May we remember how much our freedom has cost others and may we act accordingly.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ French Toast Like I've Never Had Before....

I'm nursing a new baby obsession.

An upcoming camping trip has thrown a new Vegan challenge down.

Are we up for it? Do we say "Fie on the Vegan way!" and hit every McD's and convenience store along the way and eat all the things we've been avoiding? Vacations can bring that mindset out in me.

How can we stick with the program, and possibly save ourselves some tummy trouble, too?

I feel more than slightly confident that we indeed can with a lot of planning and organizing I really, really think we can.

So, my friend Google has directed me to some recipes that, of course, I need to tweak and make my own. I have menus picked out, some of the ingredients frozen and ready to thaw for their proper meal while keeping other things cold in the meantime. Tofu may make an appearance, Seitan will, Tempeh is going along for the ride in two different meals. Quinoa is invited to the party and black beans will be joining him. Dahl and Vegan homemade naan are on the list. And. We bought meat and will serve it with a smile because meat eaters are traveling with us. But the meat is organic, so even though one of God's furry creatures died, we feel better about serving the product of the deceased.

While tweaking and planning I had a truly serendipitous moment. One of the sad facts about Vegan is the egg thing. As in eggs are dairy, have a mother and when hatched, a face, or at Easter time, too, but I digress.

You can make French toast without eggs. REALLY and TRULY. Oh happy day. Sometimes a girl just needs French Toast. This one anyway.

Crazy easy. Crazy good. Seriously. (I made a batch and froze them for quick reheating over the campfire.

French Toast

Ingredients.

2 Ripe Bananas (we used the overripe ones we've stashed in the freezer)
3/4 Almond Milk (TJ's organic vanilla)
1 and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. (Or a mix of cinnamon and other spices -- ginger, nutmeg)
1 teaspoon of almond extract or vanilla or 1/2 of each.

10 or so slices of bread (whole grain is good)

Prep a griddle with melted Earth Balance or Vegan fat. Toss bananas, almond milk and seasonings in blender or processor or just mix by hand really well, until smooth. Pour some of the "batter" on a flat plate or in a pie pan. Quickly dip and coat both sides of the bread and lay on the griddle. Continue. Cook like regular French Toast.

Not too bananay and I was afraid it would be...like the brownies made with banana (fail). Really, really tasty. And I'm wondering if we couldn't use pumpkin in the place of the bananas for a yummy fall treat. And use traditional pumpkin dessert spices. I'll let you know when I try that one out.

No doubt I will have stories about Vegans in tents, after a proper recovery time. : ) for all of us.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Green Stuff

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Perfect Day on the Farm and Vegan Broccoli "Beef"

Couldn't have been a nicer day on the farm. Mid to high 70's with a sight breeze blowing. The ground was steamy and wet and odoriferous with green, growing life. At times, when I crouched low to snap a buried Swiss Chard stem, the heat from the ground was almost sauna hot. Picking was silent some of the time, just the pop of snipped greens, and the rustle of leaves. Other times easy conversation punctured the steamy silence.

My fingernails are stained olive drab and my fridge is full of produce.

Satisfying, satisfying, satisfying. Sigh.

The packing went quick and the boxes were pregnant with delicious offerings. Pictured are some of the gorgeous offerings... a handful of purple beans, garlic, broccoli and cabbage.
BROCCOLI "BEEF"
We made a stir fry out of just picked broccoli and snap peas. It maybe was the best stir fry I've ever had. I was starving...that always helps, but, yum.


We had Trader Joe's "beef" seitan in the freezer so we tossed that in. (Highly recommended!) 
with the broccoli, 
snap peas, 
some frozen peppers, 
onions and 
brown rice that we had cooked previously and frozen. 
Quick and delicious.

I made a sauce out of :   1/4 cup sesame oil,
1/4 cup plus 1 TBSP soy sauce,
1 minced garlic clove,
1 tsp sesame seeds,
1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes, and
3 TBSP slivered almonds.

Poured it over and stirred it up.
Yum!

Scribbles and Scrambles ~New Faces

Well.

I got lots of blog work done, but, nothing terribly interesting to read.

I updated the Novel Reviews blog after I updated Scrambled Dregs. And darn it. I don't know that I LOVE the new Dregs.

What do you think? I think I need to do some more tweaking.

Should I go with a more sophisticated look or quirky?

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Weekend Update.

I wish I had pictures of last night's storm. But since I was driving in it, it wasn't prudent to snap any shots.

Picture an orange sunset on the horizon with a huge, ominous black cloud above that and then a final layer of twilight blue sky. And then throw in random and intense lightning zigzagging across the heavens. I felt amazingly insignificant and overwhelmed with God's raw creation.

Since I don't have pictures of the storm. I'm sharing pictures of the delicious vegan torte 24 made for Father's Day. And the gingerbread front door/porch treatment that Rob placed last week.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Winter or Summer?

A few pictures via 24's trip. She spent the first day of summer in Montana. However, Montana mountains are still hanging onto winter.