Scraps and Snippets ~ Gravy and Biscuits to Ya.

Biscuits and Gravy

I can't say I'm a big fan of biscuits and gravy. Actually I've always considered them a little peppery and heavy.

Imagine my surprise when I had a sudden urge for biscuits and gravy.

I also had the deep desire to avoid a trip to the grocery store. I hadn't even stepped out the door all day.

So with what I had on hand. I got to work.

I found a biscuit recipe, used Vegan ingredients and even cut it into squares to avoid the rerolling thing. Nice.

Then I got to work on the gravy.

3 TBSP flour

3 TBSP Earth Balance

1/2 Cup fine dice celery

1/2 Cup chopped mushrooms

1/2 Cup crushed cashew bits

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp sage

1/2 tsp salt

Fresh ground pepper, 6-8 cranks.

2 Cups Unflavored non-dairy milk.

Place cashew pieces in milk and let them soak a half hour or so. Melt Earth Balance, toss celery and mushrooms in and cook til tender. Add the flour and make a decent paste, add spices. Then slowly pour in milk and cashews. Stir and simmer until this reaches the consistency you want.

About 3-5 minutes. If it gets too thick, add a bit more milk.

Poor gravy over the biscuits and yum. Yum. Enjoy.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Random Monday Thoughts

I revisited some question prompt emails last night.

I found a few conversation starters that I've decided to answer. 

For kicks and grins, I think you should feel free to comment.

Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?

Absolutely rested. Saturday found me doing next to nothing. By nothing I mean I pinned, deleted e-mails, answered e-mails, and updated my recipe application on my blog. It was heaven on earth. The weather was cold, and I had over 500 e-mails I hadn't even opened or organized. Seriously. Most of them are daily blog updates/etc so it's not like I left my mom hanging or anything. I haven't felt this caught up since before Montana. Yes. I needed me a lazy day.

Describe your personality in five words or less.

Smiley, Witty, Concise, Flexible, Loyal

If you were a flavor, what would you be?

Chocolate Chunk Java Ice Cream. (Does that describe me? Maybe not, but I like me some java ice cream... ice cream would be the worst thing about being Vegan. However, some of the subs are pretty tasty.)

What does wealth mean to you?

Wealth means being aware of how blessed you are. God has blessed me tremendously. Not only is His mercy new every morning, but His blessings don't end. He loved me as I was, but won't let me remain there.

List three jobs you'd consider pursuing if money didn't matter.

Art, Baking/Cooking, Photography.

What type of art do you appreciate most?

Visual. I think photographs are my all time favorite. Recycled junk art is a second.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Trust Me..

Come on you know you want to pet me. I won't bite this time, I promise. The light always glints off my fangs. Really. I'm a nice kitty. (I fell for it. He bit me. Sigh. Color me gullible, again.)

Scraps and Snippets ~ Chickpea Burgers and Chocolate Oatmeal Cake ~ Oh Yeah.

I've got a cake recipe (pictured is the muffin/cupcake version with a bite out of it.) And a link for you to a chickpea burger that is pretty tasty.

It's down-right very tasty on day two.

Link: http://edibleperspective.com/2012/01/apple-sage-chickpea-burgers/

CHANGES I MADE:*** I didn't have sunflower seeds so I used pine nuts, used two cloves of garlic instead of measuring, a small granny smith ditto the measuring thing, and I didn't add the TBSP of oil.

The first night they held their shape and tasted nice but were a bit soft.

Night, two, after sitting in the fridge all day and being reheated, they had the stronger texture of a burger, not tough, but good texture. The flavors married overnight, too. Next time I'll try the sunflower seeds and make a double batch. I'll serve one batch a night after I make them, and freeze the other batch for a quick, hearty meal.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake (Vegan)

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups boiling water

1 cup rolled oats

2/3 cup packed brown sugar.

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil

2 flax eggs (2 TBSP ground flax seed or chia plus 6 TBSP water - stir and set aside for 5 or so minutes til it gels.)

1 3/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Mix water and oatmeal in mixing bowl, and let sit 10 minutes.

Add sugars, butter or margarine, and eggs/flax egg or egg substitute. Mix well.

Add flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt. Blend.

Pour into greased and floured 9 x 13. Top with chocolate chips and chopped nuts.

Bake in a preheated 350 degrees for 30 min

Also will make 20ish muffins. Grease the tins or use cupcake holders. Fill 2/3 full. Bake for approx 20-24 minutes at 350.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Weird Begets Weird...

So. I just went on a walk with snow grazers.

Never heard of a snow grazer?

Well, it's like your run-of-the-mill grazing type animal. Instead of grass eating, though, it eats snow.

Oh, and it's not exactly like a normal grazing animal of the bovine or equine category. No it is a dog. Or dogs. Yes. They scooped up mouthful after mouthful of snow, to eat.

And speaking of weird, and since I'm on a time crunch I'll just share a little more weirdness with you.

My BFF writing friend and I have a little game we play. A long, long time ago she got a rejection letter and it made her sad. Super sad. So being the great friend that I am I wrote her a little scene involving a hero with long flowing hair and crazy muscles who rushed in to save the day.

Pretty much, at this point, I've written a book. However, it is lame and gaggy in the worst way. But, just because it's fun to write some really goofy things, I'm going to share her favorite lines from the last two scenes I sent her.

To set up the scenes. Michelle is careening off to a large city to harm her rotten agent. Fabio is looking for her, knowing she was on the edge but not knowing where she is.

Michelle's favorite lines:

A sport car nearly clipped him in the thigh, would have if he hadn’t done some fancy footwork.

He had a mission and he would take prisoners if need be.

The greeter, a smiley broad-faced guy veering on the brink of collecting Social Security did his job.

Fabio felt every muscle ripple into a tightly coiled throttle machine.

Remember the mission. Security guards would only slow it down.

Oh, she could do drive. She had filing drawers full of drive.

She had enough drive to crush him and his little car.

slick as toast sliding under a door.

Trying to hide in the anonymity of rush hour.

Revenge, best served any temperature.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Oops. And Back to the Drawing Board

I'm on a quest. 

There is a contest for dairy free and gluten free cookies. I've made three attempts of late. Fortunately, each attempt gets better. Whew. 

My ultimate goal is to win the category that has NO allergy producing foods. No nuts, no dairy, no gluten, no soy. 

 

For your viewing pleasure. The attempts. I love that they look like cookies. And they feel pretty darn cookie-like. But the taste ratios are the buggar factor. I think the next batch will be "the Ones!" 

And. The soup that will not be shared. 

I made Pesto. (Spinach leaves. LOTS of garlic, a little olive oil, a hand ful of nuts) for chickpea cutlets the other evening. Good. But I had more pesto than cutlet. So I added veggie broth and white beans and called it good. NOT SO MUCH. Bland would be a complimentary critique. Mine would be harsher. So. I froze the fail and put the quart of soup aside for a base. I'll make it good next time, but it's going to take some added ingredients for sure.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Weekend Festivities

My Grandma turned 94 so family came up to celebrate.

We had some soups on Saturday. I did a "Beef" barley that was pretty tasty. 

Rough Estimate "Beef" Barley Soup

Dump 32 ozs or so veggie broth in a crock pot

2 Cups chopped seitan

1 chopped onion

4 stalks of celery small dice

2 handfuls of barley.

Low for 6-8 hours, high for 3-4.

I also made my Cranberry Orange cookies to rave reviews.

My cousin's family spent the night. He and his wife have raised refreshingly delightful kids. The kids are 6th thru 9th grade so they are at "that" age and dang, they were all respectful, conversational and pleasant. We introduced them to Bananagrams. (That's another state we have infected with our Bananagram word-of-mouth marketing. Let's see, Missouri, New Mexico, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas...oh, yeah, and Germany. I should maybe get a commission.)

The kids adored the dogs, and the dogs ADORED them.

One of the most hysterical things I discovered about my cousin? He shares some mannerisms with Chris from Parks and Recreation. I happen to love that quirky little show, and Chris is one of my favorites. My cousin even said "Literally." If you are a fan of the show you should be smiling right now. If you haven't seen the show, you probably should.