Saturday, July 29, 2006

munchies, soup, tempeh, dip!

Although it's 100 degrees this weekend, I managed to get quite a bit done this morning and afternoon. I walked to the library to return books, to Target to pick up some essentials, and to the Wedge to pick up a few groceries. My granny cart probably saw five miles today! Since it's so blazin' hot, I tried bringing a small cooler with me for cold/frozen stuff, and it worked wonderfully! My ice cream was still frozen when I got home! Here's what I bought:

example

BAKERY
1 loaf Great Harvest Bread Co. spelt bread

BULK:
half a pound of Twin Cities blend Peace Coffee (Fair Trade and Organic)
a small bag of sulfured dried apricots

FROZEN
package Tofutti Cuties peanut butter flavor
package vegan 8-grain and sesame waffles
box of strawberry fruit-bar type popsicles
16 ounces Turtle Trails soy ice cream
16 ounces Vanilla Swiss Almond soy ice cream

PACKAGED GROCERY
1 box Kashi Heart to Heart cereal
1 box Post Grape Nuts cereal
6 ounces Bragg's Liquid Aminos
3 quart-boxes of Rice Dream Enriched
small bottle Nantucket Nectars apple juice

PRODUCE
1 head organic romaine
2 organic danjou pears
1 organic peach
3 organic, local tomatoes

REFRIGERATED GROCERY
8 ounce package 3-grain tempeh
16 ounces Vegenaise

And when I returned home, I braved the heat and accomplished a couple of cooking projects:

~ First, I finally sucked it up and tested my roasted red pepper soup for the cookbook. It's very, very tasty, but the roasted red pepper taste is not as strong as I thought it was going to be. I'm going to let it sit in the fridge overnight, and try it again tomorrow -- perhaps I will feel differently then!

~ Then, I made Isa's tempeh bacon from VwaV! This is also quite good. I could not find liquid smoke at the co-op, so I added four dashes of Tobasco and two dashes of ground cumin to the marinade for some added smokiness. I made a killer sandwich on spelt bread with the tempeh, Vegenaise, romaine, tomato, and mashed avocado. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!!! My first tempeh attempt was a huge success!

~ Last, I retested my pumpkin dip for the cookbook, using slightly different ingredients. It was really runny when I finished blending it, but a trip in the fridge thicked it nicely. I'll have to cut up an apple tonight and test it out!

I am spending the rest of my weekend house-sitting, which is fantastic! Free air conditioning!!!

6 comments:

KleoPatra said...

PB Tofutti Cuties - the BEST prepackaged frozen dessert (and sometimes part of my wholesome breakfast!) ever. YUMMY.

Roasted red pepper soup? YEAH!!! And tempeh bacon... *sigh* Another great thing you made, Catherine. NICE!

Freedom said...

Good work on getting your ice-cream home still frozen! It's cool that you're walking so much - so good for the environment (I'm sure you know that after seeing Inconvenient Truth!)
House sitting is so fun - free air conditioning just sweetens the deal!

Amanda said...

Yay tempeh! I'm glad your first try was a good one. :)

Anonymous said...

So glad you finally tried tempeh! Is your mind full of new ideas for tempeh recipes in the cookbook?

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

gotta try that tempeh bacon...

karen said...

I have made that tempeh bacon and it is so good. They sell liquid smoke in the regular grocery store, mine was in the aisle with the bbq sauce.