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:



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!!!