crafts

We joined two childfree friends for a quiet New Years Eve celebration with the games of Talisman and You Don’t Know Jack for Roku. Hours of gaming fun! Even though I was last-place-by-far, I was quite surprised to learn it was 11:30 and we should freshen our drinks and find the new stand in for Dick Clark. Time flies when you’re having fun.

Jeff and Judy are fabulous and comfortable hosts, so we had plenty of options for snackage and drinkage. They got a Hickory Farms gift for xmas filled with summer sausage, cheese, mustard, fancy crackers, etc.

They also shopped a little. Wallace and Gromit fans: we got to try Wensleydale Cheese! (Come On! Say it in your best Queen’s English Accent, “Weeeeeennn-sley-dale!!!”) I was tempted to have more that just a taste. nom nom nom. I didn’t expect to like this exact one because it was laced with cranberries (texture issues) but it was divine and smooth! Emil liked it too, which says a lot about the cranberries adding to the flavor in a good way!

We had some great beer and wine options, but since I was officially skipping a dose of Codeine for a respiratory infection, I kept a slow pace. They did send us home with a lovely bottle of Innovac!ón wine. It’s a Tempranillo Malbec from the Mendoza region in Argentina. Bliss. In. A. Glass. I hear it’s at Specs and even Costco!

Judy was the only one who would eat Hoppin’ John with meat, so she made one like none I’d ever seen: with collard greens and ham. Interesting. It smelled good and inspired me to add greens to my next vegan version of the same.

Emil grabbed his usually favorite party snack tray from HEB and about 30 bottles of Dr. Pepper.

I made two new things that were just lovely, in my vegan opinion. (And, since both casseroles I made for xmas were so bland I dumped all of them down the disposal, this was a nice change of pace.)

Vegan Chili-con-queso

• 1 can vegan chili (Some are just beans and tomatoes with seasonings. Others have textured soy protein for a “ground meat” feel to them.)
• 1 8oz tub of vegan cream cheese

1. Bring the cream cheese close to room temperature.
2. Heat the chili for 2-3 minutes in a microwave.
3. Blend the two together.
4. Microwave again as necessary to blend and/or just before serving.
5. Serve warm with tortilla chips.

This is the closest thing to a real queso I’ve had and it was good. Judy liked it, too! The beauty is that any of you can pick up a can of Wolf Brand chili and cream cheese and do the same non-vegan version. The recipe didn’t call for heating it, and it is good when it’s no longer warm, but it was so much better heated up! One advantage of the vegan version is that there is nothing in it that will spoil if it sits out all night for a long party. So, if you are taking this to share, you might consider keeping it vegan for convenience.

Cream Cheese Sandwich Spread

• 1 8oz tub of vegan cream cheese, room temperature
• fresh garlic, minced; to taste. (I used about 2 Tablespoons and it was quite garlicky.)
• 1-2 bell peppers (the small red one I was was not quite enough. I’ll use two colors next time.), diced
• celery, diced (based more on taste/texture than anything. I used about half a small bundle. I’ll add more next time.)

1. Bring the cream cheese close to room temperature.
2. Mince the garlic and dice the veggies.
3. Blend all together.
4. Serve with crackers, baguette pieces, Melba toast, etc. Or, use as a spread on your favorite veggie sandwich.

I’ve been in a hummus and guacamole rut, so this got me right out of it. I can’t wait to try it again with other veggies (carrots? tiny broccoli?) and on a sandwich with fresh veggies to compliment. Again, if you aren’t vegan, use your favorite cream cheese and some crisp veggies for fresh noshing. This will be great in the summer (and since it was 78 degrees on New Year’s Eve in Austin, it was a welcome refreshment.)

Whatever way you found to celebrate, we hope it was grand.

Thanksgiving, my third favorite holiday.

I’m craving real/traditional comfort foods for this, my second vegan, Thanksgiving. So, while I can easily “cheat” and have the non-vegan (but mostly vegetarian) versions of these foods, I’m making my own. I think this will be easier than last year’s meal of the traveling Tofurkey with sides.

Vegan Stuffing

I’m using a “Yankee” recipe that calls for sliced bread instead of the typical Southern cornbread dressing. I’m making it one notch healthier with whole grain bread. Maybe next year, I’ll make a vegan cornbread stuffing.

Vegan Green Bean Shoe Peg Corn Casserole

This is my mom’s standard side dish for the holidays. I’ve made it for various potluck dinners over the years and I’ve always tweaked it to my own tastes. This year, I had to make the “Cream of” soup since I can’t buy a vegan version of it. The soup alone is yummy. It’s also quite thick with a nice texture. I think it will do quite well in the recipe.

Mashed Garlic Faux-tatoes

Mashed potatoes are the dog-diggity-bomb and I do allow myself an occasional cheat when we are out to dinner, but I can’t eat these for Thanksgiving (two meals) and leftovers for a few days without risking feeling ill from all that dairy I’m not used to. And, I want the “faux”-tatoes so they are less carby since I tend to eat more of these for holiday weekends. I’m going to modify the recipe to add mashed cauliflower just to give it more good veggies. I’m not going to tell anyone that these aren’t potatoes and see if they notice.

The Recipes

Vegan Stuffing

3/4 cup vegan margarine
1 cup onion, chopped
2 cup celery, chopped
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 tsp sage
3 tsp thyme
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 c fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
16 cup bread cubes
2 cup vegetable stock

Preheat oven to 350
Melt margarine, saute onion and celery until golden.
Add spices, herbs, and vinegar. Mix well and remove from heat.
Combine bread cubes with onion mixture. Mix well.
Toss with half the stock. Check consistency. Stuffing should be moist but not soggy. Add more stock as needed. Taste. Adjust seasonings.
Grease the casserole pan, add stuffing, cover, and bake for 45 minutes.

Vegan Cream of ___ Soup

1 large onion, chopped
4 cup water
3 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 Tbs soy sauce
2 cup ___ veggie (spinach, mushrooms, celery)
5 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 c hot soy milk (this weakened the taste and didn’t add much to the texture. I’ll leave it out next time.)

Boil and then simmer onion, potatoes, water, and soy sauce about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender
Add ___ veggie, garlic, pepper, and nutmeg. Cook for 2 more minutes
Purée the soup, (stir in the soy milk), adjust seasonings (I had to add a lot of salt to make this stand on it’s own, but in recipes, that won’t matter).

Green Bean Shoe Peg Corn Casserole

1 can shoe peg corn
1 can French style green beans
2/3 can cream of ___ veggie soup (make ahead of time)
(1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese – omit)
1/2 cup vegan sour cream
1/2 cup chopped onions (I’ll use 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup chopped celery
Salt and pepper to taste

Topping:
1 “stick” vegan margarine, melted
1 stack (36) Ritz crackers, crumbled

Directions:
Mix together all ingredients and pour into greased casserole dish.
Mix together topping ingredients and place on top of casserole.
Bake at 350º for 45 minutes.

Mashed Garlic Fauxtatoes

2 pounds turnips, peeled and cut into chunks
(add 1 pound of cauliflower)
8 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
2 Tbs vegan margarine
2 Tbs horseradish
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
3 Tbs fresh chives, chopped

Bring to a boil and then simmer the turnips and garlic (about 15 minutes) until the turnips are quite soft.
Drain well.
Mash the turnips.
Add the vegan margarine, horseradish, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Adjust margarine and seasonings as necessary.
Top with chives.

This is a “trashcan” or “dump” recipe that can be made completely from not-very-perishible ingredients. These are great for cold or rainy days when you just don’t want to leave the house. Even if you haven’t been to the store, you might have these on hand. The beauty is that if you have a little common sense, there isn’t any measuring to do.

Ingredients

• frozen zuccini, I used most of a medium sized bag
• canned vegetarian chili (Wolf brand, of course)
• canned ranch/Texas style beans (caveat: they have a tiny bit of beef broth in them, but it’s near the end of the ingredients list, so I let it slide)
• canned tender field peas with snaps
• canned mushrooms
• canned garbanzo beans
• garlic (I used the big jar of refrigerated minced garlic) (I used a big Tablespoon)
• chili powder (I used the “pour” spout, probably 3-4 Tablespooons)
• ground mustard (I just sprinkled some in, probably a teaspoon or so)
• cumin/comino (more spirinkles)

Steps

1. Microwave the frozen zuccini until it’s cooked through, about 4 minutes.
2. In a stock pot over medium heat, add the vegetarian chili.
3. Reserve the liquid from the ranch/Texas beans and add the beans to the chili.
4. Reserve the liquid from the field peas and add them.
5. Drain the mushrooms, and garbanzo beans, and add them.
6. Stir in the seasonings.
7. Add some of the reserved liquid, if necessary, to keep everything moist and to keep anything from sticking.
8. Bring to a boil and then simmer until thoroughly heated.
9. Serve with crackers.
   Or, pour over Fritos and top with nutritional yeast. .

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This is a “trashcan” or “dump” recipe that can be made completely from not-very-perishible The beauty is that if you have a little common sense, there isn’t any measuring to do.

Ingredients

• frozen, chopped green bell pepper (I used a handfull)
• garlic (I used the big jar of refrigerated minced garlic) (I used a big Tablespoon)
• onion powder (I just sprinkled some in)
• celery salt (more sprinkles)
• canned creole okra gumbo (Trappey’s is the brand I used)
• canned yellow squash with Vidalia onion (Margaret Holmes brand)
• canned black-eyed peas
• canned mushrooms

Steps

1. Saute the peppers, garlic, onion powder, and celery salt over medium heat.
2. Once the peppers are no longer frozen (or as tender as you like them), add the undrained creole okra gumbo and Cajun tomatoes.
3. Drain the liquid from the other canned items into a bowl.
4. Add the rest of the vegetables to the pot.
5. Bring to a boil and then simmer until thoroughly heated. Add some of the reserved liquid, if necessary, to get the consistency you like.
6. Season to taste with Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning (or his More Spice if you want a bigger kick)
7. Serve over rice or with crackers. Add a side salad for even more veggies.

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For the Planet

I read somewhere recently that fabric softener is environmentally one of the worst chemicals to have in your home…not because of the harm of the product, but because of how it’s made. They use a lot of terrible/harsh chemicals to produce it cheaply and then use a bunch of other chemicals to cover up the nasty smells. I used to make my own dryer sheets (sponges soaked in softener)…and since I remembered a method of using Distilled White Vinegar (for the same results but without any smell), I started “the Googleing”.

For the Budget

I found this recipe for softener. Other similar recipes add baking soda, but I’m going to try to skip that part at first. I can always add it in.

In the search, I also found this nifty little site: Being Creative to Keep My Sanity. She made laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and some other crafty goodness. The ingredients for these two overlap, so I was off on an adventure. (And, with our grocery store in a full-on renovation, what an adventure it was!)

Shopping

At this moment, we have a full bottle of softener and a full bottle of dishwasher detergent. But the laundry/dish ingredients overlap, so I sought ingredients for all three.

We had these on hand:

• baking soda (why on Earth did we already have ~7# of this stuff??)
• Borax
• OxiClean
• TOTAL TO BUY THESE: ~$12, I’m guessing

I bought:

• Pink Zote laundry bar soap (Fels-Naptha works, too, but I couldn’t find it and she likes Zote better.) – at Home Depot
• washing soda
• a cheese grater
• lavender essential oil – $10 for a small bottle that will last forEVer – at WholeFoods or your local/favorite health shop
• TOTAL SPENT: $20

If we I make all three, I’ll eventually need:

• citric acid – wasn’t at my grocery store…going to keep looking
• epsom salt
• Lemi Shine rinse aid (powder) – $4
• distilled white vinegar
• TOTAL TO SPEND: ~$15, I’m guessing

Except where noted, all of these are at most grocery stores.

Now, if this were all me, I’d have bought all the stuff to make all of it and made a day of this. It’s a BYE week for both Miami and A&M, so what else is there to do on a beautiful Saturday when I don’t have a wedding? However, Emil is more than skeptical. He’s willing to try this, but has very low expectations it will work. The funny thing is that I do the laundry and dishes most of the time, and he doesn’t even like fabric softener. So, why should he care at all, right? Anyway, Ms. Creative Sanity swears these are both better and cheaper…and then there is the environmental impact, so I’m going to try.

For Blue Lime

Emil & I did our normal thing and compromised. (You can translate this to “she’s crazy, so he brought her down a little closer to Earth” if you’d like.) I’m only making the Laundry Detergent since that’s what we’re almost out of. I’m also making a half batch since the bars of soap were so cheap and I’d only be wasting cheap ingredients if it’s a big ol’ FAIL.

Step 0:

Organize the stuff and take a pic for the blog!

$2 for half the washing soda
+ $3 cheese grater
+ $4 OxiClean (in the ziplock)
+ $4 Pink Zote (for two…leftovers!)
+ $3 baking soda
+ $4 Borax
= $17 (if you don’t count the cheese grater)

Step 1

Grate the soap bars. I expected this to be difficult, but the soap is surprisingly soft. I counted grates for half a bar, ~600 on a new, medium-sized grater. So, 1800 for this batch, 3600 for a full batch.

Step 2

Because I was only using half of each box, I poured half of each into a mixing bowl.

Step 3

Mix well.

To be fair, I really did 1/3 of each product and then 2/3 of each product to help with the mixing.

I had a paint stir to mix, but it was too “slow”, so I just dug in with my hands and mixed it like meatloaf.

Make Time

~15 minutes from set up to storage

Step 4

Blogging…at least 30 minutes of time. Way longer than making the stuff, but also part of the fun!

Bonus

The OxiClean scoop is 1 Tablespoon. Free scoop!

Total Time

~45 minutes. Not bad

Ta Da!

It smells great and isn’t overpowering. I can’t wait to try it out! It’s very strong for cleaning…and only takes 1 Tablespoon per load.

If this works we won’t buy laundry detergent for a very long time!

The Ah HA! Moment

According to Google Shopping:

• the cheapest liquid with OxiClean is $5 for 35 loads
  $0.14 per load
• the cheapest powder with OxiClean is $11 for 95 small loads
  $0.11 per small load

Our math (yes, Emil helped):

• this homemade version is $17 for 224 loads
  $0.08 per load
• the full recipe is $27 for 448 loads
  $0.06 per load

Another Bonus!

Emil likes the smell and was surprised at how much cheaper it was, too. He’s already less skeptical than before!

I found this recipe in Real Simple several years ago and kept it handy. It’s a great summer drink!

• 2/3  cup sugar
• 6  2/3  cup water
• 7 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1  1/4  cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 8 shots vodka, chilled

Combine sugar and 2/3 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil to make a simple syrup. Add 3 sprigs rosemary and let steep for 15 minutes. Chill (the longer it sits, the better)

Combine the syrup, lemon juice, 6 cups water, and lemon slices in a large pitcher. Bruise 4 rosemary sprigs by bashing them around a little with a wooden spoon on a cutting board and then add to pitcher.

Makes 8 servings.

My CroKnit friend, Stephanie, blogs about food. She gets her veggies from Greenling and has been asked to blog her use of their produce “box” for them.

Go read her first article on the Greenling blog!

CONGRATULATIONS, Stephanie. What a nice way to share your love of cooking.

…and that really means all of you. (After all, we are all crafty in our own ways.)

I really like this project/cause. If you are out of ideas for a way to give back this holiday season, please consider a “woobie” for a critter. I know our cats love the crocheted-was-supposed-to-be-a-baby-blanket that lays across the foot of our bed. I also have test swatches and scrap yarn that can become a loving welcome for a critter who is nervous, scared, cold, and lonely. If you can tie a knot, you can crochet a shelter-worthy “woobie” for a critter in need.

How many will you pledge to you local (overflowing, no doubt) shelter or rescue organization?

love,
Lori

I’ve not been clear to everyone about my Christmas intentions. This statement will rectify that.

I Am Skipping Christmas!
(honestly, I’ve tried this for a couple of years, now)

• I will not do anything that doesn’t bring pure and rich value to my family and friend relationships.
• I will not participate in annual “holiday” parties that happen to be held during the “holiday” season; there are 11 other months in which groups can celebrate, they do not all have to be in December.
• I will not participate in organization/charity/whatever parties; again, there are 11 other chances to do so.
• I will not give to an “angel tree”; too many of these are scams or seek to get free high-end items instead of what kids need.
• I will not carol; there are plenty of these in stores—and have been since before Hallowe’en in some cases.
• I will not participate in any state-funded celebration of Christmas, or any other religion; there are laws favoring the separation of “church” and state.

In short, I am only willing to exchange gifts because of the influence of two family members. Otherwise, my ideal would be to celebrate with family/friends/food only. Don’t get me wrong: I DO want to celebrate Xmas; I just want to do so in a pure manner. I don’t want to get sucked into the commercialization of it all.

If you are planning a gift for me, please consider one that is handmade or recyclable. Please don’t be offended if your’s is the same. I’m working hard to preserve the Earth this Christmas. If you can’t make/recycle/reuse something into a gift for me, please consider gifts that are committed to the environment.

If you are having a “pure” Xmas, email me: I’d love to hear about it.

-Lori

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