Thursday Stuff

The picture has nothing to do with the post. It simply makes me smile. This is an older one of Joseph. He is sleeping under the quilt his great-grandmother made for him. The dog is his trusty "blue" (who no longer holds much fascination, it lost out to the "castle guys"). Also in the picture is Charli's beloved cat, Sugar (aka Splenda when we want to poke fun ;-).

Last nights dinner was a winner, although the atmosphere was lacking a certain peaceful quality. Noah decided to take a late nap which is never a good idea. He wailed for a while until finally taking a bite. Then he scarfed it down like he was starving. The sweet potato/apple casserole was simple. Boil 6 sweet potatoes until soft, peel and slice. Layer 1/2 sweet potatoes in casserole, sprinkle with some powdered sugar, layer 1 sliced apple on top, put on rest of sweet potatoes and another apple with more sugar. Dot with butter. Bake 50 mins.

We also had Pasta Bake with Vegetables (pg 158 of The Vegan Family Cookbook)

Its basically pasta with veggies - I used one large bag of brocc/caulif/carrot mix that was heated in the microwave along with elbow macaroni. The sauce is delicious! In a blender mix 3c milk (soy or cow), 1/3 c. flour, 1/4 nutritional yeast flakes, 1 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 c olive oil. Mix til smooth then cook in pan til thickened. This is faster/easier than a traditional white sauce.

Pour over the veggies/pasta and stir in. I then sprinkled cheese overtop because I wanted this to be yummy. Both recipes were new and the meal was noticably meat free. Bake for 10 mins, I let it go a bit longer so it'd be nicely brown on top. Everyone liked this.

And, due to being overly nervous about new dishes, I also baked 2 loaves of bread and made a spread. I used 2 vidalia (sweet) onions and a whole head of garlic. Peel garlic and dice onions. Cook on med in some oil til dark brown. Puree in food processor. Its very simple but was SO good (and good for you).

Dessert was the brownie shortcake recipe. Personally, I wasn't overly impressed, but the rest of the family LOVED it. Jim requested we make it again. Bethany didn't care for the sour cream mixed into the whipped topping. But, she never cares for sour cream.

Our other "foodie" news. The kids are picking gobs of blackberries daily! They get at least 3 cups. We're making yogurt today and they want blackberries to mix into it. They're going to be very disappointed when the bushes stop producing. These are wild blackberries that are growing just about everywhere around the yard/house now! Thank you Lord for free berries :)