Dolmas

Mr GV loves dolmas. Usually he gets the kind from a can, but today I made a homemade batch. I used the recipe from Vegan Planet.


Here's the ingredients: onion, lemon juice, grape leaves, vegetable broth, cinnamon, pine nuts, salt and pepper, and rice. Oh and olive oil and water, which I don't have in the picture.


After you cook the rice mixture for about 20 minutes, you put the filling inside the grape leaves and roll them up.

And here's the batch, ready to be covered in liquid and put back on the stove for 30 minutes.

It's not a difficult recipe, just a little bit of a time suck because of the wrapping and double cooking.

Gone!

See this? That's my trunk and back seat full of junk as it was leaving my house and on to its new home at Goodwill. I am soooo glad to get those boxes out of my dining room and garage.

Fall goodies

The seeds I planted a few weeks back don't seem to have taken, so I was glad when I ran across some broccoli and collard green plants at a local store. I got those planted last week, and hope that they will continue to thrive!

Late Summer Harvest

I suppose due to the temperature cool-down and a bit of rain, the kale has started growing again. Earlier this week I picked a big pan full, plus a few more peppers.


More goodies that we can enjoy this winter!

Cooking

I haven't been posting about meals I've made lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking! In the last week or so we've had:

-Mushroom Barley Soup
-Aloo Gobi
-Chili
-No-Chicken Noodle Soup

Mr. GV is watching his calories right now, and I just have no appetite right now, so this food is lasting us a long time. Hopefully I'll be inspired to try something new soon!

Books

Most everyone in our family (myself, Mr. GV, my sisters K and S, and K's husband D) all love to read. My dad was a huge reader, which is probably where we girls got it from, because my mom is not so into reading.

And J is turning into a lover of books and reading, just like the rest of us.


Here he is at a used bookstore we like to hit up when we're in the big city. (Cameos made by his Nana and Mama's jeans. lol)

Pulling out a box of old books at Nana's house.

Reading, reading.....

....and more reading!

On the trip to take him back to his mommy and daddy, we had an interesting conversation. One of those Scholastic trucks passed us by, the ones that make deliveries in order to set up a book fair in schools. We told J there was a truck that was filled with books, and he seemed interested.

A little later we were still driving down the road, and he was singing a made-up song about "I go Nana's house!" and something about not going back to his mommy and daddy. lol He'd been having a good time and didn't want it to end of course. I'm sure there are a few more rules at home too. :)

At any rate, he went right into crying and saying in a worried voice "My books, my books!" I told him his books were at his Nana's house and his Mommy and Daddy's house. He said "On the truck!" We then figured out he thought it was HIS books that were on the Scholastic truck. We got a big laugh over that, and I just happened to be videoing him at the time, so we'll have that memory to look back on.

A cute pear

Me: It's a pear.

J: It's a yo-yo.

Me: No, it's a PEAR.

J: NO, IT'S A YO-YO!

OK, Nana, just want to say how yummy I'm sure the YO-YOS are from the tree in your yard. :)

Can I get a hand?

When I did the garage cleanup I decided to give all our work gloves a good cleaning as well. Looks like we have 5 pairs, including a leather pair, bought in our pre-vegan days of course.

And then there's one little glove hanging out by itself. A cute little blue checked design. I just wonder where the mate is.

Cleanup, cleanup, everybody clean up!

We have finally had some cooler days around here, which comes as a relief to humans, animals, and electric bill alike. I took the opportunity yesterday to clean out the garage.

I've never been one to fill up the garage with so much junk that you couldn't park two vehicles in there. But things just get....messy. Junky. Craptastic. So once a year or so I give it a good cleaning. (As opposed to my husband's coworker who mops hers each week.) I know you're just on the edge of your seat waiting to see what my garage looks like (lol) so without further ado, I present:

THE BIG GARAGE CLEANUP OF 2010


What you see here in this scintillating picture is the fact that for the first time in forever, we have a completely clear path to the car. Normally there are a few boxes to be recycled, and by the workbench in the back we always had a couple buckets in the way. No more, as they are now at the recycling center (#2 plastic, I was glad to see.) They were previous kitty litter buckets from years ago. We have 2 mop buckets--that should be plenty. Now we can open the back car door easily without a poor dog having to try and duck under the door to jump in the back seat.

Next we have the workbench. You know any flat surface is a clutter magnet, and this is no exception. Things have now been sorted and put in their proper places. This will take constant upkeep to maintain though. If you look closely you can see the legs of a metal frog statue I have. It's come apart in 3 pieces and instead of chucking it I'd really like to figure out how to fix it.

I swear I only very rarely use plastic bags. I will chance to say one a month or less. These come from my mom's house when she sends things over, and a large part of them came from the garage sale we had at my house last year. They are here by the steps just until I go to the grocery store later today and deposit them in their recycling bin. Underneath the bags are a couple bags of packing peanuts. Those will be taken to the UPS store next week as well, where they are glad to reuse them. Next to that are a couple things that are awaiting transport up to the attic.

I have to find a new home for these. What are they? Part of the empty tubs I have collected over the last couple of years from cleaning out things in my house I no longer need!

These boxes are allllll going to Goodwill, along with a few in my dining room, hopefully next week. Next to that you see a power washer, kitty cube, and old vacuum cleaner, all things that my husband has agreed will either be fixed by the end of the month or out of this house!

The side of the garage next to Mr. GV's truck. Bicycles, empty boxes from Mr. GV's work (that are used in weed prevention in our flower beds, a big project right now), a freezer bag, and a chandelier that will go to Goodwill if they will take it. Otherwise it will be leaving this house in some other method. Underneath the table you see a tub where we have our electronics and batteries to be recycled.

And there you have it. The floors have been swept as well and it just looks so much better, like someone actually CARES. Well, I do care. Just not enough to get out there in the summer when it is stinkin' HOT!