Soap, Sweet 'n' Sour, and Szechuan

I've been wanting to try making my own liquid soap for some time now. For several years we've used Method brand, and refilled our glass soap pumps. I found a lot of Method refills on closeout at Big Lots a couple of years ago and we just now finished going through all of those. It's always nice to save money, but my main goal in making my own liquid soap is environmental. The method refills used to come in a bottle that was recyclable; now it's a pouch that is not recyclable. Either way, I'd like to use less plastic when I can.

I looked around different sites on the internet and found the simplest recipe, which was: grate a bar of soap, add water, boil, and you've got liquid soap.

I added a gallon of filtered water.

And then I second guessed myself. The final result was so very thin that I grated a second bar of soap and boiled that solution for a while. I decided to put the pot on the deck for the evening, and see what the chilly night would do.

And this is what I got:

A very thick liquid soap. Thick, but also usable. Next time I will add some patience and only the first bar of soap, and it should be a great consistency.

That evening for supper I made a recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan's Authentic Chinese Cuisine called Pineapple Sweet and Sour.

I decided to use cast iron this time to stir fry, as my stir fry pan just doesn't do a very good job on my stove for some reason. First you dry stir fry the onion, ginger, and garlic.

After that it's just a matter of adding the rest of the ingredients and cooking for a bit longer.

Serve over some rice (brown is the preferred type in the GV household.) I am not a pineapple lover, but even I enjoy it in this dish.

We had some green beans from our local organic farm, so I thought why not Szechuan?

First I made up the sauce. Which was pretty darn hot.

And then I did something I so very rarely do. I fried. The last time I fried anything was probably.......well, years ago. Maybe some tofu (and now that I've discovered oven frying for tofu, that won't be happening again.) Or maybe when my now-deceased cocker spaniel had to have a special diet that included hamburger meat. At any rate, I fried those green beans for 45 seconds in canola oil. Because Guy Fieri told me to.

After combining the green beans with the sauce, you can top them with some chopped peanuts and fresh parsley. Also please have your water pitcher at the ready, because these suckers really packed some heat.

Crisp fall day and spicy chewy cookies

Yesterday was a chilly, sunny fall day. And I loved it! I am an autum lover all the way. I am constantly wondering about people from the South that choose to spend their summer vacation in Florida. I understand the draw of the beach, even though it's not something that really attracts me. But going from somewhere miserably hot and humid to even *more* hot and humid is just not for me.

The leaves have been turning for a while now here in our neck of the woods.

And we had a big storm this week with a couple of gusty days. I fight a losing battle in the fall with the leaves on the deck. I would leave them there except for the fact that they get really slippery when it rains!

This kind of weather calls for autumnal food, so yesterday I put on a crockpot full of blackeyed peas and Smart Bacon, cooked up a cast iron skillet of cornbread, and made these yummy pumpkin ginger snaps, recipe courtesty of Mama Pea at http://peasandthankyou.com.

Mine turned out darker than hers did, which I attribute to using the blackstrap variety of molasses. The flavor was still great though!

Vegan Baking #1

I decided it was time to challenge myself to do more baking. And not just cornbread and chocolate chip cookies, but some new things. And so I handed over my copy of The Joy of Vegan Baking to my mom and said "Pick something." And so she did. And this is what she picked.


And here are the ingredients. There's a jar each of olives and walnuts hiding back there, plus some sun-dried tomatoes somewhere. I think I need to work on my ingredient pictures.

The dry ingredients--flour, baking powder, and spices.






































The wet ingredients: Soy milk and oil.















And the yummy bits---walnuts, black olives, and sun-dried tomatoes.














And then you mix it all together. And bake.














And there you have it: Mediterranean Olive Bread.

There's some hummus among us

It's been a while since I made homemade hummus. I'm not sure why, as it's sooo easy! So I decided to remedy that a few days ago:




I decided to use the recipe from Vegan on the Cheap. The ingredients are simple enough. The only 'odd' one that most people might not keep around would be the tahini, but that is easily found at any local megamarket or health food store. And FYI, you can make hummus with many other different types of beans, not just garbanzos/chickpeas. Give it a try sometime and see how you like black bean hummus, pinto bean humus, or any other type!





First, you put the beans into the food processor and give them a whirl, and they look a little something like this:









Not very appetizing at this point, but this is before you add the oil, which makes it into a smooth, delicious food!

And voila! The finished product, jazzed up by adding a sprig of parsley and a little cumin on top.

Care package #1

When J and his mommy visited recently, a shirt was left behind when the little man spent the night here at my house. So we decided to send it back and make it a fun package for him to receive. At 2 1/2, he's old enough to appreciate getting something in the mail now. We hope to make this a regular thing (maybe once a month or so) but

What we included in the package. and the cost:

Tshirt from the recent Greenfest: $5

Diego towel that expands when wet: $1

2 sheets of Backyardigan stickers: $1/3 sheets

Peanut butter snack bar: .35

Coloring book from Greenfest: Free

2 books and 1 magazine from FOL bookstore: .75

3 letters--one each from Nana, Auntie, and Uncle: priceless

So all told, about $8, plus of course the cost of shipping. This time I used a recycled box but next time I'll probably get a Priority box and stuff it full, since I think it will be cheaper.

Sleepover x 2

Last week, I decided to spend the night with my mom. We had plans to go to the mid-sized city (as opposed to the BIG city we sometimes go to) and do some shopping for a baby shower mom was attending the next weekend. I did sleepover, but we changed our plans for the next day, because there was something we both wanted to attend in my town the next evening.


The next morning, I headed back to my house with Casper the friendly dog, who lives at mom's house. Although Casper the trembling dog might be a more apt title if you'd ever seen him during a thunderstorm. He is the best predictor of weather ever. If you see him slink off with his head and tail down, and find him underneath mom's bed, there's a storm abrewin'!





















Mom came later in the day with her other dog, Sparky, and her overnight bag. Oh and let's not forget Sparky's fan. Yes, he travels with his own cooling system. I kid you not.

In the evening, mom and I attended a performance of the Cancer Queens, a group of 7 women who travel around the area spreading the gospel of cancer prevention and early detection to women. It was a great show!

When we first arrived, we were treated to a table full of freebies. I picked up a cute little change purse. We were given boas (the feather ones, not the snake--now wouldn't *that* have been an interesting thing to wrap around our necks?)



And here's mom with hers. Don't worry mom, I left the picture off with you twirling the boa around.


















Here's one of the scenes from the performance. The ladies were performing a skit from "The Wizard of Oz" while singing that they were off to get a mammogram.







There were songs and skits about eating your fruits and veggies, getting 30 minutes of exercise a day, using sunscreen, and of course....getting your pap smear!


After the performance, door prizes were given away, and I was lucky enough to win one. I got a cute little bag, and inside there was a scarf, day planner and pen, and travel mug, all themed with the pink ribbon. In addition, all attendees were given a purple bag and pen when we walked in.
















And the point of the whole evening:

Yes ladies, let's not forget that if we don't take care of ourselves, we won't be able to take care of our families!

To finish off our 2 days of sleepovers, mom stayed the night with us, then the next day we did our out of town shopping. It was a fun and busy couple of days!

Muliga-whaty?

Mr. GV came home with a recipe for Muligatawny Soup recently and asked me to make it. And then asked me again a few days later. And then again. So, despite a very long list of ingredients, I decided to give it a try.



Here is said long list of ingredients. I made a couple substitutions. First, I subbed seitan (wheat gluten) for the chicken. Second, I subbed olive oil for the butter/ghee.

This is the seitan, cut into chunks and coated with garam masala and salt.

This is just part of the veggies I chopped for this dish. The prep time is stated as 15 minutes. Um, maybe *after* you've got everything chopped it is, or perhaps it was for Emeril when he made this recipe, seeing as the prep chefs would probably have chopped everything for him.

Here is Mr. GV's bowl of muligatawny soup, served over rice and sprinkled with roasted, ground cashews and cilantro.

Yum!

Curry favor

We love us some Indian food here in the Green Veggies household. One of Mr. GV's coworkers likes Indian food too, and she brought us part of a curry plant. Hopefully it will grow, and I'll be able to add curry leaves to some yummy Indian dishes soon!

A day at the museum

We took a trip to the children's museum at the beginning of October---me, mom, both sisters, and of course the star of the show---J.



To save time and money, we packed sandwiches and had a sort of picnic in the van on the long drive to the museum. Here's J enjoying his PBJ and juice box.



J loved playing in the train. He would blow the whistle, then yell "Alld aboard!"

This was another fun science activity---letting the wind catch the ball.

The adults had a good time too.

Playing with the earthquake table.

Picking vegetables out of the garden area.

A game sort of like Whack-A-Mole, except with healthy/unhealthy foods.

Driving an ambulance.

This was a water table that was meant to mimic the flow of blood, and how arteries can become restricted. But to J it was just a fun way to play with running water and floating balls.

Getting even for all those previous shots?

I got a good laugh out of the restrooms that were in the section about the body.

While at the museum, we did other things, including a visit to the planetarium where we all watched a show about the stars, hosted by Big Bird and Elmo. J wasn't certain about the dark room, but he did very well. When Big Bird came on the screen and said "Hi, I'm Big Bird" J tried to introduce me by pointing and saying "Dat's Ahna." Then when we were going to the moon via imagination (and the moon was flying toward us, getting bigger and bigger) he freaked out a little bit because he thought it really WAS coming towards us. lol

J and his mommy spent a lot of time exploring a tall structure in the middle of the museum. It was essentially a gigantic upward play scape.

Afterward we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner, then headed home, exhausted but with a day full of memories to show for it.