What we've been eating...

Walnut-mushroom loaf with mustard greens and sweet potato friesAndrea's easy vegan cooking

Another week of dirt under the nails. At this time of year I become more obsessed with what to plant than what to eat. Quite a few times in recent posts I've described the mutant invasives that have in the past covered our house in vines, and our battles against them. The vines looked nice but were so aggressive I was afraid that one day I would wake up and have to hack my way out of the house. :) They peeled off the paint and shredded the window screens.

Tofu scramble from "Vegan Brunch" made by my sonAndrea's easy vegan cooking

In order to remove them, we also had to remove all the plants that were tangled with their roots, so we were left with a lot of bare ground around the perimeter of the house. The strips along both sides of the house are now more or less planted, and the area behind the house is more than half completed. My back hurts and I'm tired. Most of the plants came from my terrace gardens that are about to be bulldozed by the city so they can replace the sewer pipes. There's a bulldozer thingy parked on the terrace, and pipes scattered about. If they don't wreck the gardens, I'm not sure what I'll do, since I plundered them freely to harvest plants for other spaces, and they now look pretty bad. Oh well. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Samosa mashed potato pancakes from "Vegan Brunch"Andrea's easy vegan cooking

Cooking is still happening, and I will describe some of the foods we tried from "Vegan Brunch," and other stuff we've eaten lately. Tonight, with my husband in Chicago, my son at work and the dog not in the mood to cook, I took the leftover aloo gobi and rice from last night and added tamarind paste and red pepper flakes. The tamarind turned it a brownish color that didn't look especially photogenic, so I just ate it without taking a picture. It was ok but I probably won't do that again. The curry pictured below is from earlier in the week.

Both "Vegan Brunch" dishes were made by my son. He added tomato and zucchini to the basic scramble, but I believe he made the samosa cakes by the book. He can really eat a lot, but this recipe is meant to serve many people at a brunch, and although I told him to cut it at least in half, he made the whole thing. Let me tell you, it makes a lot! He had some difficulty with the mixture being too soft, even though he added extra flour. If anything, it seemed even softer and harder to fry the next day. But it sure tasted good.

Random potato and pea curryAndrea's easy vegan cooking

The loaf pictured at the top of the page was made with quinoa as suggested by Happy Herbivore in her post about "hippi loaf." It tasted really good but I like my loaves a little firmer so will probably go back to using rice or breadcrumbs. The next day we formed the leftovers into burgers, fried them in a little oil and put them on buns with lettuce and tomato.

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Here are a couple of shots from our veggie garden. First is the Thai basil looking all cozy in its mulch nest.

Andrea's easy vegan cooking

And here is a cherry tomato called "Tumbling Tom." It's supposed to be ready 45 days after setting out the plant! I have visions of it climbing up its trellis and cascading over the sides of the pot. We'll see. So far it doesn't seem to be doing much. Has anyone planted this tomato?

Andrea's easy vegan cooking

Note: Just googled this plant and the person I got it from must have been confused because all the information I found says it matures in 65–70 days. Darn.