Rollin' with it.

I sucked it up people, and I think everything is going to be Okay. Thanks for all of your helpful comments and advice. Plus a friend of mine sent a very interesting review of the book which cause all the vegan mayhem in my brain, so stay tuned, I may be adjusting again! Anyway today I had a little more time, so it was a big cooking day. First I boiled up some red quinoa. I was never a fan of the flavor of quinoa before, but it's growing on me (ha --virtue of live food). Plus it looks so cool when it's cooked, with the little white quotation marks that form all through it. Neat.



Next I made the "Oat Milk". I soaked 4 cups of old-fashioned oats overnight, then blended in the soaking water, with a dash of salt, and a dash of agave, then added water to make two quarts. Pretty yummy, but it does get a little thick with all the oat fiber activating. I think next time I may use half of the oats.

Finally for the morning cooking I made "Terry's extra special secret granola". This is my Dad's recipe that he made all the time when we were growing up. Should I post a secret recipe? actually he can't find it so I'll post it for my Dad: 6 cups oats, 2 cups wheat bran, sesame seeds (1/2 cup for me), coconut (I only used about 1/2 a cup), sunflower seeds (I used 1/2 cup sliced almonds instead), whey protein (1/3 cup not vegan, but was in the recipe --you could omit it, or use soy I think with really good results), cinnamon --I put in a whopping 2-3 T., mix it all up, then add the wet ingredients: 1/4 cup blackstrap molasses, 1 cup honey (I used agave), 1/4 cup --yeah i'm serious that's all sesame oil (I used toasted for extra flavor, but I think any vegetable oil would be fine). Mix dry with wet, and bake at 250 on two cookie sheets for 45-50 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through cooking time. OK, YUMMMM. You could even leave out all the nuts and seeds and still, with plain oats it would be good. It was even a little too sweet. I'm cutting back on the honey/agave next time to half I think.



For dinner we had quinoa bread, based on a HEAB recipe . The kids didn't love it, but Jeff and I did.
.....And a Gingered Carrot soup with caramelized onions. Amaaaaaazingly good. The kids all had two bowls. Easy recipe too (I changed it a little of course):
6 cups broth, bring to boiling
2 pounds of carrots peeled and chopped, dump in broth and boil until soft
meanwhile --4 onions thinly sliced --caramelize in 2 T. EVOO. When about halfway done, add 2 T. grated FRESH ginger.
Blend up most of carrots in the broth with HALF of onion mixture.
Add 1/2 cup coconut milk, and 1/2 cup oat milk (could use soy or rice milk)
Top with remaining onions. YUM YUM YUM.

We had a great dinner, and a great food day. Knock on wood for tomorrow. :)

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