Recipe 27 - UnCrabo Dipliciouso!

And there she is....

Folks, crabs are weird things.  More specifically they're sea spiders.   Spiders are creepy.  Sea spiders love water.  They'll take over your bathtubs.   Don't invite a crab into your home.   House spiders, ok.  Crabs, no.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest... let's move on to this crabitty crab veganization, shall we?

So, Friday was a busy day for me.   I had (geez, I now don't even know what I did Friday...) OH! Ok, I had to go over to my parents house that night because since I've become uber poor I had to get rid of my DirecTv, meaning, I rely now on a little box for HD to shoot out a few random channels on my television.. which basically means that tv for me SUCKS, so if I want to watch tv I gotta go someplace else.  Now, some show about turning these peoples houses 'Disney' was on, so of course I needed to watch that.   So I invited myself over to my parents house on Friday.  Before that though I needed to make a bread bowl.

And there you have it, on my old burnt up cookie sheet (see how poor I am?  I can't even afford a new cookie sheet and that one is 2098316 years old.)  This was a regular bread recipe, but it was covered in olive oil and spices.. it was SO GOOD.  It made my kitchen smell divine for at least 24 hours later.   I'm not even an olive oil person.
So, this is what created the 'bowl' that I was to put the 'un-crab' dip in.

After creating that, going to my parents house, making a necklace for this girl I'm dating (yes I said it).   And then taking it TO her and having mucho dog love bombarded upon me.. I went home to prepare for the main veganization for the next day.
THE un-crab dip.
(When I say un-crab, i mean OOON Crab.  Gotta say it like that.)

So Saturday, I had a bunch in a half to do and I had to squeeze in yoga and an iron pumping workout as well as cleaning my dirty dirty house.
So, since you could care less about that... let me show you what I made:

OOON CRAB DIPLICIOUSO.





Which was a hit I might add.   I even impressed the 'crab' who was outnumbered by Aquarians!  My un-crab is an amazing substitute for the real thing.  Sometimes I can't believe it's not real myself!  There was a moment that we joked about how un-vegan it might be when I sliced my fingers open with a knife while cutting the bread.. I softened the blood blow, however, by making fun that  you're only a true chef when you bleed on your food.  lol
No blood got on the food..  I made sure of it.   I PROMISE!

And what of dinner?
Well, aside from the 'filet of moocow' apparently being too salty.. (who knows, I didn't have any).  My vegan riblet was yummy.  My potato that wasn't filled with curdled milk and rennet which is an enzyme derived from the fourth stomach chamber of an unweaned ruminant animal (gross much?) was yummy with my vegan butter on it, and the broccoli was lovely.

Great food, good times (I even busted a move as the great king of pop for a while and burned off every calorie I ate, I'm sure!)

So, what's next?
March.. March is GREEN month!
Green, St Patty's day, First Day of Spring...
Green is all around!
(I wish I would come into some extra green.. hhm)


Music enjoyed while blogging:
Subsonic Radio

Current Craving:
Good lord, why do I continue to crave mashed potatoes?

Current Motivation:
Moving right along..  :)

Beefless Stew & Food Equals Love - Aka Recipe #2 - Filed Under Main Courses

Cincy's stew in Fiesta's bread bowl

Cincy Freedom's 'beef' stew has taken a log of about 4 days to prepare.   Normally this wouldn't happen, but I've had such a weird and busy weekend it happened this way.

Friday night I prepared the 'beef' which is what we veggie folk call "seitan" or for lack of any other words, specifically - gluten.  It looks very hamburgery, not particularly 'beefy'... but it's the way it was squeezed and pulled.   I don't have the fancy machines that the places that create this stuff for the grocery stores do to make it look perfect like sliced chunks of steak - but I'm only human you know.. they haven't replaced me yet with a robotic version -  so on that note, I did pretty well with that.  (I wonder what I'd look like as a robot?)

Saturday I prepared Fiesta's bread bowls at my sister's house while she, my mom and I did tomato juice canning.   On top of that, I let the neicage weisage actually drive my car - un-attended, to go to nana's house to pick up milk and oreos!!  (maybe it was my lack of decorum - because I wanted oreos too.) But this thing has nothing to do with the other.

prepped, raw veggies.

Sunday I prepped the veggies for the stew so that Monday morning I could throw everything into the slow cooker and let it go while I was at work. I did have to get up about 15 mins earlier to get everything ready - but that was a moot point because, wouldn't you know it!?!  I was already awake!   I've been having a terrible time sleeping for the past few weeks.  The only really GOOD sleep I got for some reason was on Saturday night into Sunday.  I slept a nice 9 hours.  Sunday night, not so much.  I was up at 4 am, wondering why the crickets aren't as loud as they are when I lay my head down at 10:30 pm.   Who ponders crickets at 4am?   Apparently, I do.   Ugh.   Because of all this sleep deprivation - I about lost my mind on Monday night after leaving the parents house.   I was already feeling pretty crappy with allergies, and just pure exhaustion, but I guess the almost flat tire left me on a "I might as well cry and get it out now" thing.. which in the end just made everything worse.  It got good again, but right now, I'm suffering with seasonal allergies, exhaustion and it's hard to see and breathe.. my nose piercing even hurts! :(  But anyway.   I'll just say - I'm taking it easy.  Gotta get back to work tomorrow though, and I'm ready to! 

So - the stew.   Not too mixed reactions.  Daddy had one of my bread bowls.. which ended up in some conversation about the 'old country' (apparently daddy is from Italy?)  He must have liked the bread because he didn't give it any negative reviews.   Mom liked the stew but thought there was too many onions in it.   Sister liked it but was a bit afraid of the 'meat'. I don't blame her though - Seitan is an acquired taste.   I liked it all.. I smothered vegan butter all over the bread and sucked down the stew..  aside from the seitan, of course, it tasted like beef stew - so, five stars for me.   Slow cooker is still at mommy's getting a "warshin'" and I'll get it on Saturday during pickle making.  I did not get a picture of anyone eating.. I was in rare form Monday night.. you're lucky I got what I did.  ;)  I'm glad to say i'm so much better now - as long as I could get rid of my puffy allergy face and pain in my head - i'd be 100%!

Ready to cook!

On a side'er note - I was thinking yesterday of how food (specifically food having been made for someone) equals love.    It doesn't matter if it's horrible (I've also made the assumption that if you love me you'll tell me if something tastes horrid, but that's another story.)  But the fact that someone took the time to make food, to slave over something for anyone, says that in one way or another they love you.    I'm not saying that every pot-luck I've gone to means that gilhooley and shoomooley love me like ferns love a cool mist of water,  I mean, if you're going into my kitchen (or I'm going into yours) and one or the other of us is taking the time to create something... even if it is just boiling water for pasta.   There's love in there.  You can't fake that!  You just can't.   I know the work that goes into making things.  Not just food, but stuff in general.   I used to make essential oil products (occasionally still do)  I make jewelry, so on so forth... the work you put into it, the thought - it's pure love (or at least a strong like, lol)  I learned it from my creative mother, who learned it from hers.  Food prep is love, kids.. it's love.  I just keep bringing myself back to chopping, grating, measuring and for god sakes - peeling!!  If I've peeled something for you - consider yourself lucky and outstandingly loved!  ;) (GAH. PEELING!)

Next week I pondered eggs benedict, but I might be making this for myself.  I've not decided yet for sure what I want to do.  I think, actually, I'll make a version of 'tuna salad' instead for Tuesday and take it over to Christy and Elena for our Tuesday night L-word blowout.  (No, we do not allow Elena to watch the L-Word - she goes to bed first!  I just got Christy into it.. it's fun to watch these episodes again - we're only on the first season!)  This weekend might be a bit weird anyway on the cooking front so I think I need to make it subtle and quick.  I've got Monday off so it seems like the perfect time to work on something.

Saturday mom and I are canning pickles so actually that might be a perfect thing to use for relish for this 'no-tuna' salad... hhhhmm!

Sunday, the sister and I are running in the Cincinnati Zoo's "Cheetah Run".   Hoping to see Laura D-C there as well, as she has said she's running too.  We may even have Christy there.  It'll be a 'running party!'   This is my first serious 5k.. so I'm pretty excited, as well as nervous.   Cross your fingers for me.  

Til this Friday all - keep the love going and treat yourselves and others well.




Music enjoyed while writing this blog:
The Cure - Fascination Street:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FISdkTWPi4g

The Pixies - Where is my mind:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrdpliMfoAM&feature=related

Flock Of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKFjD28qPwQ

Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQtLoJlQD6E

The Smiths - Stop me if you think you've heard this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btOyj3qM_Dk

Uh Huh Her - Dance With Me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMgIqWRndaw

From Monument To Masses - Comrades and Friends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrTxgLfNsts

Beauty And The Beast - Belle (Disney's Beauty and The Beast):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IltAsKmVroQ

The Little Mermaid - Kiss The Girl (Disney's The Little Mermaid):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QrKiod8rXM

Kreo - Burn For You:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PoX1cPgCRg

Kaskade - Be Still:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrc8IQ96-v4


Current Motivation - Pure love <3

Current Craving - Sleep and a clear nose and painless head.