weekend wrap-up: cake & cats

Overall, my weekend unfolded...quietly and unassumingly.  Just going through the usual motions of cleaning, doing laundry, grocery shopping, and managing to put together some food that passes for meals.

The strawberries at Shouldice are done for the season, but the roadside stand had a few quart baskets of raspberries left on the stand when I pulled up Saturday afternoon.  After much deliberation, I decided to leave experimental baking with brown rice flour for another day.  (If anyone knows of any tips, send'em my way.)  Instead, I used this recipe to bake a vanilla cake.  I had planned to ice it with the "Vanilla Frosting" from The Compassionate Cook, but that concoction was way too sweet, and the taste of the Earth Balance margarine I'd used was just too strong.  So I opted for--wait for it--good ol' Cool Whip. 

This glass cake plate lends appeal to whatever rests on it.

The raspberries were the best raspberries ever:  smallish they may be, but they can boast a sweet zestiness. 

The last couple of weeks I've been preoccupied with scheduling my colleagues and me to work for the Fall course requests to date, so Darth and Curlicue have felt the sting of neglect.  Fortunately, they're easily pacified.  'Cause nothing says "I love you" like a vacuum and a box.

She likes it retro-'80s, i.e., feathered back.

Thinking outside the box?  Overrated.

gastronomical adventures

First, Happy Birthday to my Dad! His birthday was yesterday and he was still celebrating when I called him at 10pm EDT. My mom had invited all his siblings and their spouses over for a BBQ.

I am a big fan of barbecues, because there is nothing quite so satisfying as finding shortcuts to preparing meals. I like to eat, I just don't like to figure out what to make. Speaking of food, you may be wondering what I'm eating these days. Two years ago, I went to see a dietitian whose services were available to me through my doctor's office. I talked to her about going vegetarian, and she gave me a number of resources--the Vegetarian Food Guide Rainbow*, for one--and helpful pointers. I've been slowly incorporating a few new foods into my diet, to make it more vegetarian and even more vegan, and thought I'd share what I've found. (Individual tastes and preferences vary so greatly, there's really no way to know if you'll like something unless you try it, and sometimes you'll need to try it more than once.)

In terms of vegetarian/vegan meat products, I'm sold on Sol Cuisine Spicy Bean Burgers; their packaging labels them "Tex-Mex vegetarian burgers" on the front, but indicates on the back that they are "100% Vegan." They're also free of gluten and wheat. I eat these burgers with the usual lettuce, tomato, mustard, ketchup, but use Vegenaise spread or hummus (both are vegan) as additional condiments. Sometimes I'll add cheese (dairy cheese, therefore not vegan, but it provides me with some necessary B12).

Other burgers I've tried and not cared for much: Yves Veggie Cuisine's Good Veggie Burger (I'll have to try the other Yves offerings before I write off the brand), Gardenburger's Veggie Medley, and M&M Meat's veggie burgers.

In terms of hummus, which I use as a dip with crackers, vegetables, and even tortilla chips, or as a spread for sandwiches and wraps, I've been buying either Summer Fresh Spicy Hummus or Fresh2Go Chipotle Hummus at my local Metro grocery store (whichever's lower-priced in any given week).

I also relish Veggie Patch Meatless Buffalo Wings; they contain egg whites (so they're not vegan), as well as soy, wheat, and possibly sesame, according to the label. Kraft's Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing makes a great dipping sauce, its sweetness counterbalancing the spiciness of the buffalo seasoning.

Rice Dream Enriched Vanilla rice milk has become a staple for my Kellogg's Special K 5 Grains cereal at breakfast. According to the serving suggestion, 3/4 cup of cereal provides me with 40% of my daily iron requirement. The rice milk is a bit sweeter than dairy milk, so there's no need to add any sugar to the bowl. (Credit here to my sis-in-law for mentioning that my niece uses rice milk for her breakfast cereal; that's how I got started.)

To my great delight, I discovered packages of daiya mozzarella style shreds in my local Independent Grocer's last Saturday. I'm quite pleased with this product: the flavor and texture is not identical to that of dairy cheese, but it comes close. My only concern is the sodium content, which seems a bit high.

As for desserts, I've tried Soyummi's lime pudding (haven't seen the other flavors at Superstore in Kanata), which is fine as puddings go, but it's the hexagonal cardboard cylinder it comes in that signals "fun to buy"! More recently, in the non-dairy frozen category, I've had Organic So Delicious lactose-free Strawberry (the content at the link shows "Soy," but my tub says "So"; I checked) and Good Karma's Organic Rice Divine Mudd Pie. Rice milk tends to look and taste more watery than soy milk, so the Strawberry stuff better simulates ice cream; still, if one comes to it with the mindset that it absolutely won't taste like ice cream, the Mudd Pie is pretty good with its nuts and chocolate chunks. (I wasn't keen on the Mudd Pie the first time I had it, but enjoyed it the second time. "If at first you don't succeed...") Best to purchase non-dairy frozen desserts on sale, since they are pricey. Come to think of it, so are ice creams, which is why I tend to stock up on Breyers for James when I see sales.

So that's a sampling for now. I hope to write a few more posts as I continue my experimentation.


*I'd have linked to a Website, but all my searches turn up broken links right now. Wonder if this means the Vegetarian Food Guide Rainbow is undergoing revision?