soup

it’s sunny and there is fresh snow melting on the ground. my neglected banjo is glaring at me from the corner of my room. the bed is full of animals playing and cleaning themselves. one new dog and two new cats, lola sleeping under my legs. lazy sundays are my favorite.

i am eating a bowl of sliced organic apples and bananas that willie brought me. the apples came from arizona. the bananas came from so far away that i am sure they made too much of a footprint, but i love them so.

there is a lot to think about these days. the house has been full of hopeful apocalyptic conversation. there is glee and worry in our tone of voice as we muse on what it would be like to be amidst total economic societal collapse.  to have to trade with our community and grow for ourselves. the bananas i am enjoying would not be so. the family and friends i am missing would be even more so out of reach. in my idealized version of this smooth transition, all of my loved ones would be near, one great big commune. good lord, what an unstopable force that would be. the plans are strikingly similar to those of a zombie outbreak..only less gross.

we are looking for a house out-of-town, due to kanab’s 2 dog limit. i am a little sad as i feel so at home here and the view from our porch is without compare. then again, we have two hard to fix leaky faucets and strange things falling apart all over. throw in the ghost and the idea of a different house sounds much more appealing. wish us luck in finding a house that does not have a staircase history like the current one and was put together better.

alex moved to cedar right after christmas. she came back for two weeks to help with the shop while linda was away. i took her home again last night. there is a quiet space here without her. i miss fighting with her while we cook and her obsession with sweeping. i miss all of her different laughs.

the new kitties are adorable. clyde (captain click, Mr. OE Cly) is 10wks old, one eyed and fluffy. i think he is going to be huge. little lady ubashti (bashti, bashtet, bashi, bash) is 9mnths spotted and gorgeous. she hates the dogs, but is getting curious. found her under a car at the airport. picked her up and she shivered cold in my arms, but purred the entire drive home. clyde is nearly playing with the dogs. he was brought in as a feral at work. they removed his eye and placed him on my shoulder. i just cannot resist a shoulder ridin cat.

jackie is bored and needs a friend who will wrestle the day away with him. lola has taken to running around the outside of the house with him, even in the snow. unfortunately, she just does not have his 2yr old stamina. i am going to start clicker training him and teaching him to search. i hope it helps. his ‘i am so bored’ whining is not becoming.

our good friend gabe came to visit a few weeks ago. he is moving way too far into harms reach for the next year. he requested his favorite soup and the recipe. thought i ought to put it up on here as it is one of my favorites as well.

vegan tortilla soup

1-2 onions
1 quart fresh salsa (you can buy pico de gallo from the store)
4-6 cloves garlic
2-4 roasted peppers chopped(you can use 2 cans green chilies, i like to roast a combo of anaheim and poblano when i have the time)
at least 2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 bag corn
3 cans black beans
1 can pinto
8-9 c water 1-2 tb broth paste
4-5 limes
chopped cilantro
avocado
sour supreme and cheese, if you like

small corn tortillas
oil for frying- regular canola is likely to rot your organs..find some organic.

saute onion and cumin til the onions turn a bit golden. throw in garlic, chilies, and chili powder saute for a min or so. throw the corn in. give it a few. throw the beans in. somethin like 8-9 cups broth. i use unchicken broth paste. juice of 2 limes. sometimes it needs a little tomato paste or extra chopped tomato. or a little more cumin/chili powder. salt and cracked pepper to taste. soup is best if it can simmer for an hour or so.

slice the tortillas into strips and fry til golden. drain on paper towels and salt.

ladle soup into bowl, top with cilantro, more lime, avacado, cheese/sour cream, and crispy tortilla strips.
eat it.

don’t be fooled, i am not really a blogger, but there is a plot to film monday night classic’s as a sort of pseudo cooking show. i’ll keep you posted.

update? what!<?

just looked at the family photos from last weekend. wow, that is one beautiful family. i really truely mean it.
there is this little town on the way to saint george called harrisburg. everytime we pass it, i think of how wonderful it would be if it was really harrisburg pa. sadly, it is not. i wish my family was all in one place, but i am happy and proud of britt and tom for making a home where they are now. i just miss em.
just planted our tomatoes, peppers and tomotillos. all three of us + animals worked out in the sun together. it was wonderful.
thought it was about time i posted something, anything on here.
i made my rustic rhubarb strawberry tart last weekend for mothers day, with the very first rhubarb of the season from mom’s garden. i brought some home with me. this weekend was the greyhound gathering and things were very busy at linda lea’s and very short staffed. willie worked six days this week and managed to break both of his mixers, not a very good week. he let me come in with him early early saturday morning to help out. it was fun to get a glimpse of what having our own shop would be like. at least the baking together part. i got to set up the pastry case and it was fun trying to make it all look good. also really neat to get to really watch willie do his thing. i’m really proud of him.
we made miniture versions of the rhubarb strawberry tart. with his baker help, we improved the tarts stability. they were a hit, especially with the three of us. here’s the recipe-
2 1/3 cup flour
1/2 cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 tbl sugar
1 cup butter/margarine cut into chunks and chilled
1/4 – 1/2 cup ice water

use a food processor if at all possible. you could use a pastry cutter and do it by hand, just try and keep everything as cold as possible. add flour, cornmeal, salt and sugar to food processor. pulse for a few seconds to combine. add the butter/margarine and pulse until you have a crumbly coarse sand mixture. add the ice water a little at a time, we used 1/2 cup this time, but it’s very very dry down here. empty contents onto a clean surface and pat together. cut in half and pat into flat rounds, wrap each part in plastic wrap. you may need a little flour or water on your hands to handle the dough, depends on wettness. chill for 1-2 hours or even overnight.
we made 12 palm sized tarts with this dough. i use 1 1/2 recipes to make two bigger tarts.
de filling-
4 cups rhubarb
2 cups strawberries
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp fresh nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ginger
2 tbl lemon juice
1/2 cup melted margarine

roll the dough out in a circle, no perfection needed. mound about 1/4 -1/2 cup filling into center. fold up sides around filling. put onto lightly greased parchment and chill for 15-20 min. bake at 350-375 for 30-45 min.

lola got her dental this past week. she is now minus 16 teeth and no longer stinks when she gives kisses. it’s amazing.

now i’ve gone and done it

finally signed up for emt classes. i start with cpr training tomorrow.

for the next three months i will have class monday, wednesday and friday night and all day saturday! eep! followed by a year of not being allowed to move out of kanab due to running on the crew as payment.. that’s fine with me :)

even though i haven’t seen you in years, yours is a funeral i’d fly to from anywhere

jon, i was made shy by how much i wanted to work for a company such as yours. i am proud to have been employed by you.  the many important details i learned while i was gladly titled dog tech, are invaluable to me. i love that you stopped halfway through the hour long interview to hand feed your dog. i love that you nearly always had a great big smile on your face that showed your ever forgiving nature. i love that i was able to email you with such ridiculous questions as what special kind of flooring you used in your new facility, over a year after i left, and that you answered. you taught me and gave me confidence. you changed my life. you will be cherished and missed greatly. thank you for the legacy you left behind.

i struggle to let go and just be happy for what is left. that someone i love and care for so greatly felt such great pain, breaks my heart.

the blizzards never seen the desert sands. there are things i just cannot understand. i am happy, just to have known you.

december first and, i wore a tshirt

i love this tiny tiny little town.

we just went to our holiday parade. we wanted to see linda lea’s kaffe klatch float, and best friends was walking lit up doggers.

the klatch is a group of mostly old men that have coffee at linda lea’s around 9am every morning. every morning but sunday when linda’s is closed. on this day they all come to laid back larry’s, not being able to miss a day of drinking coffee and talking with each other.

on our first visit to kanab, we went to laid back larry’s on a sunday morning and sat next to this funny group of men talking about gun control. very unexpectedly they were for gun control. and as you can expect we were a bit floored. little did we know alex and willie would be working with them daily.

for the parade this year they wanted to do a float for their beloved coffee shop. this float would include the klatch members on a flat bed trailer around a table drinking coffee. complete with a christmas tree and these very odd elves on a teeter totter, all of it covered in lights. we were late leaving and missed them on their first time around. thank goodness!! our town is so small the parade isn’t very long and all of the floats go through twice. we waited through a fire truck and a float for the lumber yard and various other things we couldn’t quite figure out. a bunch of dogs from the sanctuary were strung with lights and walked through the parade, quite cute really. we wait and no float with old men chatting. alex, willie and linda decorated the tree with halves of bagels and snow flakes. we all really wanted to see it! we find linda, winded from running. she went to find the missing float and returned defeated. the parade ends and the float appears next to the coffee shop. terri the driver, says he had too many nagavators, and they got lost. also, their lights went out. mainly because the heater blew out the inverter. thankfully, the heater kept working. it was keeping doug warm, and after all he is 94. doug said his handle for the float was “dead or alive”. due to terri saying they would have to keep doug’s body around even after  he dies. they are amazing.

back to my original point, i wore a tshirt at work almost all day on the first of DECEMBER. i really do love the desert. granted, i did have on two heavy coats that morning and that evening, but the day was so beautifully warm.

even more amazing, we found a house. 3 acres of sage brush and juniper! and the best veiws i have seen from a house in this town.

pictures to come soon.

i promise to put up a thanksgiving post soon. i’ve been too tired to finish it, but i have some good stories and recipes.

missed the rest of you down here. maybe next year you can all come to our house?

lentil loaf, horsey potatoes and stuffin

getting ready for thanksgiving or just wishing it was closer. made a mini thanksgiving any vegan would be happy to eat. willie is in the kitchen developing film while the loaf sets and i figured i ought to get this recipe down before i forget, as it is back to work in the am.

i got most of the measurements for my loaf from one of my favorite vegan recipe blogs, called the vegan lunch box. i would link to it, but am not sure if that is against the rules. she has wonderful recipes and created this great magical loaf studio. it’s a recipe generator. you pick from a list of various loaf ingredients from each category and it tailors a recipe for you. real neat. willie said he would build one for me if i could come up with one i wanted.

here’s the recipe -

2 cups cooked lentils

1 cup cooked brown and wild rice

1/2 chopped walnuts

2 tbs margarine

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

2 celery ribs

1 carrot

1/2 veggie beef broth

1/2 tsp fresh thyme

1/2 tsp fresh sage

1 tsp dried parsley

1 tbs nutritional yeast flakes

1 1/2 -2 tbs ground flax seeds

black pepper

saute the veggies in the margarine. mix all ingredients together and put in an oiled loaf pan. 350 for 1 hour.

about 15 min before the loaf was set to be done i added 2 tbs tomato paste with a little veggie broth and margarine to the top of the loaf. let sit for 10 min before serving.

i boiled 3 large baking potatoes whole until soft when pricked with a fork. peeled them and put them through my super cool ricer with a couple tbs margarine and a tbs of horseradish and black pepper with about 1/2 cup soy milk. due to me making the potatoes too early, i put them in my big cast iron skillet and put them in the oven with the loaf. we’ll see how they turn out.

the stuffin was nothing special. willie is done for the time being, i’m going to go eat :)

second post, first day

about to go make my first batch of ice cream. got a neat little ice cream maker with an electricly run mixing paddle for 4 bucks at the thrift store.

recipe

1 box silken tofu

3/4 cup brown sugar – dissolved in 3/4 cup coconut milk

1 tbs vanilla

1 1/2 tsp mint extract

1/2 tsp salt

mixed with my trusty handle blender until smooth

then i think i’ll throw it into the ice cream maker and while it’s mixing pour about 1/4 of a chocolate bar i have in the fridge melted with 1 1/2 tbs veg. oil.

mmmmhm…

ghost

when i read my sisters blogs i feel like i am on the phone with them and getting updated on all their daily goings on. somehow it always leaves me feeling a little guilty. as though we just had a whole conversation and i didn’t say much. here’s to hoping that having a blog alleviates some of that.

strange how much blogging has changed communication, but not terribly surprising. we are all busy. we are all a little addicted to feeling overwhelmed. the idea is, it takes less time to write a blog than it does to call each one of your friends and family.

it is a meme it up themepark out here on the internet. i suppose, i also like the idea of my ideas and whatnot being able to get out there with all the other meme kids.

i mostly want to put up recipes to force myself to keep track of what random leftover, scrounged up food i make into meals each day. so as to make remaking them easier.

here goes somethin..