Last week, Husby suggested we add the Appetite for Reduction Buffalo Tempeh to our meal plan.  I knew I was going to have to modify to suit my heat-intolerance.  I took some inspiration from AFR and some from the milder Tempeh Wingz recipe from an old vegan zine, Don’t Eat Off the Sidewalk.  The result was a delicious sauce that will NOT melt your face off but still has some kick.

BuffMellow Sauce (Because it’s Buffalo sauce, but it’s Mellow!  I know… I apologize.)

• 1/2 C veg broth
• 1/4 C Frank’s Redhot
• 1/4 C ketchup
• 1-2 tsp agave
• 1 tsp sriracha
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp dried oregano

I just dumped this sauce and my cut up tempeh into a pan.  Then, cooked down the sauce until most of it was sticking to the tempeh.  Reserving some sauce to add afterward is a good idea (Oops).  Eating this with the Coolslaw recipe from AFR is an even better idea.

(It probably doesn’t look like it from my unfortunately low lit picture, but the saucy goodness was well absorbed into the tempeh and filled it with flavor.  I PROMISE.)

Coat closets are for suckers.

So happy I finally stopped dragging tail and made a photo book.   Now I need more!

Three and already way too good at Super Mario Galaxy.

His birthday was two weeks ago, but I still haven’t erased it.

This is about as good as this room looks most days.

Somebody got into the rolled oats.

clockwise starting at top left: almond milk, felix, baked pumpkin oatmeal, super belated xmas gift, garlic coconut cream pizza, and laundry couch.

It is always very refreshing to see long distance friends again, and it was great having company in the kitchen.  There is a downside to visits though.  Every time someone leaves I feel overwhelmed by the physical distance between us.  Most of the time I enjoy where I live and am happy in the knowledge that we’re going home EVENTUALLY.  But, I totally lose it every time we drop someone at the airport.  Every.  Time.   My laundry couch gets a little fuller, my meals a little heavier, and my apartment even dirtier (because, I won’t lie, it’s never really clean).

Well, my mourning period pity party has passed, and I’m ready to hop back in the meal plan van– I thought it would be better than wagon because it rhymed, but it just sounds creepy.  We’re going to make a few recipes from Appetite for Reduction (pot-pie stew and buffalo tempeh with cool slaw), baked potatoes, and asian-style pepper steak (with gardein beef tips or tofu).  AFR recipes usually last through a couple of meals, and I also have some veg-lentil soup (also from AFR)  in the freezer.  I am hoping this and maybe some pantry improv will keep us eating from home until next Sunday.

Happy Friday if it’s your Friday!  Have a great weekend.  In this family it is more like Tuesday or maybe more accurately Second-Monday (there are some repeats in a seven-day work week).  Things are just getting started up in here.

This past week I made old stand-bys like the VegNews Mac and Cheeze (great for using up spare farmer’s market potatoes and carrots) and Tofu-Ricotta Stuffed Shells.  I also tried a new recipe from the most recent issue of Real Simple, which features a bunch of slow cooker meals, Sauerkraut, Potatoes, and [Tofurky] Sausage.  We also ate frozen pizza and got take-out.  Baby steps, I suppose.

To keep myself motivated and interested I’m opting to forgo my, perhaps shamefully massive, library of vegan cookbooks and shop Pinterest for meal ideas.  So, in no particular order because I find having a list to pick from instead of assigning them to specific days is more realistic for my needs, here are some meals I am hoping to make this week:

• General Tso’s Tempeh (because at some point we inevitably crave Asian take-out)
• Quinoa and Kale Quiche (I am going to use the frittata recipe from 500 Vegan Recipes as a base)
• White Pizza with Roasted Garlic Coconut Cream and Sundried Tomatoes (would be great next to a big salad)
• Cha Seitan Bao (or Steamed BBQ seitan buns)  (because at some point we will crave Asian again)

I am also going to try my hand at some slow cooker seitan.  It won’t be my first run, but I don’t feel like I have really mastered it yet.  And, for the pickiest eater I’ll probably make a big batch of nuggets, and supplement with raw veg (I am glad he at least likes undressed vegetables) and a metric ton of sunbutter sandwiches.

Rain in January is an abomination and only serves to worsen my mood of late.  I have been guilty of giving in to the time suck that is the internet and getting further behind in everything real in life.  My head is so fuzzy with to-dos and oh-ahs my mind is ready to just turn off.  I think I am going to have to ground myself from the internet.  Ya know, read a few extra books to these guys…

Before I dimly stumble away from my computer (so cold, alone, and confused without you), how about a little over-share for the road.  We have been eating quite a bit of fermented food recently (black pepper tempeh; kimchi; potatoes, sausage, and kraut; fermented pickles), and my belly has been a bubblin’.  It has been a very tasty, very stinky week.

A vendor at our local farmer’s market sells vegan kimchi and fermented pickles.  They are so delicious.  I bought some (totes out of season) cukes so I could make a batch of fridge pickles because mama cannot afford farmer’s market pickles on the regs.  Would you believe I hated pickles up to a few years ago.  If my picky-eating, ten-year-old self could see me now… Oh, she would NOT approve.

I basically woke up muttering profanities at the World, and I refused to put on real pants until almost noon.  Usually, I forgo the morning coffee routine since I am still breastfeeding , but this morning I drank 3 cups in a row (atypical for me even when I drank caffeine freely).  I needed every drop.

I have thought about what goals I would like to reach for in the next year, The Dozen.  So, I am looking ahead at where I want to be, and I realize that in 6 months time our lives are turning upside down.  After almost a decade of service, Mr. Darling will be leaving the military and looking for civilian employment.   I cannot convey the excitement.  Knowing there is less than a year, knowing this was the last Christmas we live too far from our families to visit for the holiday, the joy is without words.

I cannot even envision where I want to be because for the first time in years the door is so very wide open.

Last week Mr. Darling took some leave, and we indulged in some seriously necessary lazy time.  It wasn’t entirely uneventful.  We had out-of-state visitors for a few days, hosted a dinner for our neighbors, and trimmed our Christmas tree.

This is the first year our oldest has really had a sense of the holiday.  Even now it’s still pretty abstract (What do you mean I have to wait another week before I get to open all these presents under the tree?  What do you mean they aren’t ALL for me?!  You are so mean!).  But, we’ve had a lot of fun putting up ornaments and decorating cookies.  The Xmas jams have been playing nonstop, and he’s already learned the chorus of “Jingle Bells.”  Tonight, we’re going to drive down to Albany to a park with a drive-thru holiday light set up.   This is the first year it has felt like we were making memories for all of us and not just the adults.

I haven’t just been busy making memories, though.  I’ve also been working on some crochet projects.  I finished a hat for my future SIL, made myself the same hat with a different yarn (which I ended up thinking didn’t suit me and promptly gave away), and then I made my baby some mittens from the scrap yarn.  My mother-in-law’s cowl has been slow going because I let the yarn become a tangled knot (a mistake I shall not soon make again!).  That is one Christmas gift that will definitely be belated.  But, I have had a productive month of hooking.

Last night, my littlest little refused to succumb to slumber and kept us up until Midnight.  The worst in a recent series of late bedtimes.  So, the alone time has dwindled (along with some of my sanity).    I get so little time to myself I feel like I have to make a choice betwixt crochet and bloggy time, and now crochet is usually more soothing (although the tangle of yarn did send me into a pretty serious spiral of rage…).

I have drooled over these mini breakfast pizzas from Biscuit Batches since the moment I pinned them.  And, today, when my baby went down for his morning nap I whisper-shouted to myself, “Let’s do this!”

They turned out fabulously.  Well, sort of.  I got a little overzealous with the salt.  Salt incident aside, they were delicious.  My biscuit crust wasn’t as pretty as BB’s, but I wager it tasted just as nom-nommy.  The coconut gravy was so good that I stole a few bites straight from the pot.  I did just wing it with the tofu scramble.  Other tofu scram recipes have burned me before, so I usually stick close to the Isa’s version.  Ironically, it was the tofu I over-salted.  I will definitely revisit this with a lighter hand in the future– probably the very near future.

Once again, Pinterest and the Internet have done right by me.

I am guilty of giving my children less than perfect attention whilst daydreaming about my yarn and hook.  Not that I don’t straight up sneak it into our days when I can.  Oh, I do.  But, sometimes I want to turn [something with Cary Grant instead of Kipper the Dog] on Netflix, sip some cocoa, and work up a project without having to worry if I have placed my scissors within reach of tiny hands.  KnowwutImsayin.

Lately, I’ve been eking out time to work on a holiday gift for my mother-in-law.

I don’t often make gifts for people.  There are just too many things I want to make for myself and my kiddos and not enough hours in the day.  However, my MIL is sentimental, perhaps overly so, and I know she will truly appreciate a handmade object.

I am trying to take it slow and enjoy the rhythm of this simple project, but in my head I am always thinking about the next project or even the project after next.  The only time Winter doesn’t seem long enough is when I think of it in terms of crochet projects.  This is the yarn season, and the clock is ticking.