My computer is up and running. Hooray!
I’ve been toying with some topics to write on but decided I didn’t want to get too serious right off the bat. Instead, here’s a video version of a Day In The Life.
(If you’re on Google Reader, you’ll have to come directly to my blog to see the video)
My computer is dead and has been for about a week. Aaron laptop is squirrely and I’m lucky to get it to load wordpress. Getting the “publish” button for drafts is an act of God.
I’m here. I can catch up on everyone with google reader on my phone (thank goodness!). My computer whiz husband ordered parts and should have everything up and running by Monday night.
I miss my outlet. I miss writing. I miss sharing my life, days, and thoughts.
Life is peaceful. It’s quiet. It’s transitional, as most days in Autumn are.
Well, quiet until the kids start screaming. ha!
See you all on the other side.
Ever since going dairy free almost 3 years ago, I have been craving a good macaroni and cheese. There is a great freezer section dairy free mac ‘n’ cheese by Amy’s that is amazing and fabulous, but the sodium is really high and the cost is not budget friendly for such a small portion.
I had finally given up when I ran across this recipe over at Veg News. With a bit of tweaking and modification, I had on my hands the best imitation macaroni and cheese recipe EVER. This would never fool a dairy die hard, but it has quickly become my favorite comfort food meal that is guilt free! I’m thinking the sauce would freeze well, which would make it a fast dinner for those days where nothing is going well and the idea of cooking makes me want to cry.
Homemade Macaroni and “Cheese”
Ingredients
4 quarts water
1 tablespoon sea salt
8 ounces macaroni
4 slices of bread, torn into large pieces
2 tablespoons + 1/3 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
1 cup red or yellow potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup onion, peeled and chopped
1 cup water
1/4 cup raw cashews**
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt**
1/4 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Directions
1. In a large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until al dente. In a colander, drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
2. In a food processor, make breadcrumbs by pulverizing the bread, 2 tablespoons margarine and paprika to a medium-fine texture. Quickly toast bread crumb mixture in a hot dry pan. Set aside.
3. In a saucepan, add potatoes, carrots, onion, and water, and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are very soft.
4. In a blender, process the cashews, salt, garlic, 1/3 cup margarine, mustard, lemon juice, black pepper, and cayenne. Add softened vegetables and cooking water to the blender and process until perfectly smooth.
5. In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta and blended cheese sauce until completely coated. Pour into serving dish and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
6. Hide in your pantry and eat the whole pan before the family notices.
** I’ve used raw cashews and more easily accessible roasted cashews, depending on what I could find within our budget. While raw cashews do not impart an odor like the roasted nuts do, the final product is similar enough to fool my picky husband. He didn’t notice and “snarffed it down” (as Ella would say).
Somehow, the last 3 weeks go away from me. I’ve been diligently plugging away at the project, as can be seen by the finished back panel and 2 completed sleeves! My vintage wooden buttons also arrived during this time. I was so afraid they’d be lost during the trek from Israel to the Midwest! Aren’t the hand painted flowers darling?
I discovered something rather frustrating today as I cast on for the two front panels. The written pattern is different from the actual picture. In addition to having a four stitch straight knit edge on each open side of the front panels, it calls for loops to be crocheted on instead of steeking button holes. So the front of my jacket will have a completely different look than the one in the picture. Very frustrating.
I may attempt steeking the button holes, if the panels overlap enough. But I don’t think they’re going to overlap by much and probably not enough for true button holes. Ugh. Why does the picture have to vary from the actual results of the pattern!
This morning has been so wonderful. A breeze greeted me as I opened a window to catch the scent of Autumn in the air. With glee, I rushed to the kids’ room to pull out the first long sleeved clothes of the season. I dressed Miles in a flannel shirt with jeans and Ella chose soft knit long pants and a long sleeve floral shirt.
We all piled into the car and headed down to the farmer’s market. Signs of the impending season where everywhere. Squash were in abundance, everyone was wearing long sleeves and you couldn’t make a turn without bumping into a pumpkin.
Our farmer was there, thank God. She wasn’t there last week and I’m not sure I could have handled another week of questions like, “Where’s our farmer?” “Did she fall into the pig pen?” “Why wasn’t she there?”. I was assured she would be there next week, as we decided which box of berries we were going to choose.
After wandering the market for a bit, we stopped by our favorite bakery booth to pick out our special treat for the weekend. Today, Ella chose cupcakes and she clutched the box to her chest as we made our way over to the steps by the Irish band that was playing.
We all enjoyed cupcakes while listening to the music with a breeze dancing through the crowd. The berries were tiny little bits of dynamite, packed with flavor and juice. Smiles abounded and all were rich with laughter.
It was truly a wonderful morning.
Snuggles, cupcakes and music.
Tiny dynamites of flavor.
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