However, that doesn’t really resolve the issue of our kitchen being unbearably hot, even without the oven being turned on. These two appliances are definitely going to be my BFFs during the hot and humid summer:
That’s a slow cooker and a George Foreman grill. Lately I seem to be making a lot of soups in the slow cooker. I know it’s probably weird to be making soup during the summer, but what can I say? I’ve been wanting soup!
If anything, I’m hoping this will help me be a little more creative. I’m definitely going to try out grilling yellow summer squash, instead of my usual way (roasting it). And grilling tofu can be just as delicious as baking it.
Speaking of soup, I ended up making a nice hearty stew the other night in the slow cooker.
I ended up adapting it from this recipe. I forgot to put soy milk in it, but I actually think I like it better like that. I also added 2 T. of olive oil, some yellow summer squash, and some fresh herbs from my garden. Mmmm. It’s especially good with the whole grain herb bread from Vegan Planet.
I put fresh basil, chives, and parsley in it, as well as dried marjoram and thyme. This is quite possibly my favorite homemade bread.
Okay I’m a total hypocrite. I talk about hating to turn on my oven, and then I bake bread and the fudgy wudgy blueberry brownies from Veganomicon (they are SO ADDICTIVE and yummy). But I’m at least using my oven less than I usually do?
And in exciting news:
My first ripe pear tomatoes! My father informs me that pear tomato plants are prolific, so I’m hoping we’ll be dining on lots of these little guys throughout the summer.
I hope everyone else who is gardening is having lots of success!
I have recently fallen in love with making my own pizza. I started out making pizza for Easter. I was trying to think of something spring-like for Easter, and what is more spring like than a bright green pizza??? Even the meat-eating sorts who came over for pizza loved it, so I think that speaks to the power of green.
See? Even my cat Tati wants a piece and is waiting patiently.
If you live under a rock, then you may not know about the green goddess garlic pizza from Vegan with a Vengeance. If so, my taste buds pity yours. This by far beats out the very, very sad pizzas I’ve endured with pizza sauce, onions, and green pepper. The only difference is mine doesn’t have green olives, and I quickly cooked the broccoli in the boiling water with the spinach (because I would rather drink a cup of battery acid than eat raw broccoli). In case you’re wondering, the pizza has garlic paste, pesto, green goddess puree, chopped garlic, broccoli, and spinach. I also sprinkled a bit of coarse sea salt on top as I realized last minute that I didn’t salt the spinach. I am very sensitive to salt, but I think I like it even better like that.
The best part of the pizza is the garlic paste on the bottom. God do I love garlic. I may very well start topping everything with it.
As much as I like Vegan Planet, the size of it sometimes overwhelms me. I’ve recently realized I’ve never tried a single dessert recipe from it. So when Celine of have cake, will travel! talked about making a slightly modified version of the chocolatey peanut butter brownies from Vegan Planet, I simply had to look it up and try them.
Mine aren’t quite as pretty as hers, but they are delicious nonetheless. Next time however, I think I might use banana puree as an egg replacement (with these I used ground flax seed and water).
Oh, and since I started off talking about Easter, I may as well end talking about Easter. In addition to the pizza, we had strawberries mascerated with raspberrry liqueur, and I got this from my awesome parents:
A chocolate Easter bunny, and vegan jelly beans from Vegan Store. My mom is awesome.