The Luigi

First off: YUM!

The Luigi, from The Sexy Vegan Cookbook, is the counterpart to The Mario. Both are pizzas (obviously. They are Italian), and both worth the work involved in making them. The Luigi didn't seem as labour-intensive as The Mario. I did already have two of the three cheeses made: The Not-zzarella Sauce, and the Parmesan Topping. I also planned it's making better than The Mario. I made the third cheese (Cashew Ricotta) the night before. She can be taught!
I admit that I was pretty nervous to try pizza with kale as a topping. I mean, I do love kale massaged in a salad, in smoothies, and baked into chips with some nooch. I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm very happy that I made myself make this.
I'll add that the kitchen smelled amazing from the garlic. Carlos was a happy man. (I brushed my teeth at work when I took leftovers)Naturally, I posted this picture on Facebook for my friends to drool over. One of my vegan friends asked what the differences between The Mario pizza and The Luigi pizza were. I explained that The Mario had a variety of vegetables, and two cheeses. More substance is what I said. The Luigi has three cheeses, kale, and garlic. That same vegan friend added that The Luigi was more green.
I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF THAT!! Duh. Luigi has a green outfit, while Mario has a red one.
BRILLIANCE, I SAY!

I did try the basic pizza dough again. Check it. It rose. I was mighty pleased. See...sometimes, most times, you have to try something more than once to be successful. And there's nothing wrong with that.
It was light, and baked out very nicely. Rolling it out was much more pleasant than when it didn't rise. Yeesh.

I think what I really appreciate about this cookbook (besides its' really tasty recipes, intriguing and apt recipe titles, and perfectly amusing cooking instructions), each recipe I've tried teaches me a new kitchen skill. I don't get tired of learning new skills. I take special delight in it. I'm always impressed that my 'severely injured' brain is still capable of learning. Growing up, I was always told that once your brain was damaged, that was it. There would be no way for it to repair. I'm seeing everyday that that just isn't true. So, I like learning. It's great cognitive therapy.

New skills I learnt making this pizza was cooking the full garlic bulbs in olive oil, and steaming kale. I've massaged kale, but I haven't steamed. It's pretty easy.
Overall, this will be a staple pizza in our house. Not gonna lie, I made the extra dough into more of the very same pizza for future meals.

The Mario

 

The Mario 

I made this on Saturday night because I'm wild and crazy like that. The Mario was so tasty and satisfying, but I did not plan the making of it properly.
First off, there are only six ingredients listed, but five of those are other recipes found in the book.
So, first gander, you think, "oh this is pretty simple." If only.
Don't get me wrong-I absolutely love that I know exactly what goes into my food! I appreciated that this pizza was entirely made by me, and not even the sauce was from a can! (Save the Daiya shreds-I just didn't feel like putting the time and effort into making the Not-zzarella Sauce-however I did make the Parmesan Topping!)
But man alive, I really regret not planning this pizza properly and making a couple of the ingredients the day before. I could have made the sauce, the Parmesan topping, and the Caponata on Friday night, then the pizza itself on Saturday.
I am a little reluctant to say how long this took me...please keep in mind that I am recovering from severe brain trauma, and it typically takes me almost twice as long to do most things that it takes other people to complete the same task.

The Tomato Killer

Caponata

Six hours.
Six hours spent in my hallway of a kitchen, chopping, roasting, frying, sauteing, blending, mixing. But ya know...it was worth the trouble...I learned a lot of skills, like roasting Roma tomatoes...and thoroughly reading recipes! Hahaha <sigh>

Sadly, my pizza dough did not rise. Damn it. Ah well. I used it anyway. By that time, it was already pretty late, and I longed for my bed again. The dough was tough to roll out, and it didn't go as far because it didn't rise, but it still tasted great!

I had intended to make half the recipe for the Caponata because The Mario only called for half of it, but the tomatoes were roasting for the full recipe, and I had already sliced the eggplant, salted it, and let it sweat for the instructed time for a whole recipe. Bah! Clearly, my brain needed a break. Hell-I'll make the whole thing.

I do blame the music that I've been trying to have playing while I cook~remember it's hard for my brain to focus on a task with a distraction like music. It is getting better though!

I plan to use the leftover Caponata in pizza rolls from The Vegan Zombie. I think that will be amazing. And if it is (I might call them Mario Rolls), I intend to make those for the next vegan/vegetarian potluck.

Of course, because I'm a sucker for punishment, I'm making The Luigi this week. Cause, I mean, how does someone make The Mario without making The Luigi? Am I right?!
I hope to apply what I learned from making The Mario to The Luigi.

Lessons learned:
*study the recipe
*plan the process properly

Conclusion: Yum! And yes, I will make this again.

My Grandfather Passed Away

August 2013

My grandfather, Morley, my mom's father died this past weekend on Sunday, March 23, 2014.
My eyes well up with tears just looking at that date.

He was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2009. Four+ years of pain is finally over for him.
I was told in February that he didn't have much time. Carlos and I went to Stockholm, Saskatchewan to visit my grandparents. The time was mostly spent with my grandma, because my grandpa did a lot of resting. But I'm really glad that I got to see him again while he was still mostly with us, and tell him that I love him, and hug him.

He spent as much time as he could away from the hospital. When his pain medications were no longer adequate, my grandmother took him to the hospital in Esterhazy, Saskatchewan  last Monday. My mother drove out on Wednesday to see him and her mom, and stayed for a week. My sister went out on Thursday, my aunt went Friday, my Dad and I went Saturday.

I'm grateful that my dad gave me forewarning of my grandfathers' visible decline, but I don't think anything could have prepared me for the sight of him. It was heartbreaking. Utterly heartbreaking.

My grandfather always had a pretty pessimistic outlook on life. I suppose that's what told me to view life differently, to be more positive. My sister and I always joke(d) that there would be not a cloud in the sky, and grandpa would state, "It's gonna rain, and the crops don't need it."
He would also consistently, and without exception, insist that he would die any minute. If not now, than tomorrow. As far back as I can remember. For as much as he insisted his life was over, he sure fought long and hard to stay alive.

I'm making him sound like an old grouch. He really wasn't. He was always kind and generous. He enjoyed having his family around, and laughing. My sister and I called him Papa for a long time. Going to Grandma and Papa's. I don't know when or why we stopped.

One of my most tender and favourite memories of him is when I was staying with my grandparents out at their grain farm just outside of Stockholm. I'm not sure what my age was, but I was sick with a cold, and was having a hard time getting to sleep. My grandfather sat on the bed, with me all tucked in, and stroked my hair across my forehead while I fell asleep.

My earliest memory of him, is when we were over at my grandmother's sister's house in Esterhazy celebrating Christmas. I think I was age 2 or 3...I couldn't have been older than four years old, I was bouncing around the way little kids do when they're with family. I started to choke, I'm thinking it was on ribbon candy, or just on some candy cane. I remember my grandfather, with his rough farmer hand,  reaching into my throat and pulling out the candy.

I wish I could explain the way I'm feeling. On one hand, I'm relieved that his suffering is over, that he finally feels peace. On the other hand, I'm having a really hard time imagining the world without him. He would have made a fantastic great grandfather. I'm feeling a bit selfish. I really wish he was still in the world as my grandfather.

I neglected my cooking project last week, for this reason, and I'm neglecting it again this week.
Prayers are Friday night. Funeral is Saturday.

Tempeh Chorizo & The Girlfriend's Favorite Salad That She Constantly Asks Me To Make And Won't Shut The Hell Up About

Tempeh Chorizo

 The Girlfriend's Favorite Salad
That She Constantly Asks Me To Make
And Won't Shut The Hell Up About 

I admit that the primary reason I chose the salad was because of it's ridiculously long name. I mean, seventeen words? It's amusing to me, and intriguing. But I shouldn't be surprised. One of my favourite books by my favourite author, Tom Robbins, is Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates.

Salad didn't seem like enough of a supper. So, I chose Tempeh Chorizo because I had some tempeh in my freezer, I had bought some sherry vinegar for the salad, and therefore had all of the required ingredients.

The Tempeh Chorizo was very simple to make. I did, however, have to read the instructions a couple of times. I couldn't understand why I wasn't being told to steam the tempeh for 10 minutes before mixing it with the spices and cooking. I stood in my kitchen and seriously considered steaming it without being told-I had learned from other seasoned vegans that to pre-steam was the way to properly prepare tempeh. But I decided against it because Brian is an executive chef for Vegin' Out.
Who am I to question a professional cooks methods?
I think the next time I make this recipe, I'll try steaming it beforehand. I'm curious what difference it may make.

This recipe uses a variety of spices. Carlos came into the kitchen as I was cooking the prepped tempeh on the stove and he read the ingredients.
"Cinnamon?!" He asked with surprise.
"Yup." I responded simply.
"That seems like too many flavours." He remarked.
"We'll see. He's a chef. I am not." Pointing out the obvious difference. Carlos raised an eyebrow. I continued with questions for him, "Oh, did you not know that I'm not a chef?...Are we breaking up now?"
Carlos pressed his reluctantly smiled mouth closed tightly and looked at the floor.
When he looked up again, we both laughed. He gave me a quick kiss and left the kitchen. I made the salad.

Carlos's Creation

The Girlfriend's Favorite Salad That She Constantly Asks Me To Make And Won't Shut The Hell Up About was very simple. Two ingredients were new to me-See: Vegan for three and a half years, and I'm still trying new foods-who says being vegan is limiting?? New ingredients: sherry vinegar and hearts of palm. I was surprised that my local grocery store (an 8-minute walk from home), Safeway carries both. Which is good, because my car is literally buried in snow. I am pleased. Not about the buried car. I'm pleased about my local store having what I need.  

I am willing to say that I was nervous about the hearts of palm. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about them. But they're quite good! Carlos told me that a couple of his friends in back home in Chile, work at a factory canning hearts of palm. 

I really enjoyed the salad, too. A lot. I'm not sure I would say that it's my favourite ever, but I'll definitely, and happily, make it again.

As you can see pictured, Carlos combined the salad with the chorizo in a tortilla and added some avocado. Not surprising. He puts avocado on damn-near everything. Crazy Chilean. 
Avocado and sriracha on many items. However, he didn't add sriracha,which is really saying something.

Overall, both recipes were simple, with easy-to-find ingredients, they were tasty and satisfying.