Friday, March 6, 2009

Creative Leftovers and some Information about Me


First of all, had some of the ratatouille on the side. Am I glad that this reheats so well. Next to that is a flatbread with some of Bryanna Grogan’s Almond “Feta” (page down a bit and you will see the recipe) melted and spread over it. And under the flatbread are some spaghetti squash pancakes.

First, the spaghetti squash pancakes. They came from the listing on Recipezaar I use to cook spaghetti squash. At the end, the recipe suggests mixing the leftover squash with some flour and making pancakes out of it. I was a bit skeptical, but it works very well. The flour mixes with the moisture on the squash and makes a bit of a batter, holding it together when frying. These could definitely be useful.

The flatbread and the “Feta” were an experiment. I had come across Bryanna Grogan’s recipe for the Almond “Feta”, and was a bit intrigued. Especially since the instructions did say that you could soak the “cheese” in a brine and it would not dissolve. I can see why now. With all the agar and cornstarch, there is no way that this is going to dissolve in liquid. Now does it taste like feta. Don’t know about that, since never really had any feta in my pregan days. It does have a strong, salty taste; so in that respect it is very feta-like.

The flatbread is the Mediterranean Flatbread from Toufayan. I must confess that it is not soy free, they do use soy flour in it; as an egg replacer, according to what I learned from contacting the company. Since I have recently deduced that I can have about ¼ to ½ a serving of soy a day, some soy will seep into my diet. However, very little of that will be at home. Once I figure out how to make a decent flatbread, I won’t need to buy this anymore. The recipe that Bryanna Grogan has for the refrigerator risen bread dough look most promising, in this regard.

So that was dinner for tonight. Nice way to use up some leftovers and also try something new. All for this week. One more thing before I go. Since I accidently revealed my age in my last post. Let me just add that I am 40+. My mother has this thing about having to much presence on the web makes you un-hirable (she actually googles my name to see what I am doing and have done), so that is why I have to do all this under a screen name. Once my employment situation gets settled, e.g. I find a job and am not worried about loosing it, I just may reveal myself. That will not happen anytime soon, however.

The screen name and name of the blog come from the nickname that the TeddyBear has for me and a mythology, as it were, that he is creating. The blog name comes from a time that he accused me of taking the covers from him, in the middle of the night and made a remark about “the republic of bunny". In the mythology, I am Snugglebunny of The Republic of Bunny and he is TeddyBear of the Land of the Free Teddy Bears. It basically plays off the differences we have in our personalities. I keep telling him that he should write children’s books, but he won’t listen to me.

Well now that you know more about me than you ever thought you would, go and have a good weekend.

4 comments:

  1. EEK! I hope I didn't offend you with how old I thought you were! I think it was when you explained about your Mum in your email that I got the impression you were younger (I assumed you lived at home, see this is the problem with assumptions :P).

    Did you like the feta? I made it once and I did marinade it in brine, but it was so terribly salty that I found I couldn't eat it so most of it went to waste :(. She has an awesome ricotta that I love. Maybe I should give the feta another try and skip the marinading.

    I wish you'd stop teasing me with wonderful spaghetti squash recipes :P Even if I manage to plant my own I have to wait until next summer *cries*.

    Thank you for the introduction. It was nice to get to know you better :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. SB, if you ever do write a children's book, I'll buy a copy for my daughter. The Republic of Bunny and The Land of the Free Teddy Bears just sounds too adorable.

    Joni Marie Newman has a flatbread recipe on her website that's soy free and really simple-looking. It's in my "must-try" pile, so I haven't done it yet - but it might be promising! http://justthefood.blogspot.com/2007/05/lachesis-seitan-flatbread.html

    And I love the spaghetti squash pancakes. I'll have to grab one next time I'm at the store so that I can try the recipe before it's out of season.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Vegetation, no you did not offend me. Just thought that since I had spilled the beans, might as well go more of the way. And my family is complicated, to say it nicely. The feta was alright, but will make the ricotta salata variation next time.

    Kate, have tried Joni's flat bread, but had a few problems. Will try again, but need to make the flatbread bigger. The refrigerator bread is convenient and have found that slightly puffy flatbread needs yeast. And yes, a children's book is a good idea. Now if the TeddyBear will just write one. Who knows, he might get published and can save us from the current economy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Here's to over 40 vegans! I wish there were more of us. Not that I'm an age-ist, but I like having company north of 40.


    That sounds like it would make a great kids book!

    ReplyDelete