Lars and the Real Elf

For those of you who ‘get’ the blog titles, you have to know that Lars and the Real Girl is one of the Elf’s MOST favorite movies EVER!! It’s nothing short of genius in the concept, writing, and acting (I mean it IS Ryan Gosling). We have our own ‘Real Girl’ who lives in our dining room window…her name is Mail Order Annie and she’s been with us since 2009. Here’s her June Bride get-up. We'll be working on her July reveal SOON!

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Our EXPERT FATFREE VEGAN KITCHEN recipe for this past week was Cumin Infused Vegetables and Chickpeas over Quinoa

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2013/08/cumin-infused-vegetables-and-chickpeas-over-quinoa.html

Well, we must be on some kind of roll because meal was DELICIOUS!! We were able to use our own home-grown zucchini along with the great seasonings that are called for in this recipe. The result, as you see, is a lovely mélange of vegetables that is a most filling and tasty meal. Here's the full view of a skillet full of goodness!

And here's a better close up of the same. GOSH this was SO GOOD!!

We HIGHLY recommend this one. In fact, after Big Solid finished his FIRST helping, he decided to become adventurous. He nabbed a bag baked tortilla chips and crumbled them over the top of a SECOND helping! Said it was wonderful…of course, that will add some calories to the end result, but it was worth the caloric intake!

Since we have been enjoying some breakfast dishes for supper, our recipe selection for the coming week will be Asparagus and Mushroom Quiche with Brown Rice Crust

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2008/03/asparagus-and-mushroom-quiche-with.html 

You know it’s one thing to cook from a recipe but actually CREATING ONE is a whole ‘nuther level of expertise The Elf has yet to achieve. So, as always, many thanks to SUSAN VOISIN’s expertise, energy and bloglicious creations at FATFREE VEGAN KITCHEN

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/ 

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Last week, TE (The Elf) ran out of TURMERIC! And it’s an essential ingredient in a lot of vegan and/or ethnic cooking (it’s also VERY good for you). Well, we went to Patel’s Indian Grocery and Spice World and bought a 14 oz. bag of Turmeric powder for less than $4.00 <PIC>. When we were in Kroger, we priced their Turmeric selections in little bitty jars (1.8 – 2 oz.) of Turmeric

 

 And finally, the Patel Turmeric!

NOW, where do YOU think TE will buy her spices!! We LOVE Patel’s Grocery! You can find so many great flavors, spices, grains there!!

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We really did not cook as much this past week as usual but did make some different cookies to take the ARF this past week…Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles They are nice little chocolate cookies with a bit of a bite with a touch of cayenne added.

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This week’s cooking agenda does appear to be on the heavy side. We’ll be making some more ‘Bacun’ (see TEitK blog of 5/10/15 titled Gone With the Elf for a step by step preparation) and there is currently a family sized portion of The Gentle Chef’s Chikun Shreds in the oven as we write. The Gentle Chef is putting the finishing touches on a new cookbook that we can’t WAIT to get!

http://thegentlechef.com/

We will also be cookin’ up some of the oft requested variations of Vegan Oatmeal cookies for ARF and friends and most likely do Tofu scramble to clean out vegetables we need to cook up.

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We'd also like to give a SHOUT-OUT to the blog "Here's What I'm Thinking" by Delia Duffy. We met at the Zippity-Do-Dah festivities this year and had a great time talking blogs...and she writes hers DAILY! Well, Delia tried out one of the Elf's favorite meals (the Roasted Cauliflower and Spicy Lentil Tacos). It's a must read! She sure tickled the Elf's funny bone and we are  most appreciative of her support!

http://drdrd85.me/2015/06/17/wednesday-june-17-2015-the-elf-in-the-kitchen/

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And finally, even though we have great cooking plans ahead, we also will be tending to Marley the Wayward Poodle foster. He will be having surgery Tuesday to correct the luxating patella in one of his knees. We determined that a significant portion of his aggressive behavior is related to pain in his knees due to the patella issue. This has apparently been a problem for a while, with the misalignment creating a spinal displacement in his mid-back. He has frequent spasms which are extremely painful. He’s done quite nicely on chiropractic adjustment and acupuncture but the bottom line is that his knees (yep, both of them) just have to be fixed. The Veterinary people at Monroe Street Animal Clinic have been absolutely amazing to work with and we are so grateful for their concern for Marley.

So, until next Sunday, TE wishes everyone a great week, a Happy Father’s Day today. Always remember to breathe deep, eat freshly grown and local produce, laugh a lot and love life.

TE