Vegan Knitting...and then some

DIY Month - Project 3: Baking Bread

This is Mr. Breadmaker.  Zojirushi BBCC-V20 to be precise.  We got it from someone on Craigslist last year who had gotten it as an unwanted wedding present.  It sat new in the box until we moved to Portland. About 2 months ago, I got it out and we've been trying to create the perfect bread recipe.  This is recipe #4 and the closest yet!

As you can see, the bread rose too much so it fell, creating a ugly shape.  However, the 3 parts unbleached white flour to 1 part whole wheat bread flour seems to be the perfect match.  The bread is tasty, has a flavor you notice, and after it cools, holds together really well for slicing and toasting.

Here it is this morning with homemade tempeh bacon.

And here it was yesterday used to make sandwiches with a chickpea "tuna" salad from Joanna of Yellow Rose Recipes.

I'm so glad to be making my own bread.  A loaf from the store costs $5 for organic bread, and I estimate that my loaf, made with Bob's Red Mill organic flour (on sale in 5 lb bags at my local store for $3.99) was about 50 cents.

Happy Holidays!!!

 

The day started like this!  So we stayed inside all day, and did some of this:

and this:

Mock Chicken Noodle soup from Nava Atlas's Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons, a new book for me, and some long overdue science of making a larger scarf into a smaller one.  One faithful reader will be happy to see this project.  It's half done and I foresee it being finished within a week plus drying time.

I also made pumpkin cranberry muffins, coconut fudge, and bread, but some of those are going to be in another post.

I spoke with faraway family for the first Christmas in 10 years and have otherwise had a nice, warm, quiet day with my husband plus a small visit from our next door neighbors.

I hope everyone had a safe, warm, cozy day!

FO: Diamond Waffle Socks

Pattern:  Diamond Waffle Socks - Knitty Fall 2007
Yarn:  Panda Soy Solid in Twig Brown
Needles:  Addi Turbo US 1.5 circulars
Size: M (my husband wears US 10 1/2 shoes)
Modifications:  None!
Notes:  Each of these socks used 1 skein of yarn and I had about 4 yards leftover from each, just enough to save in case they need darning in the future.  I am so happy about getting the pair out of 2 balls instead of having to buy a 3rd skein like I thought I would.  They fit my husband perfectly and they are just lovely.

Thanks to Crystal Palace yarns for offering the yarn as a prize in the Ravelry Vegan Sock group summer KAL.

Our house in the snow

As those in Portland know, we are having some snow!  I'm very excited - it's my first snow since living in CA for 6 years and I am enjoying many aspects of the winter here.

To make the best of my time indoors with relatives visiting, I made some Pumpkin Cranberry Scones from Veganomicon (a resounding success),



finished the pair of Diamond Waffle Socks I've been making for my husband,

And am reading some books and practicing the piano.  I'm also working intermittently on my MA thesis, which I'm defending in two weeks.  It needs some more work but I did a lot in the past two days so today I'm taking the day off of it to spend with my family and relax.

Cookie Exchange!

Wednesday I hosted a cookie exchange party at my house.  It was the first time I've had a group of friends over.  Originally, about 16 people were going to participate but with the awful weather (that didn't end up really affecting my neighborhood but affected the SW strongly) there were just 6.  We had a great time, though, and there were just enough places for all of us to sit and the big dish of macaroni and cheese I made was enough for everyone to share.

A close-up of the cookies:  chocolate peanut butter bees, coffee shortbread, matcha mint, sesame flax, ginger, pfeffernusser, and chocolate mint.

As for the macaroni and cheese, I made it a new way this time, which has been my favorite (and cheapest!)  I made a batch of almond ricotta using the cashew ricotta recipe from Veganomicon, but with 8 oz of tofu instead of 1 lb so there's a higher proportion of almonds and garlic to tofu. 

Chop 1 large onion finely and sauteed it in olive oil until very soft and caramelized.  Add 1 cup of soymilk, a bit of "chicken" bullion, and a bunch of spices (tabasco, black peper, sage, nutmeg, salt, basil, and thyme) and heat it until it's simmering for about 5 minutes.

Pour into a bowl and mix in 1/2 C nutritional yeast and 1 big squirt of yellow mustard.  Whisk with whisk or fork until smooth and creamy.  Add in the ricotta and a few TB of olive oil and mix until smooth.

Mix the cheese into 1 lb of cooked pasta, add 2 cups of thawed frozen peas (optional but very tasty!) and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes with foil on top until hot and steamy.  I drizzled a bit more olive oil and soymilk over the top before baking it so that it didn't dry out at all.

This was definitely my tastiest mac n cheese so far and I will be making it again this weekend as we have relatives visiting!

FO: Hat Fit For a Father

Pattern:  Hat Fit for a Boyfriend
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted (100% superwash wool - not vegan)
Needles:  8 circulars
Modifications:  none.  I did a cable cast on like the pattern writer did and really liked the edge.  I knit for about 7 inches before decreasing.
Notes:   This hat is for my father who is currently in Colorado where it's very cold and he requested a wool hat in brown or green.  I love how the yarn is patterned - almost stripes but very faint.  I hope this keeps his head warm!  I used a tiny bit over half of the skein and still have the rest left to make another hat or pair of fingerless gloves.  This hat was very easy to knit in the round with a K3 P2 ribbing but the best part is the decreases at the top.  You decrease every other rib first and it looks so nice! I tried to take a photo from the top but they all came out blurry.

DIY Month - Project 2: Coffee

  I love the taste of coffee but can't handle caffeine every day.  So I make my own decaf so it tastes good.  Meet my friend Bialetti Musa.  This sweet little stainless steel Italian espresso maker allows me to make really great decaf at home using freshly roasted and ground beans from Portland's Stumptown Roasting Company.  It makes just enough for a big mug of coffee and it's easy to rinse out. This maker cost me $15 on Craigslist and now I don't spend $1.50/day on coffee at the store.

Fresh decaf with heated Silk creamer.  MMMmmm.....

DIY Month - Project 1 : Tempeh Bacon

With the price of food going up and up, we at the Veganknitting household have decided to cook more food from scratch.  Not only do we save a lot of money, but it's much tastier, too!  So the next few postings will feature the results of our new way of life.

Project #1:  Tempeh Bacon

Normally, we love to eat LightLife's Fakin' Bacon on BLTs or as a breakfast protein.  It costs about $5 for a 6 oz package. 

Instead, I am buying plain Surata tempeh, at a cost of $3.50 for a 12 oz package, and marinating it in a tweaked version of the Vegan with a Vengance recipe for tempeh bacon. 

Cost:  Comparable cost for 6 oz - about $2.
Taste:  Really good!  Not quite as smoky as the original but a really nice flavor, and I can tweak it depending on what we're making it with (in this case, home fries.)

Oatmeal - no burning!

I have to dedicate this post to Depression Cooking with Clara and thank Jennifer of Vegan Lunch Box for her great post about this grandma's cooking show on YouTube.

Not only are they fun to watch, but I learned that I can cook my pasta by turning off the heat after I add the pasta to the boiling water, covering it, and letting it cook in the hot water.  I know it sounds really simple, but I hadn't realized that the pasta would cook just as well without the boiling.  Not only that, but for me, it takes the same amount of time it would take if I left the gas on, and it doesn't use any energy, and the pasta doesn't stick as long as I give it a stir a couple of times.

I also realized that I can apply this method equally to other foods like hot cereals.  I love oatmeal but I have a love-hate relationship with it because I almost always either boil it over, or burn the bottom, or cook it correctly but have to scrub the pot afterwards due to the oatmeal sticking to the bottom of the pot.  Thanks to Grandma Clara, I now boil the water, stir in the oatmeal, turn off the heat, let it sit a minute as the burner cools down, and then pop the top on.  I come back 5 minutes later and my oatmeal is perfectly cooked and there are no grains of oats stuck to the bottom!

Sometimes the greatest triumphs in cooking are small ones that affect items you cook frequently.

Vegan Sock List

As a Sock Knitter (capitalization for emphasis), I love to find new sock yarns that are vegan.  I know that for beginning knitters, this can be tricky.  So, for a while I've been working on a master list of vegan yarn made specifically for socks.  I've finally gotten it to a posting stage so you'll see that I've put a link on the upper left sidebar of my blog.  I will also link to it here for you blog aggregator readers.

Vegan Sock Yarns

As it stands, the list describes first the commercially-available yarns with names, fiber content, and links to the manufacturer's page about the yarn and a link to the yarn page on Ravelry.  Then the same for  indie dyers and spinners.

I would love to add at least one photo for each yarn, along with links to projects and reviews.  If you have made socks with these yarns and would like me to link to a photo, review, or blog post featuring completed socks made with this yarn, please comment or e-mail me.  Otherwise, I'll have to pop around the internet looking for ones to link to.

Also, if you are an indie dyer/spinner who deals with vegan sock yarns, please contact me and I'll add you to my list.  Same goes for if I've left a commercial yarn off the list.

I hope this list is useful and please let me know if you have any ideas for improving it!