I’m busy, here’s a sandwich

Between being sick, dealing with family issues, and trying to keep up with all the projects I’m working on, a lot of things have sort of fallen to the wayside.  My apartment  needs spring cleaning, I’ve been too tired to exercise, I have’t been editing my novel or blogging, and I haven’t been cooking as much as usual.  I actually went out to a fast food place and ate a burrito alone in my car like some sort of overworked business person, or possibly a lonely barbarian.

Things I HAVE managed to accomplish: 3 pieces of art on display in shows, 1 piece sold, 2 commissioned art pieces completed, 2 more commissions in the works, and I wrote a picture book(which I still need to illustrate).  Why do I do this to myself?  Oh yeah, not creating art makes Homer something something.  Go crazy?  DON’T MIND IF I DO!

Anyway, the moral of this story is I’m busy, so here’s a recipe for busy people who also like to be vegetarian and fancy: a sandwich.

FANCY PEAR SANDWICH

1 pear(I used D’angou, but it would probably work with any kind)

2 slices of bread(whoa, getting crazy here TWO slices of bread?!)

1 small handful of arugula

1/2 Roma tomato, sliced(Where’s the rest of it?! What did you do you animal?!)

Spreadable herb cheese like Laughing Cow or herb rolled goat chevre(so fancy!)

Directions: Spread cheese on one side of each slice of bread.  Slice pear once on each side of the stem so you have two hemisphere shaped slices and one weird center slice with the core.  You can either leave the hemisphere slices as they are, or slice the very top of the dome off to make the sandwich lie flatter.  Place the two side slices of pear on one piece of the cheese bread side by side.  Put tomato slices on top of of the pear.  Rinse and dry the arugula thoroughly, then arrange on top of the tomato.  I like salt, so I put a generous shake of salt on top of the arugula before putting the top slice of bread on, cheese side down.  If you are near a stove or a toaster oven(remember you’re a busy person, too busy for cooking!) you can pop the sandwich in for about 5 minutes at 350 degrees or so to toast it.  Now you have a really fancy sandwich and one weird core slice of pear.  You can cut the core from that last slice and use the good bits to garnish the plate, or just eat them.  It’s a lot like a pear salad, but more filling and you can eat it on the go.  Nom nom, type type, checking the email.

Soup! And also books

Baby it’s cold outside… not really because this is Arizona. But I’m a desert rat, and I want soup. And because this is Arizona, it’s tortilla soup. 🙂
Tortilla Soup

1 can of corn, drained(or you can use about a cup of frozen)

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can of black beans(drained and rinsed)

3 or 4 cups of veggie broth, or 1 of those aseptic containers of broth

1 small can of roasted green chiles, chopped

3 or 4 cloves of fresh garlic, minced

1 red pepper

1 green pepper(I usually swap this one out for an orange pepper since I don’t like the green ones)

1 yellow pepper

3 onions

fresh cilantro, chopped

shredded cheese for topping

tortilla chips

Put a tablespoon of oil on the bottom of a big soup pot and heat on medium high.  Chop up the peppers and onions, and saute them for a minute or two.  Add the garlic and saute a minute more. Pour in the broth, green chiles, tomatoes, corn, and black beans and heat to boiling.  Turn off the heat and ladle the chunky soup into bowls.  Top bowls with tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and cilantro.  Pour a little broth from the soup over the top to melt the cheese.  Now you have a lovely bowl of healthy, colorful soup to make up for all the holiday goodies you’re going to eat later!

And just because I’ve started collecting photos again, here are some more silly book covers:

Yes, I am 12 years old, and it is hilarious to me that a marketing department allowed this to happen.

It’s a choose your own adventure! Just like the game!  Remember how you used to name your all your party members after your friends, and watch them die one by one around you?  Was that just me?

You have to look closely, but the title of this gem is “internet-linked Romans.” Those Romans were way more high tech than anyone knew!

Heh. Heh heh. Yeah, still 12.

  Ummmmm. . . as a co-worker pointed out, that exclamation point just adds something that maybe it wasn’t meant to. . . heh heh.  Still 12.

They’re taxidermy bunnies!  At school!  This is actually a really interesting, if terribly disturbing read… My fear and fascination with death, wrapped up in pictures of animals…

  And the winner is this book.  I should have looked up the copyright while I was in the thrift store, but I didn’t.  This is just, I mean… It’s Gorbachev the anti-christ!  Someone was actually serious about this!!

Happy Holidays!

Soulless and Shepherds Pie

There wasn’t nearly enough of the science fiction and fantasy stuff I love in my last post, and I’d like to fix that.   I’m addicted to the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger. And when I say addicted, I mean I was listening to the third book in the series in the car(a fabulous audio book) and reading the paperback when I wasn’t driving(like reading it at home, not at red lights or anything).  It’s like it was written just for me with all of my favorite things; it’s a steampunk adventure/romance with a feisty, logical heroine, a sexy Scottish werewolf, a flamboyantly gay vampire, a mystery, and a fair amount of humor as well. More please 🙂 Book one is called Soulless, if you were wondering.

So, vegetarian shepherd’s pie. Whenever I mention that I’ve made this, people ask me about it. Generally they want me to just bring them free pie, but for those of you who might actually be inclined to make it, here’s my “recipe” and I use this term loosely.  As far as I can tell, shepherd’s pie is basically leftover side dishes baked and topped with cheese.  Warm, delicious, cheesy leftovers…mmmm….

Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie

Several(3?) cups of mashed potatoes(you can cut corners and buy frozen pre-mashed potatoes if you want to save time), or South Beach mashed cauliflower
1 cup steamed or defrosted vegetables(today I used steamed carrots, broccoli, and spinach)
1 red onion thinly sliced, and then sliced again into crescents
vegetarian sausage(I used 2 links of apple sage soy sausage from Sprouts)
2-4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
shredded cheese( provolone is amazing!)

Preheat oven to about 350. Mix the veggies into the mashed potatoes and pour into a casserole dish. Then slice the sausage or break into chunks and saute with 2 tablespoons of oil and the red onion, adding the garlic just as the onion is starting to brown. Saute until the onions are just about caramelized, but be careful not to burn the garlic.  Spread the sauteed mixture on top of the mashed potatoes and veggies. Top with the shredded cheese and bake for 20-30 minutes, or just until the cheese is melted if you are hungry and want to shovel it in your face as soon as possible.

I totally thought I took a picture of this recipe, but when I uploaded photos from my camera, it wasn’t there, and I had already eated all of the pie.  Perhaps I’ll post a pic if I make it again sometimes soon.  Happy eating, happy reading 🙂

Soup for the Sick

I have been told my friend Heidi makes an excellent soup for colds with garlic, lemon, and jalapenos.   I have never had this soup since I don’t like jalapenos.  Here’s my version of it, tailored to my own taste for Asian food.

1 aseptic container of broth.  Or you can be overzealous and make your own.

1  or 2 lemons depending on how crazy you are

5-10 cloves garlic depending on their size, and how crazy you are

1 tablespoon  oil or butter

fresh cilantro

1 bag of Trader Joes vegetable gyoza

a handful or two of bean sprouts

Mince the garlic and brown it in a soup pot with the butter or oil.  Throw in the broth and turn up the heat.  Wash the lemons.  Take the zest off the lemons, take all of it!  Throw that in the soup.  Juice the denuded lemons and put that in too.  Add as many gyoza as you like, and turn the soup off when it boils.  Rinse the bean sprouts and throw them in the soup.  Top with chopped fresh cilantro.  Yummy!

Here’s a photo, but I’ve added pan fried tofu to the top:

soup + pan-fried tofu