I was thinking , tonight, how I have certain issues I feel strongly about, and others that I am for , but perhaps not so enthusiastically.
I was pondering this as I lay in my pajamas watching “Hoarders” on A&E.So, I really cannot say it was this moment of absolute truth, or a shining example of the creation of a powerful thought.
I may have been even eating popcorn, too.
This intrigued me.I find that easy to believe, actually.Perhaps if more people actually knew more about the book they seem to base so much of their life’s choices on. Maybe.
Maybe people just do not like to think or put any effort into things, I do not know.It is a shame we do not advance thoughts.
can you imagine a world without religion? At least , organized religion? It will never happen, but it is an interesting thought.
A thought I would really like to think about more, and discuss more, but after this night of being super busy, eating popcorn, watching television, I just do not think I feel like adding more.
Oh, one more thing, before I go.One church is suing another church.I think you know which church I would rather go to.
I think , in this entry, I will be nice to those who want the recipe, then add my always enjoyable rant, after the recipe.
Chicken Seitan
Ingredients.
- 2 cups Vital Wheat Gluten.
- 1 and a half cups of water.
- 2 Tbsp Poultry Seasoning.
- 1 Tbsp Paprika.
- 1 Tbsp Rosemary.
- Flour, for dipping cutlets in.
Broth Ingredients.
- 4 cups of water.
- 2 Tbsp Poultry Seasoning.
- 1 Tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
- Tbsp Rosemary.
Let’s start the fun! Mix the gluten and the water, and the seasonings.Kneed it a few minutes.Easy , right ? You betcha! Now, you should have put the broth and its seasonings together in a good sized skillet.Bring that broth up to a slight simmer, put your gluten steaks in.Oh, yes, I should have added that part.Shape your gluten into steak shapes, I think I got five out of my batch.
Let them cook for about forty minutes.I am always tempted to add “or so”.That is not very useful, is it?
Well, while that is cooking, here is the next step.
More Ingredients.
- About two cups of Portibello mushrooms.
- 2 Tbsp Minced garlic.
- Slice two or three quarter inch slices of an onion, and half moon slice them.
- Oil, or non stick spray for sauteing.
Saute the onions and garlic a few minutes, then add the mushrooms.Do not overcook, but you wanna see them beginning to slightly brown.Put aside.
Bread your seitan, and fry till they are golden brown, should be under ten minutes.Now , add your sauteed mushrooms and onions to the seitan, and add a cup of vegetable broth ( you could also use cooking wine ) and let it reduce.
I served mine over mashed potatoes, and spinach.I am thinking Broccoli could be very nice, too.
Seitan Scallopini
So, now that the fun part is over with, let’s get messy.Oh, what a delight it is to be a liberal! I have so many leaders to be proud of.The right may be full of batshit crazy lunatics, but at least they get things done, they make things happen.
Could someone tell me when good ole’ Steny Hoyer will retire? He should be more embarrassed over his party being too scared to run on a winning tax idea, then over Stephen Colbert speaking on the hill, the other day.
Sometimes, they make it hard for me to want to vote.I will, and I will vote for what is reportedly my concerns, but the Democrats sure love making it hard.
Why not run to try and win, instead of running so scared you automatically lose? I guess, within a few weeks, I will get over the fact that they were too scared to end Bush’s tax cuts for the rich.Maybe.
I have this seitan scallopini , at least.
Damn it.
Oh, also, the American Taliban were at it again.
But, at least one Democrat does not lay around, one fights back.His name is Alan Greyson, and he one bad ass mother f***er.
I love his new ad.
I want more scallopini, and I want more Alan Greysons.
I just do not hope I wake up hours from now, seething in maddening, painful, tear jerking heartburn.Running through the darkened house in a chaotic search for heart burn medication.And no, I will not blame the food.
Well, here is part two in my riveting recipe and trial run for the scallops.Yeah, it is quite riveting.Most certainly.
So, you are probably asking yourself, or maybe even me, “how did they come out ?”
Well, pretty good.Not perfect, and I see some room for improvement.I would like them to be a bit more flaky.I will run the hamster wheel that is in my cranium, and see what I come up with.
I took them, rolled them in flour, I used whole wheat, and then fried them till they were golden brown, and a little crispy.They were a touch chewy, like how often seitan can be, but again , I think I can maybe work on that.
I served mine with home made potato wedges , and beets.Beets are like the candy of vegetable, are they not? I really like beets, I really do.
So, I will say this is moderately a success, unlike some other things popping around my head.
I am hoping the Democrats, at least in the house, show just a touch of a back bone, or should I say, I hope they finally show they have some fucking balls.Seriously, polling shows they are way ahead in winning the public over with ending the Bush Tax cuts on the rich.
Their fear, mainly those pesky blue dogs, seems quite unfounded to me.Why not try and get the wave of support going in your direction? They would prefer ot lose by a few, then risk losing by more or , just maybe, winning? Perhaps they are just paid spies for the republican party.
Okay, I do not believe in conspiracies, but it makes you wonder, what in the world are they thinking about?
Show some balls, democrats.
I was getting a little bored with seitan, well with how I was making and serving it.Well, that is not exactly true.I just wanted to try something else.So, why not some fishy or scallop like seitan? I came up with just calling it “See Seitan”.I know, right ? It is a clever name.You do not think it is clever? Well, fuck you and the horse you rode in on.
It is clever, damn it.Fine, it is an okay name.Maybe.
So, you may have noticed this is listed as “part 1″ That is because this will take a day, and in reality, I will not even really know if it came out the way I wanted till tomorrow.
You can also make this into a fillet shape, as I did with my extra seitan.I do not promise this will bring back memories of the real thing, but it is an interesting idea.
Seitan Scallops
Ingredients.
- 2 and a half cups of Vital Wheat Gluten
- 2 cups of water
- 2 tbsp of Seaweed, sesame seeds and sea salt powder.You can make your own combo of this, or find a brand made mix.
Mix those ingredients together.Okay, now for the broth.
Seitan Broth.
- 4 cups
- A couple handfuls of seaweed.
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp Bragg Liquid Amino
- 1 tsp salt
Add those ingredients to a large pan, and bring to a nice simmer.Now, take your seitan, than you have kneed for a few minutes, and roll it out, slicing it into about one inch discs.Place them into your pan and cook for about thirty minutes.
Once they are cooked, place the seitan and the broth in the fridge and let it sit over night.
We will see how it comes out, tomorrow.
Today, the senate took up the often derided “Don’t ask, don’t tell” as part of the over defense bill, as well as “The DREAM Act” which would give citizenship to those who joined the military.
It was, of course, filibustered.
We got to hear many excuses as to why those claiming to support the repealing of DADT filibustered the bill.More excuses than a cheating husband caught with panties that do not belong to his wife, more excuses than a pregnant nun.They went along the lines of…
“We were not allowed to add any of our own amendments.”
“We should wait for the results of the pentagon’s study.”
That was a couple of them, and they were easily answered.
First, as Harry Reid said, himself, today and last week, they would be allowed to add amendments.
Okay, but what about that study ? Well , first, Senator McCain who showed great bravery in his military service, is quite the political coward.That straight talk express of his has not only gone off the road, it has tumbled into a ditch! The leaders of the pentagon have vocally been positive on repeal, and more importantly, all this bill would do would repeal it, if that study came out, and spoke positively about repealing.
Okay, so neither of those excuses hold any water, in fact , they hold no water.They are Titanic excuses.They hit the iceberg and have sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic.
So, let’s call it what it is, bigotry.
They do not like the gays.Hey, at least when I want hate speech , or bigotry, prejudices, I can admit the KKK are honest about all their hate and prejudice.
On a related note, AOL’s ML Fanhouse, and this should not really be a shock to me or anyone who has actually read any AOL.com link, either links or comments, has this interesting (I say this loosely) story.
The poor guy, he worries he may have to go home and talk to his ugly , stupid kids about why two men were kissing.Now, maybe his kids are not ugly, or stupid, I do not really know, but really ?
Oh, he does not hate gays, he has gay friends.I love that argument.I do not hate gays, I have them as friends! I just do not think they should be considered to be equal to me, nor have the same rights as me.Yeah, I wish you were my friend.You sound like a great friend to have.
No one asked you to go home and discuss with your wonderful kids ( I feel bad about that ugly kids remark.) that those two men he saw kiss are now at home sticking their wangs up each other’s ass.No, you just say, if you even have to say anything, is that they love each other.
So let’s call this what it is: cowardly bigotry.
I really should have written down what ingredients I used in today’s lunch, that would have been a wise decision.Perhaps, I was distracted by the fact that a teabagger in running in New York is a full blown racist.No, I do not mean the sneaky,I am not racist I just think Obama is a Muslim from Kenya racist, I mean an actual full blown racist?
Maybe I was distracted by the lasted gem from the always entertaining anti-masturbation candidate O’Donnell,who knows?
Or , could it be I forgot to write down the ingredients for this, I say so my self, a delicious stir-fry, because of reading about the out and open homophobia and hate speech that came out of this last weekend’s Values Voters summit?
Maybe it was this?
That stir-fry, oh its a keeper, unlike those mentioned above.Now. if only I could think of that recipe.
Oh, I think it may have come back to me.
Ingredients
- Seitan, chopped into one inch cubes.1 cup.
- Green Pepper, chopped into one inch cubes.1 cup.
- Carrot, peeled, and chopped into slim slivers, about half a cup.
- Snow Peas, a cup’s worth.
- Green Beans, a cup’s worth.
- Zucchini, chopped into one inch cubes, about a cup.
- 1 Tsp Ginger
- 1 Tsp Red pepper flakes
- 1 Tbsp Sesame seeds
- 1 Tbsp Oil, I used Olive oil, but Peanut butter Oil could be great.
I used my new wok, I love that wonderful hunk of cheap metal.
Heat up the oil in the walk , with the seasonings, I should mention you can add more of them, I was just playing it safe, this time.Do this over medium heat.Add the seitan, green peppers, and carrots.Stir-fry for about eight to ten minutes.Now, add your snow peas, zucchini, and green beans, frying for another four or five minutes.I would check if its been cooked enough by making sure the snow peas and peppers are soft enough.I added a bit of Bragg Liquid Aminos for my soy sauce.
It was fairly yummy for something I just made up as I was cooking, which I wonder if that is the same idea when some of these people open their mouths.
I do not remember the first meal I had, when I first decided to become a vegan.Okay, I am lying, it was french fries, and some vegetable.
I remember the first time I voted, and I voted Republican.You see, I used to be a republican.Well, kind of.Please, forgive me.
I was young, dumb, you know the drill, you know the weak excuses.
I should add, on my behalf , in the national elections , for President , I did vote for Bill Clinton.I just voted republican, mainly for Bill Weld, in my home state.
No, I am not adding that I voted for Clinton to lie, and make up for my foolish youth, or make me look better.I am not, I promise, please believe me.
I would never lie, not here, to the three people who may or may not read this.That would be selling those possible three people short, and how could you trust me on cooking tips and recipes?
Be that way, I won’t mention a recipe.
I should maybe come clean and point out this post , I had no intention not really post a recipe. so okay, I am lying a bit.But , this is one of those small fibs, you know, like when you lie to a person when they ask you if you have seen some movie, it’s pointless, it is harmless!
Okay, I just made breaded Seitan, with mashed potatoes, steamed corn and some gravy.No need for a recipe for that, I already told you how to make the seitan that I used, just dunk it in flour, egg replacer and let it roll around in bread crumbs.Fry it till it browns.
If you do not know how to makes mashed potatoes, or steam corn, well we may have to start over, or reconsider this, whatever this is between me and you three possible four or maybe two people who may or may not read this.
Okay, I had a real point to this, but I may have lost it.I did not, but maybe we should just stop this ramble , for now.
It was going to be about how feminists, and really open minded fair people, have wanted to see more females put themselves in powerful positions, get more then just a foot in the door of Washington.
Many fought, many have, and this would be a time for them to finally see all that effort come to fruition, but how many are happy, now ?
The great wave of female politicians is lead by Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and anti-masturbation candidate Christine O’Donnell? Really?
There is a great possibility that come this fall, congress, and the senate may be under back under republican control.Highly possible.The chances are about as high as that happening as there is of me eating lettuce or chickpeas within the next following days.Yes, that high.
We may very well be back into the world of austerity economics.Though, for the life of me, I cannot recall once they ever really being all that successful.
The fact of the matter is they are not, and even in times the right would claim they were, they were simply not.Reagan spend a fortune on the cold war, and we all know very well that the great depression was ended by history’s largest stimulus spending spree :world war two.
So, we may see austerity, and we will see tax cuts, including the super small, uber rich minority.The only real question will be when they do not work, will Obama be blamed in 2012, or will the republicans who put into place those changes?
We shall see, and we shall see how many seats are actually taken by the republicans in the fall.For such a season in which incumbents are box office poison, you hardly see many lopsided republican leads, other then n decidedly red states.Having teabagger candidates like Rand and Angle probably does not help those polling numbers, either.
What could have easily been a bloodbath may very well turn into a only a slight gain for republicans.
I kept dinner some what simple, mock tuna sandwich, some home made potato chips, and cole slaw.I use the term chip loosely.
Mock Tuna
Ingredients
- 2 Cups prepared chickpeas
- 2 Stalks of celery,chopped into half inch pieces.
- 2 tbsp Veganaise
- 2 tbsp Brown mustard
- 2 tbsp Relish
-Ground pepper to taste.
Mash the chickpeas in a bowl.Mix in the celery, mustard, veganaise, and relish.Add pepper.Serve on bread, or eat as a salad.Whatever, it is your life.
Slaw Dressing
Ingredients.
- 1/4th cup of Cider vinegar.
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 tspn Brown sugar
- 1 tbsn Brown mustard
- 1 tspn Cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- Salt and pepper, to taste.
Just whisk, mix all the ingredients.Easy, really easy.Then toss into your slaw, which as you can see from my picture, I was too lazy to really slice thinly.Oh, well.
S for those supposed chips, I just sliced some chips, sprayed with olive oil, and salt, and baked for about 20 minutes in the oven.I put the oven on 420 degrees.
it is hard not to be too cynical about how this fall may turn out, but this sandwich certain takes an edge off.
I wonder if I have ate enough middle eastern food to have placed myself on an airport watch list.
High on that list, and I mean way, way ,way up there has to be couscous.
This recipe is beyond easy, fast, and quite yummy.
Couscous with Chickpeas.
Ingredients.
- 2 cups Couscous
- 2 cups Vegetable stock, or water.
- 1 cup Cooked chickpeas
- 1 cup Raisins
- 2 Diced Plum tomatoes
- 1 tbsp Vegan butter
- 1 tbsp Thyme
- 1 tbsp Basil
- 2 tbsp Cinnamon
This is an easy one, bring the stock or water and butter to a boil.Once it is boiling, add the couscous.Take it over the heat, and let soak a few minutes.Now, add everything else, and mix with a fork.
You can now either,;Place this in oven for a few minutes or return to stove top, just to simple evenly heat it.Easy.
Now, if only middle eastern politics could be so easy.
Stephen Hawking has a new book.”The Grand Design” is about, you guessed it, the design and construction of life as we know it came into being.You have heard it all before, to some degree.The Big Bang theory.This was the famous thinker’s coming out of the closet, the atheist closet.
The only truly surprising thing about this is not him saying or writing these things, but how long it took.
He will get a lot of flak for this, I am sure.But, what can one expect?Despite what many would like to think, generally speaking, religion and science do not mix well.
Peanut butter and chocolate sure does, OMG it sure does.
I have never made peanut butter cups before, so this was kind of made up as I went.I used what I had, and they came out pretty well.
Peanut butter Cups
- 2 cups cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp vegan butter
- 1/4th cup of brown sugar
- 1 cup Peanut butter
- 1 tbsp vegan butter
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
First, mix the peanut butter with the tablespoon of butter and sugar, mix till smooth and buttery, put aside.Over medium heat mix and stir the cocoa powder, butter and sugar.I also added a small amount of water slowly if the chocolate was too thick.
Now, I used the little cupcake paper thingies.I placed them in mini muffin baking sheets, and first poured a small amount of chocolate in them all.Then I placed the mix of peanut butter, on top of that chocolate layer, in the middle.Then, cover that with a third and final layer of chocolate.Place them in freezer, or fridge and let them cool and solidify.
You may land up with a bit left over, I have to admit forgetting the exact amounts of cocoa I used.Just play around with it, it is chocolate, after all.
Now, back to Hawking, and science, and religion.I prefer science, and I admit I am an atheist.I see no proof of any higher being, but I see proof of evolution, of how we became what we are now, today.As they say “the proof is in the pudding”, or should I say peanut butter cups?
Sorry, bad joke.