Yum

I have been making delicious food lately.

One, yogurt apple pancakes. Best breakfast I've had in a long time (we did love the blue pancakes at the Homecoming parade, but these are a lot healthier I imagine). I grated the apples instead of dicing them because it was easier, and I used whole-wheat flour which meant about 1/2 cup more milk. We were inspired to make them because I bought 6 large containers of Stonyfield Farm organic whole-milk yogurt (it was $1.40 at Smith's!) and it expires soon so I'm trying to eat it as fast as possible. I used french vanilla in the pancakes and they were awesome. Eat them plain with no syrup good. Theodore devoured them and I felt ok about it because they don't have sugar in them.

Two, peanut stew. I'm not sure where the idea of peanut stew came from (I think one of my vegetarian cookbooks)... but hello, it is so delicious. And fattening! We love fattening soup (still trying to fit into my skinny clothes and not gaining any weight back from Egypt. A blessing, yes. Not really complaining but I have no clothes that fit!). My recipe for it is rather fluid, but mostly I throw sweet potato chunks and a can of garbanzo beans in the crock pot, cover it with equal parts water and broth, add garlic and ginger (fresh or powder, depending on what we have), red pepper, a little cumin and a can of diced tomatoes (I used fresh tomatoes yesterday, since we have an abundance). Yesterday I also threw in some butternut-type squash, again, abundance from the garden. Cook on high for 3-ish hours or low for 5-ish. When it's done, stir in some okra/green beans and about 1/2 cup of peanut butter (we use chunky). Serve over rice. I have it for lunch at work today and I can't wait to eat it. Mmmmmm.

Three, for breakfast this morning we had green pepper/tomato/avocado omelets. Heck YES.

Four, homemade salsa with fresh garden tomatoes, cilantro and onions. Though I didn't have any at the time and therefore did not test this myself, a friend recommended throwing a can of tomato paste into homemade salsa to make it less runny. For now, we're eating the runny stuff but it's ok because I like to drink it sometimes it's so flavorful.

Five, tofu! I forgot how much I LOVE tofu. Why did I have a period of my life where I stopped buying it?? I think Egypt made me forget about my love affair with tofu. At a friend's suggestion, I fed plain tofu from the fridge to Theodore, and he loved it. I think he liked it better plain and cold than cooked with BBQ sauce. Which, I have decided, is the best way to eat tofu. Dry extra-firm tofu well between two paper towels or, in our case, kitchen towels because we don't buy paper towels. Cut it into biggish diced pieces. Throw it in a pan with a little (very little) olive oil, turn it after a few minutes when browned on the one side, brown on the other. Add BBQ sauce and eat. SO, SO tasty. I served it with sauteed garden zucchini and smashed red potatoes (from Tim's parent's garden... they are delicious).

I love feeding my family delicious and healthy food. And I'm going to miss all of this garden produce in a few months when we eat the last of the squash :( I wish I had taken an initiative and learned how to can all of those tomatoes. I froze some stuff but we'll probably eat it before too long. Oh well. It will be back to frozen/canned stuff for a while. I don't think I could eat a fresh tomato in December anymore.