Lebanese Rice Pilaf, More Thrifty Book Finds

Hi all! Today Rob’s cell phone rang around 4 a.m. and woke us up. They didn’t leave a voice mail message so Rob googled the number. It turns out the call came from………a Naperville McDonald’s. What? Have they now taken to awakening vegans during the night, one phone call at a time? Although it could have been a misdial, the conspiracy theorist in me says otherwise.

I haven’t found much vintage stuff at the sales I’ve been to lately. At least I’ve been making some good finds at the library sales. I found A Taste of Lebanon cookbook by Mary Salloum, a Sunset Easy-To-Make Outdoor Furniture book, and a Keeping Up Appearances book: Hyacinth Bucket’s Book of Etiquette for the Socially Less Fortunate. I love Keeping up Appearances (it’s a British Comedy on PBS)…does anyone else watch it too? My favorite character is Onslow.

I tried out the Rice Pilaf (Ruz M’falfal) from A Taste of Lebanon cookbook. It was yummy and very similar to the rice I used to get at LaShish. I also topped the rice with toasted slivered almonds after this picture was taken. I served the rice with some falafels (not pictured) that I made from a bulk mix (I was feeling lazy).

Hope you have a terrific weekend

Trader Joes Penne Arrabiata, Thrifty Book Finds

I actually picked this up on a whim while at Trader Joes – Frozen Penne Arrabiata. I figured we’d keep it on hand for a quick meal. To my surprise, it was actually really good. It’s not spicy (at least not to Rob and I) but it is quite tasty. The package is even labeled vegan on the back. It only takes about six or seven minutes to make this. You just have to add water or oil to the pan, dump the bag contents in, and heat it up. Simple and easy. It costs around $2.69 for a bag.

Bag:

Frozen:

Ahhh, ready to eat:

I made Blueberry Crumb Muffins again but this time they were huge. I used my large muffin pan which I brought back with me over Easter. The pan has been packed away for months so it was fun to use it again. It makes bakery-size muffins, or the equivalent to two muffins. They were scrumptious.

We went to two library sales over the weekend. Rob spotted a wonderful vintage furniture book: How to Build Modern Furniture. It’s the second edition from 1957! I’ve actually heard about this book but I didn’t own it. Score!!!!

Some library sales I’ve been to have sections for “better books” which is where I found this next book: Reader’s Digest Home Made Best Made. The book was $3 and is chock full of great stuff. It’s over 300 pages and has everything from crafts, gardening, cooking, baking, making your own bath and body products, etc….. I’ve barely scratched the surface. There’s even instructions for making a sturdy garden trellis using bamboo. I might have to give that a try for the tomato plants.

Hope you have a wonderful day

Indian Spiced Potato Patties, Thrifty Finds: Fabric

I got the recipe for the Spiced Potato Patties with Chickpeas from Sara’s blog: I Like to Cook. The meal was scrumptious and I also served the patties and chickpeas with some basmati rice. I was out of fresh cilantro so I decided to try the frozen cubes of cilantro I bought at Trader Joes. It worked out perfectly. I also used the amchoor powder that I bought at The Spice House. I had never heard of amchoor powder until I read about it on Sara’s blog. In case your wondering, amchoor powder is made from dried green mangoes. I’ve seen several recipes since then that use amchoor and I can’t wait to try them out too.

I remembered at the last second not to cover the patties entirely so you could see them in the picture (basmati rice, two potato patties, and then lots of chickpeas on top).

It’s time for garage sale season. Yay! I picked up three fabric remnants for 40¢ total. It’s always fun to go to a sale where there is fabric and other crafty supplies.

Hope you’re having a great weekend. The weather is gorgeous here. There’s not even a cloud in sight. I hope this weather stays put

Spicy Seitan Pepperoni, Pizza Subs

Since I mentioned how mild the Seitan O’ Greatness recipe was, Bazu gave me a heads up that I would probably want to increase the spice levels for the seitan pepperoni recipe. Thanks Bazu! Here’s what I did to adjust the spice levels: I used hot smoked paprika from the Spice House. I also doubled the black pepper, mustard seeds, fennel, garlic, and onion powder and used a scant tablespoon of crushed red pepper.

The spicy seitan pepperoni was delicious but I’ll still probably play around with the spices a little bit more.

Whole Spicy Seitan Pepperoni:

Sliced (use a serrated knife):

I used the pepperoni in “pizza subs” which I didn’t take a picture of because all you could really see was the bun with veggies on top and not much else. A pizza sub is slices of pan-fried spicy seitan pepperoni, vegan mozzarella cheeze (slightly melted), pizza sauce, mushrooms (I pre-cooked them), onions, green pepper, shredded romaine lettuce, and diced vine-ripe tomatoes on a toasted sub bun. YUMMY!

I’ll definitely make the pepperoni recipe again along with more pizza subs.

Thrifty Finds: Peach Luster Fire King

Had it not been for the kindness of a stranger, I probably wouldn’t have had a chance to buy some vintage kitchenware at this sale. We arrived at the sale a little later than planned (it was in an area we’ve never been to before) and ended up with a number in the teens. For those of you that don’t attend estate sales, numbers are usually posted before the sale starts which determine your place in line/entrance into the sale. It was about five minutes before the sale opened and this elderly gentleman turns to me and says, “I guess my son isn’t going to show up, would you like his number?” Of course I said sure and he hands me a number….#2!!! I thanked him profusely and made my way towards the door while Rob waited until it was his turn.

I went straight for the kitchen and there it was….Peach Luster Fire King….and it was in wonderful condition. I’ve been collecting peach luster pieces for several years. All of the various pieces I own have been bought at thrift stores or estate/garage sales. I bought an 8″ x 8″ square pan – $5, casserole dish – $6 (but it had the original lid!), 4 custard cups -$1 each, and 2 soup bowls (with handles) – $2 each. Right after I picked up the kitchenware, other people were eyeing it!

We stopped at some thrift stores on the way home. One of them had the same soup bowls for $4.99 each and they were in rough shape. It certainly made the estate sale, which was a little bit pricey, seem like a super bargain. I also got a couple of free new trashbags too. The people running the sale forgot to bring bags and packing material so they gave me several new Hefty trash bags to wrap it all up. What a bonus! As you can tell I’m easily amused

Hope you have a nice day My next post will be about the spicy seitan pepperoni.