Gothic Granola

Got that Rob Zombie song stuck in my head, alternating with American Head Charge’s “Song for the Suspect.”  

Pie.  I got nothin’ for ya.  I tried a new crust, which gave me some problems.  It’s the same crust recipe as for my pecan pie and pumpkin pie, but I tried messing with the flours.  Bad idea.  The crust, when I worked with it, felt dry, crumbled in my hands, and was generally weak.

My toe-screws have been aching—and then there was a weather change.  I felt it yesterday and thought, oh, maybe running for five minutes caused a little achey-achey.  Yesterday was gorgeous blue sky and slight humidity in D.C.  Then today—bam!—dampness.  Bunion surgery is good for something besides removing bursae. 

Brack brack brack.  I’ve made this once every year for the past two years.  This year, I made Irish tea brack to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and I made it gluten-free.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Made Irish tea brack this week to share at work since VGF Irish soda bread is nothing special.  OK, I’ll give myself credit; it’s nothing special outside my household.  In class this week, we were discussing how the ancient Romans and Greeks defined one’s family as one’s household.  Being a student, my household is a complicated matter.  I realised last week that I rarely spend more than three to four nights in the same place (you can’t assassinate me, hah hah!).  In a two-week span, I could be home for three nights, at my grandparents’ house for a night, at school for four nights, at my aunt and uncle’s for three nights, and so it continues.  Spring break will be an exception to that pattern since I will be in one place for more than a week (but just barely).

As it is midterms and high-stress thesis time, I’m trying to cut back on sugar (I brought the carrot cake to work, FYI).  I made these cookies/ biscuit /snack thingers for microlunch and other noshing purposes.

Though I am not a lick of Irish, I enjoy putting on my kilt (nor am I a lick of Scottish) and eating Irish soda bread leading up to and on St. Patrick’s Day.

I used raisins in all three recipes I present to you below.  "Made to suffer:" I think that was a card title in some Star Wars card game I bought in the early 2000s.  This week at school, I thought of C-3PO saying to R2-D2, we were made to suffer.  I know, I know, before you even start hitting me in the knees with the bag of guilt bricks, I’ve got it covered—I really have nothing about which to complain, relatively speaking.  Besides midterms, thesis, and job search, a few weeks ago I ate some chips that I thought were GF, but they contained wheat, and I have not felt properly well since then.  Then last week I was served a cookie that wasn't GF, though I had asked for a GF one.  Yes, eating wheat really sets me back that badly.

Final circle: polenta pie.  My uncle asked me if this was vegan shepherd’s pie, and I low-blood-sugar snapped that it wasn’t.  In hindsight, it is: Italian peasant shepherd’s pie.  I used turnip greens instead of the original spinach because I usually eat spinach for salad greens anyway.  Besides, spinach is bourgeois these days; turnip greens, though being rediscovered by hipsters and the like, are peasant food.  Using kale would straddle both the traditional and the elite.  Toscano kale would just  make  this, but, alas, I settled for the frozen turnip greens.  I also added a can of beans since I like protein.  I used black beans, which makes the dish a tad southwestern.  If I used cumin and the Southwest spice profile…you see where this can go.  I’ve been making combinations of grains lately to use up the odd 2/3 cup of rice, quinoa, lentils, et cetera all in one big batch.  Since I didn’t have enough polenta for this recipe, I added sushi rice and oats to make a sticky

Oh yes, very good.  I really like Crazy Richard’s unadulterated peanut butter, though Maranatha’s organic peanut butter is high on my list of “what food would you bring with you to survive the zombie apocalypse?”  I’ve been watching and reading  The Walking Dead  for the past few days.  Wonderful bedtime reading.

Most of the food featured below was made (and probably stored) in circular equipment.  Much like my logic. Last Sunday, when I returned to New Jersey, I made a pecan-oatmeal pie in a raisin-oat-almond crust.  I modified the usual pecan pie filling recipe that I’ve been using for the traditional pecan pie and chocolate pecan brownie pie, adding oats, according to this Cooking Light recipe.  My mom has made this pie a fair few times as post-Thanksgiving pie, and I wanted it, deglutinised, four months later.  You could make it with the traditional flour-based crust, but I made a nut-oat-raisin one just ’cause.