Gothic Granola

...Because 99.9% of the food produced in this household befits the adjective "mysterious," to the uninitiated.

OMG! It's a hippie lentil loaf! Miriam at Mouthwatering Vegan created this Epic Veggie Loaf . I have nothing to add other than my substitutions:

If you're vegan or vegetarian, you've probably stared at a plate like this often: cooked grain, beans, and greens. Videre licet , lentils and rice.  Nota bene the rice was cooked with cumin and saffron.

News from the Intertubes regarding health and wellness: Sleeplessness, the same problem that plagues teenagers, also plagues adults! To continue the analogy, school: adolescents :: work : adults. So, as with suggestions to push back school start times, some experts suggest pushing back work start times and/or operating on a flexible schedule. How revolutionary!   As I've been discussing using lower-GI sweeteners in treats as a suggestion, new studies show that lower GI diets aren't all they're cracked up to be . Still wouldn't hurt to avoid massive amounts of refined, high-GI foods, though.   There's now h ard data showing how sitting all day is killing office workers (increasing mortality) . What more does one need to light a fire under one's ass and stand periodically at work (and encourage the executive team to buy some standing desks and have walking meetings)?  

How 'bout a little evil in your cake? As in, how about Q hides a can of beans in your cake and you don't know and you eat it and you love it anyway despite the fact that you think the "musical fruit" is the devil's instrument?

It’s squash season, or as I say it in my head, “skvosh.” When I can use my mom’s or my grandmother’s food processors, I jump on it. I like my squash grated.

This is the 179th blog post on Gothic Granola, formerly Screwfoot Q. It's time to make a 180 degree turn on some issues.

Lady Neona Tribute: Tahini Soup There's a branch on my spiritual family tree that this morning curled towards light coming from a different direction. The Lady Neona Alansyn of the Abbey at Kilbride Croft has left us mortals, passing away to--another round on the wheel of rebirth? Nirvana? Who's to say? All's there is to say is what's in front of us: that she is beyond the suffering she experienced in this lifetime as she bravely fought cancer to the end.

For real and for…the “working class university of life” as I saw someone listed as their school on Facebook.  I’m from the deconstructionist school of eating, but that’s a whole ’nother story. On Monday I officially began the Institute for Integrative Nutrition ® program to become a health coach.  What is a health coach?  A health coach works with people who want to make positive changes in their physical, spiritual, and mental health by encouraging said people along their wellness journey.  A health coach makes recommendations for sustainable changes and holds hir clients accountable for making gentle changes in their lives in support of the clients’ goals.

Not until a friend of mine informed me last year that I probably couldn’t judge the taste of non-dairy milk compared to regular milk did I really think about that issue.   The longer you stay off dairy, the less appetizing it really is.   Did these need cheeze?   Not really.   I had Daiya pepperjack in the freezer, though, so I used it.   I’m glad it freezes well since it’s $6 a bag at Whole Foods or Wegmans; needless to say, I don’t buy it often.

Part III of III on vegan and gluten-free beer If it doesn’t have tomatoes, is it still chilli?  According to this needs-citations-article , chilli (yep, I’m using the UK spelling for a New World dish) involves tomatoes.

As Julia Cameron wrote in The Artist’s Way, paraphrasing another artist, when you’re out of the studio for three days, by that third day, you’ll do anything to get back to your art and nobody better stand in your way. I came home from my first week of work on Friday (a yearlong fellowship) and made muffinz. Zucchini muffins.

For lack of a better term, I’m calling this next dish a seed butter.  Since I used mammoth zucchini and summer squash for the cake and pie, I scraped out the seeds because they would have added too much volume.  The internets didn’t have much in the way of a recipe for roasted  summer  squash seeds.  I sautéed the innards of a giant squash and a giant zucchini in the same pan as I used to saute the zukes for the Z-pie.  Then I Vitamixed them (“to Vitamix” has become a verb in my world, much like “to Google” something is a verb).

No pictures, again! Greetings.  Busy week, but what can I say.  The going-to-class part of the semester is almost over and done with.  Exams, however, will not conclude until the end of January.  Great Scot!  My undergrad years better be the last time I go to a school that has exams after winter break.

I understand, it is expected that I should post something about Thanksgiving food, since the American holiday is next week.  But I’m not going to.  Maybe next week.   Defying expectations, that’s what we’re good at.