Saturday

Coffee is brewing here. I'm downstairs at my cute neighbor's apartment. We're watching Planet Earth.

This morning, walking to Stony Creek, ate a banana to get breakfast started. Then wandering on the creek bank, had my favorite trail mix from Nuts to You ('Slightly Sweet,' $2.29 / lb.). Crunchy soy nuts, sunflower seeds, pepitas, peanuts, raisins, carob chips.

After creeking, and after thrift store shopping for home decor (successfully: $8 = Ikea stool, body pillow with washable brown cover, aqua throw pillow, two big cream-colored plates, two small white plates with blue trim and the words Delta Airlines on the bottom, two petite coffee cups that look like miniatures of big chunky midnight blue coffee mugs, and a little box with a green fish on it), my pal and I went grocery shopping at the DeKalb Thriftway.

I am so stocked for food. This is great. Discovered a wonderful generic brand called White Rose that has delicious things with short ingredient lists for cheap money.

1 lb. box of whole wheat penne
?-oz. pasta sauce (like, enough for the pasta, Newman's own, tomato and basil, $2.99)
1 lb. jar of White Rose natural peanut butter, $2.79
gigantic box of "whole grain" saltines (whole grain saltines?), $2.50, to spread the peanut butter on
22 oz. box (yes, you heard correctly) of Mom's Best raisin bran for $3.29, also with a strikingly short ingredient list
a 12-pack box of White Rose instant oatmeal, $2.49
a jar of Vlasic baby dills, $don't-remember
1/2-dozen doughnuts, $1.50

I cannot remember what else I bought right now, but I spent $23. My companion bought some peapods and tomatoes and coffee and some other important things. At home were couscous, asparagus and broccoli.

Dinner was couscous and steamed peapods, asparagus, broccoli and tomatoes. Dessert is dark, muddy coffee and doughnuts.

Yes, you are seeing  Steamed Grape Tomatoes.  

They were... tomatoey, in the very best way.

Snack, on my mind for later: Saltine cracker, peanut butter, crunchy soy nuts, banana slice, drizzle with honey (or not). Repeat.

Other snack, on my mind for another time: Raw peapods and broccoli and cherry tomatoes dipped in Italian dressing.

Also begging to be put with peanut butter: 'Slightly Sweet' trail mix from Nuts to You ($2.29/lb.) and oat bran pretzels ($1.50/lb. at Nuts to You). Spread peanut butter on a pretzel and sprinkle with trail mix.

Pasta and steamed veggies for dinner a couple times this week. Maybe once with just olive oil, seasoning and steamed veggies, and nutritional yeast, and once or twice with the marinara sauce and veggies. Marinara and veggies is decadent. Doesn't happen often enough in here.

Breakfast will be raisin bran and 8th Continent soy milk. Oranges. Coffee. Improv breakfast cereals: banana/trail mix/soy milk or even orange/trail mix/soy milk.

The couscous turned out better tonight. I didn't make it. Hm.

mushroom scramble

breakfast (8:30 a.m.) = oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar

brunch (11:30 a.m.) = bagel with scrambled mushrooms

Heat some olive oil and a diced red shallot, along with salt, pepper, and fennel seeds, over low heat. Add 5 small-medium button mushrooms (those small, round, white mushrooms that are easy to find), chopped. Heat, stirring/turning occasionally with a spatula, until the mushrooms are slightly browned on the edges, and you should hear water hissing out of them. Turn the heat off and let them continue to sizzle while your bagel toasts. I did mine in the oven at 400 degrees until it was slightly brown on the edges. Spread margarine on the bagel, then top it with the mushroom scramble. Don't be shy with the olive oil; mushrooms will drink it up. Fennel seed gives the topping a savory breakfast taste.

Cranberries popping, Field Roast, Thanksgiving.

I am Thanksgiving. I made cheer. I seized power. I created cranberry sauce, and it tastes and looks and feels exactly like cranberry sauce.

It was very easy to make. I had, let's see, probably about a half-pound of cranberries (fresh cranberries from the co-op). A little bit of orange juice. An apple (Golden Delicious, from the co-op). Sugar. Nutmeg. Cloves.

You heat the cranberries in a pan (cast-iron skillet in my case).


When they start to pop (literally, you will hear them pop and see them splitting - watch....),

add sugar (you will need a lot, so just add some and then as it's cooking, keep tasting and adding more if needed), nutmeg (a little), a few cloves, the apple - diced very small (I used 3/4 of the apple), and splash on some orange juice (I used a very small amount of orange juice; just remember what consistency you want to end up with, kind of gelatinous; you will also probably add more orange juice little by little as it cooks).




Once the cranberries have started to pop, you don't want to cook them any longer than 15 minutes, or the pectin will break down in a bad way and it won't set properly. So add these ingredients, stir it up, start tasting the juices and adding sugar as needed, add a little more orange juice now and then if it's dry and it hasn't cooked for about 15 minutes yet.



When it's sweet and the apples and cranberries are soft and it's getting a little gelatinous, turn off the heat, put foil over the pan and let it sit in the steam and the fruit will continue to soften and the gel will firm up a little. Then you can put it in a bowl and put it in the fridge if you want to serve it cold. Make sure you taste it as it is cooking, so you get it the right sweetness. After you set the cranberry sauce aside, heat up some leftover vegan Field Roast, potatoes, sweet potatoes and asparagus, and throw it on a plate with your homemade cranberry sauce and some apple sauce. Mashed potatoes and gravy would also be a great option. Sweet corn. Green bean casserole. Pumpkin pie. I had a brownie for dessert. :)


Does it look perfect?! And it tastes perfect, refreshing, sweet but not too sweet, gelatinous, the whole nine yards. Wish I had more sweet potatoes, is all. Mmm, can't get over this cranberry sauce.

Ready for the week

Made this chili with canned ingredients tonight, for lunch tomorrow. Roasting some greens (fresh from the farmers' market) right now to go with them. Will also bring grapes from the farmers' market that taste like wild grapes. Very excellent trip to the store tonight.

Fu-Wah Mini-Market

Whole wheat flour
mineral water (2)
diced tomatoes (in a can)
black beans (can)
kidney beans (can)
Beirut Tahini Sesame Paste
brown rice cakes
chili powder
1 quart Almond Dream almond milk
baking soda

Total: $23.80

At the farmers' market on Thursday, I bought...

collard greens
mustard greens
okra
green beans
grapes
blackberries
yellow onions
carrots
tomatoes

I think that's it. I have maple syrup to mix with the tahini paste to put on the rice cakes. I can now make whole wheat pancakes. (I'm getting really good at pancakes.)

Tomorrow:

Breakfast - raw grain and walnut cereal with almond milk and blackberries
Noon Lunch - roasted greens, tahini w/maple syrup on rice cakes, and grapes
3 pm Lunch - 2-bean chili
When I get home from Arcadia - Whole wheat pancakes w/maple syrup

Summersville Wal-Mart, WV State Fair, Bob Evans, Vegan Living

I'm visiting my family in W.Va. I count Summersville as my home town, although we lived all around it. They live in a different little town now. We spent the day at Summersville Lake today. I visited the site of the original Campfire 30. Campsite #30 at Battle Run Campground.

Wednesday night when my train got in, my parents and niece picked me up at the station and we ate at Bob Evans. I wasn't very hungry. The microwaved Amtrak vegan burger and Cliff Bars had ruined my appetite. I had a plate of sweet potato fries and a salad. Then we went grocery shopping at Wal-Mart in Lewisburg.

Vegan Burger on the menu in the Amtrak cafe car

At the State Fair of WV the next day, I ate corn on the cob roasted in the husk in a fire pit by the Shady Spring Future Farmers of America (a favorite snack from childhood state fairs), sweet potato fries with cinnamon and sugar, mashed potatoes, broccoli-cauliflower salad, garden salad, baked apples, and a baked potato. The "butter" the future farmers offered with their corn on the cob was vegan. It was Parkay Squeezable Margarine. (And yes, if you have that in your fridge right now, it does mean you are vegan and probably a Socialist and possibly gay.)

That night we had to drive to Beckley to reunite my niece with her mama, so the next morning, we had breakfast at Tamarack. I had a bagel with jelly, an English muffin with baked apples, and fried potatoes with onions and pepper, along with a really great cup of coffee.

Yesterday, we stayed home all day, made a fire, cooked on it/in it. Both sisters and one of their significant others and the other ones' kids came down. We roasted potatoes and corn. I made what I'm calling a campfire panini. It has a thin layer of Vegenaise (from Edith's Store in Lewisburg; you could also use margarine) on the outsides of the bread, then stuffed with hummus, tomato, onion, and dill seeds. Would have been great with avocado, but I forgot. It's grilled in this neat thing that we used to have a set of when we were living in the campground. Here, I'll post pictures.

This morning, we went out for brunch to Los Pescadores Mexican Restaurant in Summersville, on our way to the lake. This is in the same strip mall with Wal-Mart and the Dollar Tree. I had vegetable fajitas. Looking at the menu, I ordered it without sour cream (still had guacamole), and then after it came, I scraped the cheese off the beans. (They don't mention the cheese on the menu. Everyone would of course obviously want cheese on their beans.) The food was really good. The service was good. I had sopapillas for dessert.

After spending the day at the lake today, we picked up a few more groceries at the Wal-Mart in Summersville.

Vegan Grocery list from Wal-Mart

2 bunches kale

1 head green leaf lettuce

1 bunch asparagus

Big tub of hummus

Small tub of Earth Balance margarine

1/2 gallon of almond milk

2 things of Fig Newmans cookies

Arnold's Sandwich Thins (round sandwich bread)
Some kind of square bread from the deli

some other kinds of bread (cause my mom and dad like lots of different breads)
frozen berries
bananas

onions

potatoes

sweet potatoes

2 avocados

We didn't get any beans, pasta, rice, hot cereal, etc., but they have those things. You can certainly get your four vegan food groups at Wal-Mart. I know the vegetables might have been grown halfway around the world and have been sprayed with chemicals, but they're at least as good as anything else you're getting at Wal-Mart. Their selection of almond milks almost made me jealous.

At the house, I've been eating a lot of sandwiches, with hummus, avocado, etc., the things I usually eat at home. And toast with molasses, which I usually don't have. Mom usually makes fried potatoes in the mornings, and berry smoothies. Just bought the kale tonight; I'm going to roast a pan of it for mom and dad tomorrow. Dad made biscuits and brown gravy to go with the campfire foods last night. I brought some Bob's Red Mill muesli (cereal with uncooked rolled grains, nuts, raisins, dates, seeds) with me. Brought some Cliff Bars but haven't been eating them. They will be good for the train ride home. Can't believe it's already Sunday night.

Saturday, Swiss chard, and bean salads

Saturday was the day we had to be out of our old apartment, so I haven't blogged the groceries yet. I got so much stuff at Thursday's farmers' market, that Saturday felt more like a Thursday. Only spent $28 Saturday morning... er, afternoon. I actually forgot to go to the market until half past one, because of all the excitement.


Saturday Shopping List

The four lovely heirloom tomatoes you see above
5 red shallots
3 bunches of small orange carrots with the greens on
6 ears sweet corn
4 cucumbers
1 pint blackberries
1 lb. maple granola
1/2 loaf banana sourdough bread
1 loaf multi-grain bread
and a 16-oz iced coffee

Total: $28

On Thursday, I had spent $36.50, and got kale, mustard greens, Swiss chard, lettuce, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, tomatoes, green beans, and garlic. I may be forgetting something.


The Swiss chard is GREAT for roasting. I usually roast kale and mustard greens for about 30-35 minutes. I had forgotten a pan in the oven recently and burned it to a crisp after 45 minutes. Well. I got the Swiss chard, put it on the bottom, put kale and mustard greens on top, and put it in the oven intending to leave it about 30 minutes. Did the same thing again! Forgot about it and after 45 minutes I went in there steaming mad, figuring I just ruined another pan of perfectly good greens. No. The chard was still a little moist and had protected the other greens and everything else was golden brown and crispy. The chard was golden brown and flaky like a pie crust! It was ridiculous. The flavor was strong. It was very savory and rich. Now I have a reason to buy Swiss chard. So good.


Mark made this delicious summer bean salad. It has: red beans, corn, cucumber, tomato, carrots, and purple lettuce, with an oil & vinegar dressing and cayenne pepper. Shut up. It's amazing. He made another, similar one, but with green beans and potato, and with an avocado dressing that he made himself. I think it was just avocado and olive oil with pepper. That one was also delicious. The avocado dressing made it very filling and added some good fat.

Here comes the summer (squash).

You should have seen how happy I got when I saw the summer squash at the market yesterday. Actually, I saw golden zucchini first and got excited because I thought it was summer squash, and even after noticing it wasn't, I still bought a bunch of it, cause who doesn't love golden zucchini? Then, on down the line a few tables, there was the real summer squash. Got some of that as well. At this point in the summer, I can fry this stuff in thin slices and eat it like candy. I don't get sick of it until at least late July. I found green zucchini at Milk and Honey last week, got a couple of those and threw some slices in with my vegetable roasts, along with shiitake mushrooms. Delicious. Last night, Mark made us a stir-fry, to be detailed below.

Saturday Shopping List

5 summer squash
5 golden zucchini
4 large sweet potatoes
1 lb. chickpeas
5 tomatoes
1 quart strawberries
23-oz jar of home-made apple sauce
1 pint shiitake mushrooms
1 large portobello cap
1 head buttercrisp lettuce
1 head green leaf lettuce
1 bunch curly kale
2 bulbs garlic
1/2 loaf sourdough banana bread
1 loaf multi-grain bread

Total: $36 and change

I'm happy about all the fruit I got. Strawberries are expensive; most people have them for $4 a pint or $7.50 a quart. One of my favorite vendors yesterday had them for $5.50 a quart, so I bought a quart from her. It's an indulgence I just decided I would indulge in. You can only get fresh local strawberries for so long (which doesn't make sense, because it seems like you could grow them in a green house pretty easily - am I wrong? Does anyone know?). Over the winter, I crave fresh berries, think about them, dream about them. When it's summer, I intend to eat as many fresh, Pennsylvania strawberries as I possibly can. Just wait until the blackberries and raspberries come in. And cherries. And blueberries. I'll buy them all.

Now, about this stir-fry that Mark made. It was asparagus, zucchini, squash, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, onion, garlic and red beans. I never think of putting beans in a stir-fry, but it's great. It's a great way to eat beans if you're tired of beans, and it's a great way to make a stir-fry more substantial. It's like you can feel the iron fortifying your body as you eat the red beans. Plus, it's delicious. We had it with multi-grain toast with jelly on the side.

A great use for rhubarb

Rhubarb Roasted Vegetables

1 small sweet potato
1 small white potato (or red, or yellow)
4 stalks of asparagus
2 carrots
a whole shallot
about an inch and a half of a rhubarb stalk, chopped
olive oil, salt, and pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Cut and combine potatoes, carrots, shallot, and asparagus in a cast iron pan. Coat with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Scatter finely chopped rhubarb over top of the vegetables. Roast for about 30 - 35 minutes or until everything is soft and the carrots and asparagus tops are a teensy bit blackened. The rhubarb is mild but gives the vegetables a sweet, fresh, tangy flavor. It goes well with the pepper.

Saturday market, mid-May... waiting for squash

I can't wait for summer squash. I don't remember when it comes in, so every Saturday I go to the market hoping it will be there. I want to roast some with sweet potatoes. But today was not the day.

Saturday Shopping List

about a dozen large carrots
8 of the tomatoes you see above
6 white potatoes
4 red potatoes
5 yellow sweet onions
2 of the bunches of asparagus you see above
a large head of buttercrisp lettuce
a jar of apple syrup
a pint of strawberries
a pint of crimini mushrooms
1 large portobello cap
2 bunches of dark green curly kale

Total: about $27

We want to start juicing again, so I got a bunch of carrots and the two bunches of dark green kale. We haven't had kale in a while. No sense in that. It is a great source of protein, calcium, and iron. The carrots are really big and I got plenty, so there should be enough to both juice and roast.

My favorite dish lately has been to roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, asparagus and onions in the the cast iron skillet in the oven at 425 for about 35 minutes. So good. I put on sea salt, black pepper, and fennel seeds. I cut up a whole, small sweet onion, in big chunks, and put in there, and it makes the whole house smell savory and foodie. Garlic is also good to add.

Saw an apartment on Craigslist that advertises if you live there you might have to help with the vegetable gardening and composting in the back yard. Hmm. That would be awesome. We e-mailed about it. Will keep you posted.

rhubarb rhubarb

All I really know about rhubarb is that if a lot of people say it all at once, it can sound like the general muttering of a crowd of extras on a movie set.

But I've already found a recipe for cold rhubarb soup with mint (scroll to the 2nd recipe), and I'm going to get baking soda and concoct something with flour and sugar that you can bake in a cast iron skillet. Any suggestions?

Saturday Shopping List

3 stalks of rhubarb
a pint of strawberries
1 purple baby lettuce, 1 green curly-leaf lettuce
1 buttercrisp lettuce
8 tomatoes
10 potatoes (red and white)
4 sweet potatoes
2 bunches of asparagus
4 yellow sweet onions
6 orange carrots
1 giant parsnip
1 leek
2 portobellos

total at Clark Park Farmers' Market: $32, even

and @ Milk & Honey Market:

1 loaf of multi-grain bread
2 bagels
2 pears

total: $9.18

Grand Total: $41.18

On the menu or percolating in my brain right now:

-oatmeal with rhubarb & strawberries
-rhubarb scones or muffins
-potato-leek-parsnip soup
-cold rhubarb soup
-rhubarb crumble (dessert)
-pancakes with strawberries
-portobello sandwiches
-could I make a rhubarb salad dressing?
-roasted: potatoes, asparagus, onions, carrots
-roasted sweet potatoes
-roasted chickpeas

Saturday Market

2 lbs. asparagus
12 fat orange carrots
1 baby green leaf (curly) lettuce
1 baby purple leaf lettuce
1 large green leaf lettuce
8 red potatoes
1 big white potato
5 small yellow sweet onions
1 pint white mushrooms
1 portobello mushroom cap
2 bulbs garlic
23 oz. jar of homemade apple sauce
1 oz. black pepper
1 loaf multi-grain bread
one plain bagel

Total: $36.72

Sauteed 5 of the white mushrooms with fennel seeds, onions, and pepper, piled onto a bagel with the green curly and purple lettuces and vegenaise.

Then steamed some asparagus and carrots with olive oil, Old Bay seasoning, salt and pepper. They are perfect, steamed for 6 minutes. (pictured above)

I've been baking sweet and white potatoes in the oven in the cast iron skillet, at 400 degrees, for about 35 minutes. Cut the potatoes and coat with olive oil, then toss with salt, pepper, and Old Bay seasoning, and include some crushed cloves of garlic. Makes a great side for a sandwich.


Asparagus is plentiful at the market all of a sudden, and so far we're not tired of just steaming it. But there is also this great, quick, lazy meal. Steam the asparagus for six minutes, and during the last three minutes, cook some Thai Kitchen Garlic & Vegetable rice noodles. Sprinkle some garlic powder either on the asparagus, the noodles, or both, throw the two components together in a bowl and be amazed. It's really unusually good.

Power Plate: Great idea and recipes.

Another very user-friendly site from the Physicians' Committee For Responsible Medicine:

Power Plate dot org

Simple, diverse, non-overwhelming sampling of recipes, with ingredients you are likely to have.

It's this easy.

Two Sandwiches

A couple of sandwich meals I've been having.

Here's a favorite:

White mushrooms soaked in balsamic vinegar, mixed greens, alfalfa sprouts, onions, and Vegenaise. (If you don't have Vegenaise, use olive oil mixed with your favorite spices - that's what I often do.) In this picture, it's on country white bread, because they were out of multi-grain, but multi-grain is my personal favorite for this sandwich. This sandwich keeps well, if you want to make it in the morning and wrap it up for lunch. Because the mushrooms soak up the vinegar, you can have a lot of flavor without the ingredients being too wet.

On the side: green beans lightly sauteed in olive oil with salt and pepper. Don't cook them long - leave them crunchy, and then coat them with crunchy sea salt. These are also a great movie snack. And of course, if you have a sour pickle to add on the side, all the better.


I don't think this next one photographed as well, but it's a good hoagie.

That's Tofurkey kielbasa cut into strips and heated in a skillet on the stovetop. Top that with raw onions, alfalfa sprouts, and a little bit of the sauerkraut you're going to have for your side dish. The roll is a standard hoagie roll from any Philadelphia corner store. (Or your favorite steak roll from wherever you live.)

Side dish: seared brussels sprouts and sauerkraut. Use a small amount of olive oil, salt and pepper for the brussels sprouts. Cook them over high heat. You want to leave them crunchy but blacken parts of them. Some of the outer leaves will fall off and those will get nice and crispy. Don't use too much oil because when you add the kraut, there will be a lot of moisture. Keep the heat high and add the kraut - this will blacken a little, too, and get smoky. Sprinkle the whole mess with pepper.

Good times.

No Food Today

OK, that title is a little dramatic. There is food.

But there is no Clark Park Farmers' Market today. For real, this time. It has been canceled, officially. And you can see why from the picture above. See, during the last blizzard, we assumed there was no market and didn't go down, and then it turned out there was a market, after all. So we were determined not to be fooled again, and we were looking forward to going to the market in a blizzard. But alas, it's really canceled. Maybe there wasn't enough turn-out last time to make it worthwhile.

I'm not complaining, I wouldn't be out there selling carrots in this weather, either. I hope all our wonderful vendors are snuggled up with hot chocolate somewhere.

The good news, is I never posted last Saturday's shopping list, because I've been so busy, so I can provide you with a post today.


Last Saturday's shopping list, if memory serves me

3 bunches of leaf lettuce - two purple and one green
5 or so yellow onions
a quart or so of white mushrooms and a Portobello cap
some sweet potatoes?
um.... (see, we ate everything already, so I'm having trouble here)
I remember we got some Spanish Saffron, because it was pretty
We already had the split peas
We already had lentils and beans
Maybe one or two kohlrabe roots
a loaf of cracked-wheat bread
another jar of apple syrup
a jar of raspberry jam
We already had a ton of carrots for juicing and soups
Hmm... Maybe some garlic, and that's all I remember
Oh, and a thing of homemade granola to put on hot oat bran


I remember that in all, including the bread from Milk & Honey (grocery store), and the bagels from there, and a few things from Fu-Wah, we spent about $35 last Saturday. We didn't get much at the farmers' market because we were pretty well stocked. The leaf lettuce is the main thing I remember because it's something you want to get each week. This will be a sad week without it.

OK, next topic. Packable Foods. Also called Bringable Foods. Foods you can pack and bring with you, if you're going to be out of the house all day.

For the past month, I've been leaving the house around 7 a.m. and returning home between 7:30 and 8 p.m. That schedule is over now, thank goodness, and my new place of work is an eight-minute walk from my home. However, because I will be extremely busy, I still have to think about packable, bringable foods.

Here's something that has been a habit for the past month. I would make a sandwich or two (or three) in the morning, wrap them up and bring them along. I would eat one mid-morning for breakfast, and one mid-afternoon for lunch. The sandwich has mushrooms soaked in balsamic vinegar, onions, and that rich purple and green leaf lettuce. Oh, and Vegenaise. I thought it might get soggy, but it doesn't. I think that's because the mushrooms absorb the vinegar like sponges so there's nothing really to make the bread soggy. Vegenaise actually does very well in this context. I don't put the sandwiches in a refrigerator, they do OK in my lunchbox in the classroom closet.

Then for my late-afternoon or early evening meal (while in class), I would bring a Thermos full of soup, which actually stayed warm until about 5 p.m. when I ate it. Even if it were cold, it would still be good. Another benefit of blended soups. This one is a yellow split-pea soup.

1/2 lb of yellow split peas (dried)
2 very large orange carrots
4-5 white mushrooms (I'm not sure what kind of mushrooms these are, actually - they're white and smallish - pictured above)
2 medium-sized white sweet potatoes
1 medium yellow onion
3 cloves of fresh garlic
fennel seeds (a pinch?)
salt and pepper to taste
garnish each serving with saffron

Bring water and split peas to a boil, reduce heat, simmer. Add sweet potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, mushrooms, fennel. Cover and simmer until everything is soft. Blend.

I'm convinced this soup cures colds and boosts mental functioning. It just makes you feel good all the way through. It was a very comforting, filling meal while I was sitting in class trying to get my brain to keep working after a long day.

Other things I brought along for lunch and snacks: pecans, sunflower seeds, dried seaweed, apples, the occasional Cliff Bar, and lots and lots of raw carrots.

Of course, upon returning home, there's nothing like Breakfast For Dinner to unwind. Buckwheat pancakes with apple syrup have been a favorite dinner lately, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Speaking of syrup, here's a treat I just found on Foodista.com that looks ridiculously delicious, and comes with a built-in excuse to eat candy: It's candy, but it's also split peas. Sounds like the perfect thing for me. If I try this, I'll let you know how it goes.

Maple Yellow Split Pea Cake