Need my passion back

I became a vegetarian when I was 12 years old. I remember having to learn about what I could and couldn't eat and learning how to tell my family about why without sounding preachy. I was so passionate about it. I mainly became a vegetarian for animal rights reasons because to be honest, at that time I really didn't know about the health or environmental reasons. I just knew I didn't want to eat animals anymore and I never went back to it. I tell people it is probably the most important decision I have made in my entire life. I say that because of the impact it has had on so many other parts of my life besides my diet.

So fast forward to today. I am still a vegetarian and I cook most of my meals at home and from ingredients I get from local farms, but I feel something is missing. I have tried talking to my husband about it, how I feel that I don't have the passion that I used to have. My feelings about animal rights and vegetarianism as a whole are still the same but I don't know how to express it. I am all for joining a club or a group or donating to a cause but I want to do more. While online reading a few of the vegetarian blogs I like, I got excited when I saw that on Sept. 11 there is VegFest DC! I'm hoping this is my vegetarian revival :).

http://dcvegfest.com/

A girl can dream

My husband and I have been talking on and off since we have got married (almost 2 years ago) about where we are going to live. Currently we share a 3 bedroom + den apartment with another couple and their 1 year old daughter. Believe it or not it has worked out great despite everyone telling us they would never would be able to do that! :)
My dream would be to own a house with a little land for a garden and a nice deck or patio. The other day my husband and I got to talking about houses again and decided that we would love to build one. He got his sketch pad (thank god someone has artistic ability cause it sure isn't me) and we sat in a park for three hours and talked and doodled about what we wanted our house to look like. I love craftsman style houses and would love nothing more than to live in a bungalow with nice big windows!
I then started to research what the costs would be and I was a little shocked. To get what we wanted would cost a lot more than I was thinking. I was searching online earlier this evening for how much it would cost for eco-friendly building materials when I stumbled upon this:

Photo credit: Tumbleweed Houses

I don't know if you have heard of the guy that lives in his 67 foot square house. I found his website (http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/) and thought to myself, "now if my hubby and I decided we weren't going to have any kids, this would be perfect for us." Most of the houses have a multipurpose room, a small kitchen, bathroom and then a ladder to a loft which is where you sleep. I then found this one. It is a 743 sq foot house with 2 bedrooms or it can have an optional 3rd bedroom for 837 sq ft. It comes with 1 1/2 baths too! I was so excited. Not only can I have my craftsman style house for a price I can afford but I can also have kids!

Now, I do have a tendency to get obsessed with an idea to find out two or three months down the road that I was crazy but at least this gives me hope and something to look forward to! :)

Hello Summer

Apologies for not writing in a while. I haven't had much time lately to sit down and post pics and write recpies. I have still tried my best to maintain the localvore lifestyle. I must admit that I have changed and have become more flexible with my food choices. I think deciding to become a localvore in October, at the end of the season was very difficult. I have to say though that I am impressed with myself and my husband who most of the time although sometimes unwillingly went along with it. I haven't changed the way I eat so much since I became a vegetarian 15 years ago.
I started my garden in March and it has turned out wonderfully! I got my seeds from the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange which is a wonderful company. I grew peas, green beans, carrots, squash, zucchini, brocoli, lettuce, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, tomatillos, 4 different kinds of tomatoes, and pie pumpkins. I will post a pic soon!

When our first seasonal farmers market opened the first week in May was a wonderful thing. I was so excited about the strawberries! I had been eating mostly apples for the last 6 months! Asparagus and peas too! I really didn't know what to do with myself! It was also nice going and seeing the same vendors that were there last year and having them remember us. There is something to be said for that. :)

I have also made it a point to visit farmers markets to wherever I am traveling. Three weekends ago I took a business trip to Charlottesville, VA and I was able to go to the Saturday farmers market there which was wonderful. It is pretty large and they have a variety of vendors. Charlottesville also has a wonderful "live local" movement. Many of their restaurants and stores are big supporters of that which is always nice to see.

I will try to keep this updated more often! Hope you are having a wonderful summer!

Finally Some Homemade Pasta!!!

I got a pasta maker as a christmas gift from my parents. I made some pasta a few weeks ago but I didn't have my camera handy so these are pics from our second trial.

To make the dough I used 3 cups of all purpose flour and one cup of semolina flour. I mixed the flour on my pastry mat and made it into a well and added 4 eggs and a tsp of salt.
I scrambled the eggs and salt inside the well and then started to incorporate the flour until I got to a dough substance. My husband then took over and started kneeding the dough and adding a tsp of water at a time till the consistency was right.


We then cut it up into lemon sized pieces and put it through the pasta maker going through each setting twice except for the last one. Then we put it through the fettuccine attachment and made the pasta.
The biggest problem I have encountered is trying to find a pasta drying rack. I bought a multi-tiered clothes hanger but that didn't work so my husband and I hung a long string across our living/dining room and hung the pasta off of that. It wasn't the prettest sight but it worked!

My husband made some homemade pasta sauce and we some local salad and wine to go with it. I love homemade pasta!!

Oh..I am also really excied about my garden that I started last weekend! I planted some lettuce and peas and then when it decides to stop pouring outside I am going to plant carrots and broccili. I will keep the blog posted with pics and updates! :)

Apple Pear Turnovers

One of my new year resolutions this year was to become more social. I am definitely more of an introvert and I don't go out of my way to meet new people.
I started to learn how to knit a few years ago in college when I bought a beginners book, some yarn and a couple pairs of needles. Nothing really came of it, but I enjoyed it. I decided I could combine my interest in knitting with my resolution by joining a knitting club.
It is wonderful! There is a variety of skill level and everyone I have met so far has been so nice and helpful.
Anyway, two weeks ago we had a yarn swap/ Potluck party. I signed up to bring something but of course I didn't decide what that something was until the night before when I am standing in front of my fridge looking inside to see what I could possibly make with the ingredients I have on hand. Ok..I had Phyllo dough, pears, and apples. Uhhh..How about turnovers??

I looked online for a recipe and found some hints on how to make them, what temperature to bake them at and so on.

I diced up one apple and one pear and put them in a bowl with some cinnamon, sugar, and ginger. I didn't really measure, I just kind of put enough in till it looked right. I made mini turnovers so each had about a teaspoon of filling in it. On top of the filling I put a small piece of butter.

The phyllo dough was the hardest part. I didn't make it from scratch, I bought some organic phyllo dough from Whole foods a few weeks prior for a dessert I never made. I thought it would be like puff pastry and would thaw in about 45 min. That wasn't true. I looked at the box and I was supposed to refigerate it overnight and then have it sit out for 2 hours before using. I started making the turnovers about two hours before the party. The dough was a little bit tough to work with. I counted out eight sheets and then cut about 4 inch squares out. I placed the mix in the middle and then wet my fingers and sealed the edges with my fingers and then a fork. I then brushed the turnovers with egg and put them in a 375 degree oven for 12 min.

When they came out I sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on top. I think they turned out pretty good. If I were to make them again I think I would use less layers of dough and more filling. :)

oh..and sorry about the bad quality pic, I forgot to take one before I left the house so this one was taken in my car with my phone.

Cinnamon Apple Crepes and Veggie Wontons

My husband and I go to the Vienna Farmers Market when it is open and at the market they have a guy there that makes crepes. Last year when the Vienna market closed for the season, we went to the all year round Falls Church farmers market and they also had a crepe station. We got used to having Saturday morning crepes and when the season at Vienna ended this year we went to Falls Church to find that their crepe vendor was also closing for the season. This forced us to make our own!
My brothers got me a crepe pan for Christmas and we have been trying to perfect the recipe since then. It takes a while to get the consistincy right and move the pan in the right way so the batter coats the pan before its starts cooking and flipping it in a way so it doesn't break. We bought Whole Foods organic pancake mix and put in our own local ingredients. Most of the time we did a tomato, basil, onion and egg crepe but this week we didn't have any tomatoes on hand (I guess the local farmers can't grow them in the winter! :) ) so we made cinnamon apple ones. I mixed a couple teaspoons of cinnamon and a bit of sugar in a pot with a little bit of butter and put three cut and peeled apples in it. I cooked this for about 30 min. This became the filling for my crepes and then topped them with powdered sugar. Yum!!

While we were at the farmers market last week, I saw a head of cabbage that was beautiful. I decided at that point that I wanted to make potstickers. I have never made them before, but I knew they had cabbage in them so why not?

I got some wonton wrappers and bought some local squash and carrots from Georgia and mixed in the cabbage with some tofu. I put about a teaspoon of the filling in each wrapper and sealed them. I then placed them in a pan of oil for about 1 min and then after they browned I covered the bottom of the pan with water and put a lid on it for about 2 min. This will steam cook the filling. I served this with some soy sauce and they were wonderful!