Cooking with Soybean Granules

‚When in doubt, go make some food‘ has been my motto for decades. Writing this, I realize, makes me sound ancient, which is probably a matter of perspective. I started cooking when I was around 15-16. It was after my dad had passed away, my mom was working full time, and in the afternoons, I’d come home to an empty apartment, starving. Note to the millenials: there were no school cafeterias, back then. So I’d make pasta, most of the time, because there were fixings for that in the cupboard.) Over the years, my skills have expanded. I had a lot of practice, and also I always enjoyed making food, for myself and for others. Cooking kept me sane and reasonably well nourished, and I’m still curious to try out new things.

My daughter’s request for eating less beef for environmental reasons made me consider alternatives for ground beef, because this family eats quite a bit of that (meatballs, spaghetti Bolognese, lasagna, chili con carne, tacos … it’s a staple, in this house.) So I did some research and found this at the organic food store:On the package, it said it was good for all the above mentioned recipes, so I decided I’d try out – well, not meat, but fried soy mince balls. In the instructions, I was advised to soak the dry soy granules in 3 times the amount of hot water or broth for 10 minutes before use. Well, I did, and it turned out a sad and soggy mess. Even though I strained it and pressed the hot water out as best I could, it was still very wet. It did _not_ look appealing, but then again, neither does ground meat, so I figured I’d season it the way I would meat balls (a bit more spicy perhaps) and see where it took us. I mean, I didn’t expect great things in terms of flavor from such an extremely processed food. It looks like it will taste bland, right?

No Meat Soy Balls

1 cup soy crumbs

2 shallots

1 clove garlic

5 sage leaves

2 sprigs parsley

1/2 TSP Oregano (dry)

1/2 TSP thyme (dry)

1/2 TSP dill (dry)

1/4 TSP cinnamon

1/4 TSP paprika

1 TSP mustard

1 TSP Ajvar

Salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs

Like I always do, I coarsely chopped the shallots, garlic and herbs, added spices, condiments and eggs, and then blitzed the whole thing – it’s the only way to make my daughter eat meatballs, for there can be no discernible pieces of onion, herbs or the likes in there. It’s just the way she rolls.

Then, I added the soaked and drained-squeezed soy crumbs, mixed everything with a fork, and set aside for a couple minutes. After which I added half a cup of _dry_ soy crumbs. Still too moist, so I added 1/2 cup flour, and 1/2 cup buckwheat. Annoyingly, it was still too moist to make decently shaped patties. So I poured dry breadcrumbs on a plate, took portions out of the mixing bowl by the spoonful and rolled those in the breadcrumbs. Then I fried the patties in oil. And that worked:

After a couple minutes browning from both sides, I took them out, let them drain on kitchen paper, and tried one:Then I jogged over to my vegetarian bestie with a sample, and got both her approval and the request for the recipe, which I thought I’d write up real quick before I forget what went in there.Verdict: The non-meat balls turned out to be tasty. My friend said they reminded her of falafel (she’s from the Middle East), I thought they tasted like meatballs, and my daughter said she had not expected them to be edible, but was pleasantly surprised. High praise, right?

So, that was the first adventure with soybean granules. I’ll research non-meat ragú next.

Have a lovely week, everybody.

What’s A Week-end…?

Remember the Dowager Countess, mother to Downton Abbey heir Lord Grantham, ingeniously portrayed by the great Dame Maggie Smith? This was one of her infamous remarks, when confronted with a person from the working class whom she had a conversation with, unfamiliarly not in the capacity of them being her staff. It was a doctor, I think. The concept of working during the week, and then resting for two days was just so very foreign to her ;-). I found it hilarious, which is probably why I still remember it, even though I haven’t watched Downton in years.

Our lives today couldn’t be more different, of course. I think in my person alone, I embody the characters of Ms Patmore the cook, Lady Grantham the lady of the house, Branson the chauffeur and Daisy the maid. I plan meals, I cook, I grocery shop, I clean up after the kids, I take care of everybody’s laundry, I drive the kids (not right now, because none of us really goes anywhere, but usually.) When my husband is here (and he has been since mid March, working from home, just like everybody else) we share these duties. Also, we both work a lot. Bringing up kids, helping them through school, keeping them fed and clean and happy is a job of its own, as every parent knows. And despite all that being a lot, sometimes, most of the time, everything somehow falls into place, occasionally with some shaking and rattling, but all in all, rolling.

As a self-employed person, I have some leeway in terms of when to do what, and I like it like that. Also, it’s very useful if I need to tend to a child at the drop of a hat. But it does mean my life is a very mixed bag: tasks I’m paid for, stuff I have to do even though I’m not, and generally many, many little things in between. And thanks to my therapist, Dr K, religiously, mindfully taken breaks.My morning today is a good example. I woke up early, read for a bit, took a short morning walk with the pup, made tea, got back in bed for Sunday morning cuddles with dog & daughter, and some way too difficult Sudoku. Made breakfast, cleared up, proofread some work I had done yesterday, emailed said work and the invoice, checked my bank statements while I was at it, and then clicked on a blog I follow, since I was already on the computer.

Quarantine has changed everybody’s schedules. Homeschooling and -office have caused the days to bleed into each other, and while I have much respect for the notion of work-life balance, I suspect I’m either not very good at it, or I’ve mastered the task of just doing both while not being affected by the fact that there’s no clear distinction between the two. So that made me think of the Dowager Countess and her gentle discombobulation regarding week-ends, this fine Sunday :-). Maybe I’ll have to re-watch Downton and see if I can ease back into it?

So Elfie has settled in nicely, thank you for asking. We installed an elaborate cat tree in my son’s room, with various things to climb into and sit on, which she seems to appreciate. Next week, we plan to have her explore her new realm (formerly known as our apartment) a bit more, one room at a time, and we plan to properly introduce our two animals. Wish us luck for that.

Craft-wise, I’m nearly done with the baby blanket for our young neighbor, check it out:I’ll have to try out a few things for the border, I was thinking maybe something like I made for my daughter’s Dotty Blanket?Off-white and a final round of picots? Maybe one teeny tiny row of pink SC strewn in? We’ll see. Looking forward to tinkering with that. I love borders!

Have a good start into next week, everybody, stay sane, safe and healthy.

A Memorable Day

What a Mother’s Day I had this year! The kids made breakfast and gave me a cute and thoughtful gift, we took a beautiful walk through the green forest, I got to soak up a load of sunshine and do some lakeshore crochet. It was a very good day. And then, I got to do the ultimate Mama thing and give my son his heart’s desire: we have a new cat.Meet Elfie. She’s 13 years old, has the most amazing blue eyes and the fluffiest fur – and she’s a sweet and friendly creature. We picked her up at the shelter, where they were more than happy to give her to us. Apparently, people don’t take in older animals much. I mean, it’s not the same as adopting a kitten, obviously, there’s a different timeline, and different needs. But we know our way around an elderly cat, and we just followed our hearts.

We had met her on Friday, when we were there to just have a look around, and we bonded with her right away – and then we sort of talked about little else all weekend. My son did a complete 180 (he’d been talking about a young black tomcat, and what we got was, well, the opposite, in every way :-D!) When we went back on Sunday to have Elfie meet Charlie, we ended up just taking her with us. Why wait? We had made up our minds. And my boy can’t stop smiling, so I’d say without a trace of irony that that went well.

And man, is it nice to hold a purring kitty! My heart melts at the sound :-). Even though it belongs to this li’l dude, mostly, along with all the rest of my body, which he feels very proprietary about.May Elfie be happy here at our zoo.

Quarantine Crafts

One thing I’ve noticed over the course of the Corona crisis is that my capacity for being surprised seems to have diminished. It’s probably a coping mechanism, emotional detachment, or just my psyche reacting to all the weirdness by refusing to engage. I mean, everything seems so different from what we’re used to, and you can’t freak out all the time, so it seems just as well to stay aloof.

So I’ll just mention, with little emotion, that it seems unusually chilly for May. Mother’s Day which is this coming Sunday (don’t forget, those of you who still have moms!) used to bring peonies and lilies of the valley … which I have already seen, so it may be a glitch or the Ice Saints…Anyway, it did register that the pup was shivering when I met an old friend yesterday morning and stopped to chat for a minute. Putting him in his winter coat seems excessive, it’s like 10 °C. A sweater, on the other hand – well. Who would say no to a stripy sweater?Second project: yet another Ripple Baby Blanket – in two colors this time, no more. I know I started out with the monochrome Granny Squares

but somehow, me and the pattern just didn’t click, so I ended up doing something both completely different and more than familiar, as you can see.

There’s a subtle difference to all the other blankets I’ve made in this pattern, though – the pink stripe is a single row of SC at a time, instead of repeating the ripple pattern, which is based on DC. This makes the colored stripe thinner and more noticeable both, if that makes any sense. Anyway, I like it, and I’m making decent progress on it, while watching old Star Trek episodes with my daughter most nights.

It will go to my downstairs neighbor who had her baby last but last week – it’s s cute sound, hearing a new tiny voice in the house. I’ve yet to meet little R in person, but I’ve received pics and she looks very, very cute.As you can see above, my socks are finished, and I’m enjoying them a great deal, even though the colors are NOT my usual palette. They remind me of spring, and of daffodils, which I love, despite their intense shade of yellow. Yellow is not an easy color to wear, but on my feet, it should be fine ;-).

Asked by my daughter what my next project will be, I had to confess I didn’t know yet. Maybe finally finish the couch throw I started two years ago ;-))?

The truth is that I’ve frogged most of it (down to the turquoise bit), and I’m not even sure I actually like the DC pattern anymore. There’s so many textured stitches that are more interesting – we’ll see. But it does seem like a nice project for the summer, looking at those pics.

Also, my little monkey’s outgrown most of her hand knit socks, so I may end up making new ones for her first. Lord knows I have quite the sock yarn stash to work with.

Any crafts projects you’d like to share? I’d love to see them, please send pictures, since we can’t meet in person for the time being.

Stay well, everybody, and if you’re a parent, enjoy the extra time we’re given with our kiddos. There’s a gift in there :-).