Knitiot Savant

Searching

Let's face it, trying to come up with what to fix for dinner every night can get really old.  No matter how many cool cookbooks you have on your shelf, most of us just fall back on the same old tried and true recipes.  Trying to come up with yummy stuff is really tough when your also challenging yourself to eat a more healthy diet.

That's where the internet can be a real lifesaver.  There are tons and tons of great sites out there and great bloggers to help guide you toward yummy and, most of the time, pretty easy recipes.  One of my all time favorites sites is Finding Vegan.    This site offers lovely pictures of tasty food with links leading directly to the blogs from which they were taken.  It's a fantastic opportunity to try new recipes and new blogs!  A win/win for everyone.  Give the site a try.  I'm sure you won't be disappointed.  

A Book Review, sort of.

In searching for a way to introduce vegan food to my family, my first thought was junk food.  I know!  It seems completely counter-intuitive doesn't it?  And yet, it's working like a charm.  And this little cookbook, "Vegan Junk Food" by Lane Gold has proved to be a real find.  The recipes are super simple and really hit the spot in terms of filling that craving we all have for food that just comforting.  The author does a really nice job of putting a brief list up front of substitutions you'll need for the recipes.  For a newb to vegan cooking like myself, this was a real godsend and led me to explore the web to find other substitions as well.  

On the sweet side of the house, one of our favorite recipes were the Oatmeal Coconut Cookies.  Absolutely divine!  They disappeared in an evening.  In terms of savory recipes, I really loved the Baked Onion Dip.  It was the very first time I'd used a cheese substitute in cooking and I was super impressed with the texture and taste.

This is easily one of my favorite cookbooks and I can't wait to try out more recipes.  

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. I have been doing some knitting and actually have some FOs to show for it. But, more than anything, I've been thinking and the thinking seemed more important.

Since we lost Emma and Cecil, I've struggled with ways to honor them. We adopted a rescue dog to fill the awful silence of having no dog tags rattling around in our home, and to ease the pain in our hearts. I've been vegetarian for awhile now but I really wanted to do more. Be better at it I guess.

As a result, I'm eating more like a vegan these days and, as a result, my little family is going along for the ride. Some of the things I make are real duds but every once in awhile I find a hit!

So what's the thinking about? Well, it's what to do about this blog. I want to write on it only every once in awhile. But just because it has knitting in the title doesn't mean that's the only thing I have to share. I think I'm going to start sharing the recipes I find that work for my family and I. I've already started using Pintrest as a way to pin the things I want to try to make for us. And the struggle. Deciding to eat in a way that the majority of folks around you does not can be tough. Believe me. I still get dumbass questions about being a vegetarian. I'm pretty sure vegans get even dumber questions thrown their way.

Okie doke! I'm excited about this and I hope whoever is still out there is too!