The final meal

Looks delicious!

It was! The vegetables, which had no butter, cooking in their own juices... We had them in the coals for 90 minutes. They were succulent.

The ras el hanout made the spiced pack very tangy and too hot for the child.

The Morningstar hot dogs were edible but far from amazing. Vegetarian hot dogs are a tricky busy.

BBQ of errors

We put a glass jar of green tea on the front step to brew.

We preheated our tiny charcoal grill for our first solo barbecue. We sprayed some aluminum foil and wrapped slices of red potato and organic carrot. One pocket had ras el hanout. The other is plain.

After twenty minutes, the downpour begins. Husband moves the grill under the cute dormer of the garage. I get the umbrella. Child plays in mud puddles.

Sun comes out.

We get the Morningstar veggie dogs. One fell in the grill. That was fun to dig out since we don't have tongs.

First meal on the grill

Asked our family friend Dan to teach us how to grill. Smoked sausage from my mother-in-law's favorite butcher, red peppers, corn-on-the-cob, and red potatoes. With a crisp honeydew for dessert! It was simple & incredible. Anxious to start on my own... Stay tuned!

Sesame sautéed brussel sprouts

Thanks to author friend Diane N. for suggesting a drizzle of sesame oil and some dried mustard on brussel sprouts! I put a drop of sesame oil on each sprout, but haven't tried with mustard yet.

Lunch was these sprouts with a vegetarian sausage and one scrambled egg. Now I want a tall glass of orange juice

Dinner is a vegetable

We went for my birthday ice cream at 5 pm, a nice peanut butter ice cream dusty road at the Purple Cow Creamery. Heavenly!

Now, it's 6:30 and I made some organic carrot sticks, raw cucumbers and fried up some Wegmans feta and spinach peorogies in leftover oil from last night.

That should make up for a lack of real food.

Evening wine

I snapped. Had to have wine. Sent Husband to the liquor store and he came home with a cheap bottle of La Vieille Ferme 2010.

Served with Snack Factory Everything pretzel chips, and cheese-- the cheese was a birthday present, aged cheddar and Monterey jack. And sweet Lebanon bologna. And the last of the dates. (Another birthday present)

And for "dessert," 61% cacao chocolate with almonds. My PMS impulse buy.

Life is good.

By the way, the wine was $9.99

Crab egg rolls

I have revisited a family favorite: homemade egg rolls. A previous version of my crab egg rolls can be found in this entry from January 2010:

http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/01/crab-rolls.html?m=1

But these are a tad simpler, take 30 minutes start to finish, and taste incredible.

I fried them in about 1/2 inch canola oil with a few dashes of sesame oil. It's too expensive and doesn't handle high temps well but a few splashes do taste wonderful.

If you wish to make these vegan, stuff with your favorite veggies and potentially tofu if you wish and seal with corn starch and water instead of egg and water.

INGREDIENTS:
- one can crab meat, or other meat if desired. I use the Bumblebee white meat because it's cheap and i'm broke
- one bag broccoli slaw from the produce department at Wegmans (the original recipes recommends cabbage but this comes already shredded and packs an incredible nutritional wallop)
- a few tablespoons of Tzatziki (sp?) dressing just to lubricate it. It's not necessary and this is the first time I tried it.
- a teaspoon or so of ginger
- a hearty dash of fresh ground black pepper
- some country herb seasoning (or any herbs that appeal. Fresh dill is magnificent.
- I also added a hearty dose of ras wl hanout but I don't expect anyone else too

Get some Egg Roll Wrappers. Peel, fill, smear with an egg-water wash, fold up, and fry.