Delicious Oatmeal Blackstrap Molasses Cookies

Tonight, one of the lovely ladies from the Veggie Board of Weight Watchers, ValerieMaha, suggested some blackstrap molasses recipes so that I can sneak some iron into Lorie's meals. Since Lorie will always eat a cookie, this was the perfect recipe, and it was very delicious!

Oatmeal Molasses Cookies

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
1-1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup white unbleached flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup quick-cooking oats

Cream sugar and butter together in a large mixing bowl. Add egg and molasses; beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix well. Add vanilla then stir in oatmeal. Drop from teaspoon onto greased baking sheet.

Bake at 375° for 10 to 12 minutes, until done. Makes about 4 dozen oatmeal molasses cookies



Well, the recipe builder for Weight Watchers says 1 points per cookie-- BUT that is if you make 48 cookies. I didn't count them, but for the size that we made, we found that we made about 36 cookies and they ended up being 2 points each-- still not bad for a wonderful cookie that actually had a nutritional component to it!

Delicious Biscuits and Gravy

Here is one of our promised recipes. This week, Melanie made one of her old favorites, but she did it "Vegan with a Vengeance" style. Isa Chandra Moskowitz has written a fabulous cookbook, and this is one of the recipes. It's been slightly altered to be a little more Weight Watchers friendly. The first step is to make Tempeh Sausage Crumbles. Crumble 8 oz. of Tempeh (Melanie used plain) and cover with water. Heat over medium high heat until most of the water is absorbed. Drain off the rest of the water (takes about 15 minutes+) Then add about 1 tsp of fennel seed, 1 tsp dried basil, 1 tsp of oregano, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp dried sage, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 tbsp low salt soy sauce, 1 tbsp olive oil (Melanie used a bit less) and juice of half a lemon. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. (about 10+ minutes)

Meanwhile, drain and rinse one 15 oz. can of any kind of white bean (Melanie used white navy beans). In a blender, puree beans, 2 tbsp olive oil (Melanie used only 1 tbsp) and 1/4 low sodium vegetable broth. Blend until smooth, and combine with the Tempeh Sausage Crumbles along with salt (if you want-- Melanie didn't) and pepper.

Top this delicious mixture over your favorite baking powder biscuit.

Melanie figures that this makes seven generous servings at 7.5 points each. VERY "pointy" as Melanie would say, but HIGHLY filling. Oh-- and the biscuit is 4 points -- this makes an 11.5 point meal. Ouch, but again-- filling and delicious.



Other then that, we're expecting a tropical heatwave. It's supposed to get to a warm 38 degrees by Monday. It might even rain! Only in Wisconsin can you go from 30 below zero to almost 40 degrees in the same week. Tonight, Lorie and Melanie are stuck in the house. All Friday evening plans have been postponed due to snow. Driving conditions are near impossible this evening. At least we get a little quiet time before we both have to work this weekend.

Pileated Woodpeckers, Trees, and Tu B'Shevat

Yes, these items are all related! In some twist of irony, Lorie and I have solved our tree problem. We've been told that the area we live in has a high population of pileated woodpeckers. If any of you are familiar with the most famous pecker of them all (did we just say that?), Woody Woodpecker is pileated. Picture a bird about a foot tall, and you've got our woodpecker. Scary. It's a HUGE bird. We're going to try to put up a picture of an owl or a plastic owl and hope that he goes away. We've heard that they can even destroy homes. This is not good. Here's the ironic part. Today, is the Festival of the Trees in Jewish Time. It's Tu B'Shevat! Lorie and I had a beautiful Seder tonight where we ate all different kinds of fruits! We dined on grapes, apricots, kiwi, almonds, mango, banana, raspberries, and peaches. It was delicious! We drank both white and red grape juice, and we followed a Seder (or "Order") for our meal. It was short but very meaningful. Many Jews arrange to have a tree planted in Israel for this day. We've decided to focus on our own tree this season. We'll post a few pictures of our Seder.

Lorie jinxes the Packer Game and HOLY CRAP it's COLD!

Tonight's post will be brief. I'm all alone at the computer tonight because Lorie is watching the Packers play in overtime right now. I refuse to watch it. Lorie still doesn't realize that every time we're watching the game, the Packers are playing poorly, and everytime we turn it off, the Packers do well. I hold her personally responsible for whatever happens to the Packers this evening. I refuse to jinx our boys. Lorie doesn't even know anything about football and suddenly she has to be the one to watch "history being made."

Anyway, I'm going to go off and try to find something that will distract me for the next few minutes. I did want to post a picture of the thermometer in the Saturn this morning. I have never in my entire life experienced weather this bitterly cold. It was so cold that I had to take a picture of the temperature read-out because I didn't think that anyone would believe us. So, this is how I'm going to end the evening-- with this lone picture.


*****breaking news***-- The Packers lost in Overtime. I guess it's harsh to hold Lorie or me personally responsible for the loss. It's still sad. Favre and that interception.... OY! We're both going to cry ourselves to sleep now. At least we know the Giants will get crushed by the Patriots. (the Packers would have been crushed, too-- so I guess that's the bright side)

So far this weekend, we have three new friends...

This weekend has turned out to be an exciting one so far. To give a little background, our recent drama started with a few "crumbs" below our front yard tree. Now this tree in front of our house is very large. Our home is an 100+ year old duplex that we've converted into single family housing. (We did try to rent to tenants-- unsuccessfully. After the second tenant tried to barter for rent instead of paying cash, we decided that the landlord business was not our thing and quickly converted it into a larger home for us! It's now a home that has two of everything-- perfect for keeping kosher!) Anyway, back to the tree. Half of our house is two stories. This tree is easily taller then the second story. A few weeks ago, we noticed bark starting to fall off a major branch of the tree. Then, nothing.... then a week ago, more bark. Then, the next morning, more bark. Before we knew it, we had a HUGE hole in this major branch!! We can't find any tracks below or on the branches of this tree, so we have no clue what kind of animal it might be. We're posting a picture. If there's any wildlife experts out there, we'd appreciate any input. Please! Any more tree parts that go missing will seriously compromise the integrity of this extremely large- happens to dangle over our house and our power lines-- tree. So-- that is friend number one for the weekend.

Friend number two happens to be on our "good" list instead of the "you know what" list. His name is Mr. Cole. Okay, we really don't know if his name is Cole, but he works for and owns Cole Music. I think we're correct in assuming his name is Cole-something-er-other. Anyway, Mr. Cole is a very friendly man that keeps a music repair store on the main drag in Marshfield, Wisconsin. As mentioned in a previous post, Lorie's banjo has been mighty twangy. On a whim, Lorie and I stopped at this store. We had actually gone to Marshfield to look for a different store that's subsequently closed, and we stumbled on Cole Music. When we walked in, we looked around and saw the glorious sight of all sorts of stringed instruments in various stages of repair. We asked if him repaired banjos, as there were a few of them on the wall. He said, "Four string or Five string?" (leaving off, of course, the dreaded six string banjo that's not a banjo, but, rather, tuned to a guitar-style tuning for those that aren't brave enough to learn real bluegrass!) We knew immediately that this was our man! Lorie sent me to get the banjo from the car, and we lovingly unpacked it from its gig bag. In a matter of 20 minutes, Mr. Cole has the thing singing like a hillbilly in the blue fog of the Kentucky mountains on a crisp, fall morning. (yes, that's GOOD) Lorie loves the sound of the newly filed, tuned, and strung banjo! Lorie said it was like "baby's first haircut" as this was banjo's first time in a "real" repair shop.

The final friend of the weekend is Old Man Winter. Again, we ask ourselves, which of our dumb relatives came to this state, stayed for a single winter, and actually stayed for more punishment! Lorie would like everyone to know that she is 50% gypsy, and she's not quite sure why that half of her family didn't pack the caravan up and move on out like any normal gypsy would... but no.... they stayed. We are going to post one more photo just to prove how ridiculous this is-- this was taken in Stevens Point at about 3pm. Keep in mind that the temperatures are expected to dip another 10 to 15 degrees for the evening lows. Again, we ask ourselves, "why do we stay in this blasted state?"

Wandering through the world of technology.........

Lorie and I still aren't sure about this whole blogging thing. There's probably going to be a lot of mistakes, so we thank you for your patience. This weekend, the cold has definitely put a damper on our outdoor plans. We will probably drive to Madison on Sunday so that I can meet with the Rabbi. We'll then make a trip to Trader Joe and Old Navy. We might also stop off and have Lorie's banjo looked at, as the 5th string (G) is making a funny twangy noise. (from a banjo? Twangy noise?! Noooo!) Okay-- twangier then normal. Anyway, our weekend plans could have been cross country skiing or even snowshoeing (my new found love!), but I'll probably go outside to let the dog out, and that's about it. I took a picture of the deck. Keep in mind that this is AFTER we shoveled! Lorie asked me tonight why we are living in Wisconsin? I'm really not sure. I can't trace my ancestry back far enough to find out which one of my stupid relatives moved here. Lorie can thank her Grandma and Grandpa from Poland.

Oh-- our rules of engagement for blogging. Lorie and I will blog at night-- together-- UNLESS she is working until the store closes. Tonight she closes- which is why Melanie is blogging now. Tomorrow, you'll hear from both of us. She's much more eloquent. You'll see.

Welcome to our first blog entry

Well, Lorie and Melanie are proudly going where no banjo playing vegetarian has gone before! Lorie decided that we needed to start keeping track of all of our wonderful adventures and good food. Hence, this blog! I might add that this was all because of the gnocchi epiphany that we had last evening after Melanie cooked a pesto and cheese filled gnocchi with low-fat alfredo sauce meal. This was accompanied with homemade rosemary shallot toast and fresh caesar salad. (all me@t free, of course!) We didn't get any pictures, but starting today, any amazing and wonderful meals will be featured with pictures and recipes. Also, as an added bonus, these meals will also feature Weight Watchers points values! Melanie has been on Weight Watchers for a little over a year now, and she's lost over 65 pounds! (Lorie has managed to find some of her lost weight, but that's okay-- she needed to put some flesh on that skeleton of hers)

In this blog, we'll also share details about our travels-- including camping and bluegrass festivals! Our first trip might be this weekend-- of course, we won't be camping as it's going to be about 6 degrees, but we'll still find some adventures to talk about-- we always do!