Organic Granny

The book,  Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks: A Librarian's Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life  by Annie Spence, is read for 15 minutes in the video above. Go ahead and catch the Introduction.  Get a sense of the humor and sparkle in this book written for other bibliophiles like Spence herself.  Spence writes book reviews in various unusual formats: as love letters and Dear John letters (when having to "weed" the old books from the library's shelves).  In the final chapters she has a number of lists of books that I have begun to request from my own library-- not all of them, because I actually have read some of the books she reviews.  As I read books from the following lists, I will probably review them myself on Good Reads.  Please join me there where I review under my name, Cynthia Zirkwitz.   If you have read any of the books on the following lists, please let me know what you thought of them in the Comments sect

So, when I signed up for Amazon PRIME it was purportedly so I could have my shipping costs covered for books and such.  I did not know that there was an opportunity to watch Prime Movies and TV as part of the deal. Now, I'm not a big movie buff.  Quite a while back we opted out of the most common movie feed-- I just didn't feel like it was necessary to watch three or four movies a month.  I like to read.  The movies got in the way of my concentration with my expanding my reading to include new novels and new Canadian literature, in general.  This is the part of my life where I want to be catch up on the reading I missed when I was immersed in other endeavors in the years before.  So, goodbye Netflix and GEM and whatever other movie purveyors I was involved with.  And I didn't miss them. However, when I found out that signing up with PRIME meant that I got to watch some of the TV movies and shows that looked like upgrades to some of the old movies of the past (i.e.,

Butternut Squash is a creamy, orange-fleshed, neutral-tasting squash that is very dynamic for cooking and baking.  When you look at the recipes in this collection, you can see that butternut squash can stand in for both desserts and main courses in a meal, even as a main ingredient in a yummy cheese sauce to be poured over macaroni.  Enjoy trying out these delicious vegan recipes! 1. GARLICKY BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP   Garlicky Butternut Squash Soup via Whirled Soup It's hard to be a 'regular' vegan without having the odd craving for the days of garlic sausage or whatever was your fave garlic-infused meat.  This butternut soup that is warming and filling has everything you missed about garlic. You don't have to miss it anymore-- go HERE via Whirled Soup 2. LENTIL AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH POT PIE Individual Pot Pies  images via  Jennifer Wong  on Pinterest These little individual potpies above contain a combination of delectable butternut squash cubes and brow

So, summer is almost over.  I have hardly used my solar oven because of gardening, writing, what-have-you.   I love the idea of the Sun Oven: not heating up the house, not having an electric bill that includes cooking (or other things like dehydrating or baking), and just being outside in my backyard a little more often than I have been.   So, today, another warm day with a blue sky and direct sunlight, seemed like the time to do some sun oven baking of this intriguing garlic cookie recipe.  I have browsed the internet and considered various garlic cookie recipes, but none of them really appealed to me.  Then I thought of the super healthy Maple Walnut cookies that Dr. Neil Nedley recommended in the cookbook that went with his Depression-- The Way Out program that my husband and I helped to facilitate in our community a few years ago. WALNUTS-- THE BRAIN NUT   The walnuts and flaxseed in the vegan cookies are high in omega-3 polyunsaturated fats and fibre.    In 

The other day a fellow commented that "a day without garlic is not much of a day at all!" I happen to agree with this statement and rejoiced when my husband brought home some mushrooms, because then we could have GARLIC Mushrooms!  Pity, my husband went for a long bikeride and missed the small batch that I cooked up today (I'm not all that mean-- there are still some fresh ones in the fridge for him to cook up for himself if he so chooses.)  You can find a photo of some browner mushrooms below-- yours are more apt to turn out like these. I think the mushrooms he brought home were Baby Bellas, a smaller take on Portobellas.  Did you know that Crimini are an even smaller version of Portobellas? In any case, they slice up rather raggedy and don't have that cute picture appeal when cooked that little white mushrooms do. But they taste very delicious... tender and with that umami taste-- "umami" is gourmet for "je ne sais quoi". 

I checked to see what I had in the fridge.  Lots of greens (chard, etc.), a couple of zucchinis and 2 large carrots that seem to be coming to the end of their days (a little spongy shall we say?) I am all for NO FOOD WASTE-- use it or compost it, and we were hungry. So, I googled CARROT BURGERS and actually came across a delicious recipe that also uses 1/4 C. of walnuts (meaning you don't have to go and buy a large bag-- you can buy yourself a small quantity from the health store bulk bin) and 1/2 C. Panko-- something I have never bought, but I did have some finely grated soda crackers sitting in a container in the fridge that I used in lieu of panko in some other recipe-- they work well for us.  I didn't have fresh cilantro, but I did have some basil-- yes, I know they are not too similar-- not at all-- but it was a taste of herb we were after, right?  And I had everything else right here available. I stuck it all into the food processor, and presto, it was easy t

I am cooking up and submitting this recipe because I have a library book that has this recipe in it and I want to remember it.  The book is One-Dish Vegan Revised and Expanded Edition: 175 Soul-Satisfying Recipes for Easy and Delicious One-Pan and One-Plate Dinners and I highly recommend it. I do a number of subs for things I don't have in the house/fridge (example, I don't have baby spinach, I would never buy pine nuts, and I don't really like red pepper all that much). I do find, however, that many recipe-makers tend to have a very tasty outcome and that is what I go for! INGREDIENTS: 8 - 12 oz of Penne pasta, uncooked (I am using brown rice penne- gluten-free) 1/4 C. water 5 Garlic cloves, minced 12 oz Baby Kale (or other greens on-hand, such as chard or spinach), chopped coarsely 1/4 tsp Chipotle Pepper powder ( or 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes) 1/2 C. Vegetable Broth (such as Golden Bouillon) 1 15-oz can of Chickpeas or 1 1/2 C. cooked Chickpeas 1/2 C.