Category: Cooking with Catladies

The people attending Cooking for Catladies will get to meet this adorable cat (ETA: I lied. You’d only get to meet his sister, Lucy, also CH. Cav was adopted to a forever home – still cute, though):

Awww! The head bob with the hat at 1:14… *flail*

Note from original poster, lxbean:

It’s Cav and his new buddy, Ollie.

(Cav, for those of you who are new to the story, was born with cerebellar hypoplasia, which means he’s missing the part of his brain that smooths motor coordination. It doesn’t affect anything else, and as you can see, he’s wringing every last bit of fun out of life. And don’t worry: he doesn’t care if you laugh at him. In fact, there’s a good chance he’s laughing at you.)

ETA: More Caverly videos from when he was just a wee CHitten being fostered:
Cav’s sister twirl walks
CHittens playing with tinfoil
Cav and the leaf
Breakfast of the CHittens
Cav demonstrated progress

This is big, so I’m being super-organized to keep track…

Tuesday, March 10th1:00-9:00pm – work
9:30pm – transfer last batch of leftovers into compatible containers
9:45pm – make chipotle butter
dinner = salad w/ beef and beets
wash dishes?
go to parents’

Wednesday, March 11thCollect from parents’:

• leftovers
• soup bowls
• hot sauces
• fancy olive oils

1:00-9:00pm – work
9:30pm – roast garlic, 3 sweet potatoes, 5 tomatillos
9:30pm – start vegetable stock
9:35pm – wash dishes
10:00pm – make sweet hot garlic sauce (requires: 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup cider vinegar, 3 Tablespoons finely minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 Tablespoon sambal olek)
make tomatillo salsa
experiment with savory mashed sweet potato recipes
dinner = sweet potato stuff
*set meusli to soak*

Thursday, March 12thguess what I forgot? —> breakfast = meusli
full day; no prep work
9:30pm – put coffee on to soak and yogurt to drain (not together)
At work – make label cards with ingredient lists of all the dishes. Make a few extra blank ones. Put nocounterspace URL on each.
dinner = pasta

Friday, March 13th8:00am – call out sick from work
8:00am – go to Studio34
8:30-9:30am – pilates
10:00-11:30am – vinyasa
1:00-2:30pm – go to Produce Junction (pick up
3:30-6:00pm – vegetable stock’s slow simmer
3:30-4:00pm – press coffee, pour off, clean press, put more coffee on to soak overnight
4:00-4:30pm – pickle carrots & cucumbers (requires: 3 cucumbers, 4 carrots, 1 purple onion, sugar, rice vinegar)
4:30-5:00pm – make tzatziki saice (requires: 1 drained quart yogurt, 1 cucumber, minced garlic)
6:00pm – strain vegetable stock
6:00-8:00pm – make pita chips (requires: pita, olive oil, ground coriander, paprika, ground cumin, powdered garlic, thyme or oregano, za’tar that has been ground smooth in a mortar, nutmeg, pepper, smoked paprika)
7:00pm – set kidney beans to soak (requires: 3/4 lb? kidney beans & water)

Saturday, March 14th10-11:30am – yoga
11:45-12:45 – pilates

1:00pm – put sweet potatoes in the oven to roast
1:00pm – accept delivery of vegan cookies and chocolate cake!!

press coffee, pour off, clean press

make curry black beans (requires canned black beans (5 cans?), onions, garlic, ginger, jalepeno flesh, red bell peppers?, vegetable stock, bay leaf, thyme, and curry powder and garam masala)

make chili kidney beans (requires: onion, garlic, pinch of salt, cumin, bay leaf, soaked kidney beans, canned tomatoes, dried onion flakes, chili powder, paprika, oregano, masa harina)

make – spice mix for carrot soup

poach pears

make salsas out of some of the fruit from Produce Junction

make thai-ish chickpeas (requires shredded fresh coconut, purple onion, garlic, ginger, jalepeno, cilantro stems, thai green curry paste, chickpeas (5 cans?), lime juice, lime zest, bay leaf, vegetable stock, water)

Save some minced purple onions

make salad dressing – southwestern ranch (ketchup, mayo, sour cream, packet of taco seasoning, maybe some drained chunks from salsa for seasoning

experiment with salad dressing – (I was thinking last night about cumin. Specifically whole cumin seeds all dry roasted in a pan. And how much I like that with honey. And mushed up roasted garlic. Only it needs more liquid, and I haven’t decided yet what will be the best sour note.)

Buy salad greens and tofu

Make savory mashed sweet potatoes

Slice tofu and marinate (requires: lemons, cumin, chipotle, oregano)

Sunday, March 15th10:00am-noon – Forrest yoga
12:30pm – load car and drive to ‘s
1:00pm – set someone to peeling carrots
2:00pm – set someone to peel and halve (lengthwise) the sweet potatoes
2:00pm – make carrot soup (requires: peeled & chunked carrots, full fat coconut milk, asaphoetida, ginger, spice mix, low fat coconut milk, vegetable broth, lime, creamy peanut butter) (1st burner!)
2:30pm – Make beet/cabbage shred (requires: 2 beets, 1.5 purple cabbages, 1/2 purple onion, 3 jalepenos, sugar, minced garlic, minced ginger, rice vinegar, red wine vinegar, olive oil, juice of 3 limes, ground pepper, fresh cilantro)
3:00-3:30pm – slice sweet potatoes into spears, toss in a bag to olive oil (requires: peeled sweet potatoes, bag, olive oil, cumin seeds, powdered garlic, ground coriander, ground black pepper, ground chipotle, and ground thyme)
3:00pm – set someone to slice onions and bell peppers
3:30-4:00pm – toast almond slivers for soup (3rd burner – brief)
4:00pm – set someone else to brush tortillas with water and olive oil and make packets for warming in the oven
4:00-5:00pm – cut up fruit into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave at room temp out of the way (requires: fruit)
5:00-5:30pm – put bread fixings into bread machine(s)
5:15-6:00pm – wash and cut greens
5:30pm – heat oven to 400F
5:55pm – put first batch of sweet potato spears in the oven
6:00pm – put vegetable stock on stove to heat (2nd burner!)
6:15pm – transfer batches of the carrot soup to a blender, containers with finished soup, rinse soup pot, put soup back in pot and adjust the seasoning
6:30-6:50pm – Make Mexican rice for main course, set aside still covered (requires: 1 cup rice, 2 tsp turmeric, 2 cloves, jar of salsa) (3rd burner!)
6:25-6:35pm – take out first batch of sweet potato spears? and put in the second batch
6:45pm – put onions and bell peppers in a skillet over slow heat (requires: onions, peppers, penzey’s fajita seasoning) (4th burner!)
6:50pm – shred lettuce, dice tomato, mince onion, slice hot peppers, cover plate with plastic and pop in the fridge
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7:00pm – guests arrive
7:00pm – put legumes and sweet potatoes in the oven to heat (requires: 4 casserole dishes. I have 2)

7:00-7:20pm – Appetizers – (standing up and mingling)

• pita chips
• fresh pita in wedges?
• tzatziki
• smashed chickpea salad
• Sweet Potato Spears
• Sweet hot Garlic Sauce

7:10pm – don’t forget the second batch of sweet potato spears. Turn oven down to 350F

7:25pm – halve avocados
7:30pm – pull butters out of the fridge
7:30pm – Soup (seated)

• Curry Coconut Ginger Carrot Soup (required: soup, toasted almonds, chipotle)
• Spicy broth (requires spicy broth, beautiful slices of avocado, marinated tofu)
• Fresh bread? No fresh bread? Oddly, I think it might be better with the salad course

7:30pm – take reject avocados and make guacamole (requires: ??)
7:35pm – Have someone else shred Cheddar Cheese
7:40pm – warm tortillas (requires: 3 baskets and cloth napkins)
7:45pm – cook greens (Kenyan collard greens requires: washed & cut collard greens, vegetable bouillon cube, 5 spice powder, 2 fresh tomatoes, diced; Asian kale requires: Alexine!) (carrot soup burner and rice/almonds burner)
7:50pm – Main Course

• Mexican rice
• tortillas
  • corn
  • wheat
  • whole wheat?
• Curry Black Beans
• Chili Kidney beans
• Thai-ish Chickpeas
• Kenyan Collard Greens
• Asian-ish Kale
• Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Beet/Cabbage Shred
• Sauteed Onions & Peppers
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Queso Fresco
• salad toppings
• Sour Cream
• Salsas
• Guacamole

8:10pm – rinse greens and set to dry
8:12pm – Make balsamic vinaigrette (requires: balsamic vinegar, mustard, red wine, (honey, if no one objects), ground pepper)
8:30pm – Salad

• large bowl of mesclun (bring colander to give it a quick rinse before serving)
• Replate leftovers from dinner into smaller bowls for salad fixings – esp. sliced tomato, onion)
• salad dressings
  • southwestern ranch
  • garlic/cumin thingy?
  • balsamic vinaigrette
  • fancy balsamic vinegar & fancy olive oil
• Fresh, hot bread (hopefully) – w/ butter, honey butter, and chipotle butter

8:50pm – whip cream (requires: 1 qt heavy cream, 1/2 cup sugar)
8:55pm – microwave poached pears (just to take the chill off)
8:55pm – put a kettle on to boil
9:00pm – Dessert

• Put out cookies
• offer platings of cake and/or muffins?
• big bowl of fruit
• big bowl of whipped cream

9:05pm – offer coffee or tea (requires: coffee concentrate, teabags, sugar, honey, fake sugar?, demerara sugar?, heavy cream, lighter dairy?, soy milk?)

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Still unscheduled
– pick up dessert items from lj person

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Things for the sous chef to cut up on Sunday (in order)

• peel all the carrots
• peel and halve (lengthwise) sweet potatoes
• slice onions and bell peppers
• wash and stem greens

Dessert plans acquired!

There should be a vegan baked goods option – \o/!

and a cake-type baked goods option.

Woo!

That and a bunch of fruit and some whipped cream should be decent after a big dinner, yes?

I’m thinking of making truffles and poached pears, too, but they’ll probably accompany the vegan cupcakes. Eee! plating!