Thank goodness I have managed to only be sick once during this cold and flu season. Well, I might have to say twice, because as I write this, I feel like a little something is up to no good in my sinuses.

The other day, husband started to feel achy and warm, plus he was sneezing quite a bit. I knew that I would most likely end up being sick myself and I took my usual home remedy precautions, including nasal irrigation and drinking a lot of liquids.

When I got home from work last night, my husband looked pretty sick, so I decided it was time to whip up a soup I like to make when we are feeling under the weather.

This is one of those refrigerator clean out soups, the ones where you get to use up the things that were just about to be unusable. This is also the type of soup where you can make a big batch or a small batch. Since this soup is so adaptable, I will share what I put in mine and you can go from there.

(If you look closely, you can see a smiley face in my soup!)

Soup for Sickie Ickies

3 cups of vegetable broth
4 carrots, peeled and sliced into medallions
5 green onions, chopped
1 package of firm tofu, cut into cubes (I used Soy Boy’s Tofu Lin, but if you are using water packed tofu, be sure to drain and press it before adding it to the soup.)
A couple handfuls of spinach, torn into bite sized pieces
1 tablespoon of jarred minced garlic or 3-4 cloves, minced
1 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon (or more, to taste) red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish (optional)
1 bundle of soba noodles (or any noodles you have on hand)

Bring the broth to a boil, reduce heat, and all all ingredients, minus the noodles. Let the soup simmer until the carrots are soft and then add the noodles until they are cooked to your preference. I tend to like my noodles al dente.

I have a note about the ginger used in this recipe. For a while now, I have been peeling my ginger with my vegetable peeler and then putting the chunks of ginger in my garlic press. It really gets the juice out of the ginger, which adds to the flavor of the dish. After I press the ginger, I chop up the pulpy bit that is left in the press and throw that into whatever I am making. I use this same method when I make ginger tea for my tummy.

There was plenty of soup leftover for lunch, which is good, because when you are hungry and sick, sometimes it’s hard to get the energy to cook for yourself.

Have a great day everyone and keep cooking!

I am in love with The Great Adirondack Soup Company.  They are the only local place where a vegetarian can guarantee they can get delicious homemade soup and know without a doubt that it is indeed vegetarian.  Unfortunately, due to a shift change at my job, I haven’t been able to grab lunch from The Great Adirondack Soup Company in a long time.  I was grateful for the food cart they had at the Farmer’s Market over the summer, so I could get my fix.  But what’s a girl to do in the wintertime?

You couldn’t believe how excited I was to find out The Great Adirondack Soup Company was going to be serving dinner a few times a week.  I immediately made a reservation for two for the first week they were serving dinner.

Let me apologize in advance for the darkness of these photos.  The dinner atmosphere at The Great Adirondack Soup Company is calming and romantic, with low lighting and soft music.  I didn’t want to be the jerk taking flash photos with her camera, thus risking the chance of disturbing the dinners of my fellow diners.

Here was a nibble to get us started.  You have no idea how much I love roasted garlic, yet I never make it at home.  I enjoyed spreading the garlic on some locally made bread.  Delicious!

This what I had for dinner.  Unfortunately, I was too busy being wrapped up in this delicious meal and wonderful conversation and I never wrote the name of the dish down.  What I can tell you is these Brussels sprouts were amazing and that cheese crouton topping my meal was melt in your mouth tasty!  I also had a pear dessert which was heavenly.  I never, ever order dessert, but I knew I had to this night.

On Valentine’s Day, we came back.  No photos this time, but I can tell you I had the vegetable paella and I had dessert again!  My husband and I shared heart shaped pound cake with apricot glaze and topped with ganache!  I purposely saved half my dinner so I could eat dessert.  I knew I was starting to get full, but I really wanted to try the pound cake.

If you are looking for a nice, quiet place to eat dinner in Plattsburgh,  come to The Great Adirondack Soup Company.  The atmosphere is romantic and cozy.  I can’t wait until we go back again.

Also, another local favorite business of mine, Just Call Me Cupcake now has its cupcakes available at The Great Adirondack Soup Company. I linked to their Facebook page so you can see what the current flavors offered. You can also visit them at their website.

Have a great night everyone, and keep cooking!

On Tuesday, February 28th,  my husband and I had to put our eleven year old cat, Aleister, to sleep.  We had to euthanize him due to a sudden onset of saddle thrombosis, a condition found only in cats.  There is great pain involved with saddle thrombosis and there is little chance of recovery.
My husband found him in the litter box on Tuesday afternoon and we rushed him to the vet’s immediately.  The doctor explained the situation to us and we were granted a little time to say our goodbyes before the doctor and tech came in to put an end to his suffering.

Now, I feel a little guilty lambasting you with the sad stuff first, dear readers, but I wanted to get all of that out of the way before I tell you the story of Aleister, the Mayor of Cattown, the most intelligent, cantankerous, and amazing cat I have ever had the privilege to share my life with.

Aleister came into this world as a pet store cat named Simba.   When he was a few months old, he was given to my husband, Mark.   Simba was suffering from ringworm and was spending the majority of his time in a cat carrier and Mark’s landlord encouraged him to take Simba.  When Mark adopted him, he renamed him Aleister.

I met Aleister when he was four years old, along with Mark’s other cat, Ox, who was three years old.  Ox and I fell in love immediately.  If you have ever had the pleasure of meeting Ox, you would see why.  He loves people, especially ladies.  He is quite the charmer.  Aleister and I, however, were off to a rocky start at the beginning.

I have always been good with cats, even challenging ones.  So, when Mark told me that Aleister would try to intimidate me and attack me, I didn’t really believe it.  That was until Aleister slapped me on the arm during that first meeting, leaving a black and blue mark on my arm.  From that point, the challenge was on.  I was going to make that cat love me as much as I already loved him.

Mark and I went from dating to being engaged to finally getting married.  A few months before  our wedding day,  we moved in together,  making a cat Brady Bunch family of sorts.  My three cats Oliver, Isabella, and Vivian, didn’t really get along with his two cats and even after all of these years, there are still some issues.  However, there was some bonding established in the first few weeks we all lived together.

I was taking a nap one afternoon when I felt an unfamiliar leap on the bed.  People who own multiple cats know what I am talking about.  You can tell which cats are on the bed, just by the way the jump on the bed, even if your eyes are closed.  I couldn’t believe it!  Aleister had jumped on the bed and had decided he was going to join me for my nap!  It wasn’t long after that he started snuggling with Oliver.  But then again, Oliver really was an ambassador of sorts.  Not many people could ever resist snuggling with Oliver.  Until the day he died,  even after Oliver passed away and our cat family increased to seven when we added Watson and Crick and Edith to our brood, Aleister only ever cuddled with Ox, whom he had grown up with, and Oliver.

Aleister was by far the most fascinating cat I have ever met.  He was part Siamese and that was very evident in his features, right down to his slightly crossed eyes and his extensive vocabulary.  Mark likes to tell the story of how right after Aleister came to live with him,  Aleister very clearly said “Hello!” to a friend of ours.  It was very easy to engage Aleister in conversation.  All you had to was give him a hearty, “MaaaRoooo!” and you could guarantee he would answer you back in kind.  He answered commands in both English and Spanish, thanks to Mark’s training.

I nicknamed him “Aleister the Mayor of Cattown” partly because of his markings that looked as if he was wearing a waist coat and a jacket, but mostly because he was the alpha cat and protector of our home.  He constantly patrolled our apartment, and later our house, several times daily.  There was not a thing that he didn’t notice.  When we bought our home, we moved him first, so he could inspect the place.  As for his protection duties, he cornered a few people in his day, including my step mother when she came to feed our cats when we were out of town.  We were his people and it was his duty to make sure we were taken care of. You could say he was our attack cat.

Now I could go on and on about every little thing I experienced with Aleister during our seven years together, but I won’t.  Instead, I would like to share some things about him that I will miss the most, in the form of a letter.

Dear Meowaleister,

Hey buddy.  I miss you terribly.  I am so happy that I got to share my life with you, although our time together was all too brief. I am still so proud of being the one to teach you to “give kisses” and “stand up for ladies” so you could drink out of the faucet.

You are the only cat I have ever met who wore plastic shopping bags as capes.  I remember the first time I saw you do this.  I was terrified you would hang yourself on the handle, but your dad told me to watch so I did.  You deftly slipped the loop around your neck and paraded around the apartment, pleased to be wearing your cape.  I am happy I was finally able to capture that on video, so I can have it forever.

I will miss our rousing games of tag when I would get home from work on Saturday mornings and the naps we would take afterwards. In fact, you were one of the best cuddlers ever.  Sometimes I wouldn’t even know you joined me on the bed until I would wake up and feel a tiny little ball behind my knees.

I will miss you barging in on me when I would finish my shower.  I will always admire your determination to groom me like you would groom dad, even though my hair is much longer and you never were quite successful at it.

I will miss you shouting out the windows to the passerby and I will even miss having to warn guests to our home about your quick temper.

Sure, you had your moments when you would attack me or the other cats without provocation or pee on things you shouldn’t have, but I am not going to carry your bad behaviors in my memory.  Instead, I will choose to remember you as a cat with so much love and personality crammed into a such a tiny body.

It’s only been a few days since you have been gone, but I swear I have seen you, out of the corner of my eye, doing your patrol. One night when I was in bed, I heard the click clack of toenails on the hardwood floor and I thought it was you, but it was Bella instead.

I can’t say goodbye, because that would mean I would be admitting I won’t ever see you again.  Instead, I will say safe journey, Mistah Aleistah, until we meet again.  I love you very much. Tell Oliver I said hi.

Much love,

Hairless cat with thumbs, number two.

Tonight is the Super Bowl.  I have never intentionally sat down to watch the Super Bowl although I have been to a few Super Bowl parties.  I can’t lie, I went for the food!  But here I sit tonight, watching the Super Bowl with my husband, eating some vegetarian chicken wing dip, and sharing the dip recipe with you, dear readers!  I figure some vegetarian folks might be attending a Super Bowl party tonight and have the same chicken wing dip envy I once had and would come home and search for a recipe to make it themselves.

My first Super Bowl party was during my senior year of high school.  The food that sticks out in my mind was Buffalo wings.  Now, I ate my share of Buffalo wings before I was a vegetarian, but I hated eating meat of the bone, so they were not always a go to food for me.  I must admit, it was the flavor, that buttery spicy sauce that brought me back every time.  As a big fan of blue cheese dressing, the combination of the two made them irresistible!  For the record, I never, ever, ate celery with my wings.  We all know I am a celery hater.

When I became a vegetarian, I found I craved the spicy Buffalo sauce and the creamy blue cheese dressing.  To combat that craving, I started making Buffalo wing tofu salads, drizzled with blue cheese dressing.  I would fry up tofu cubes, toss them with Buffalo wing sauce, and serve it over a bed of greens.  I have since used Quorn cutlets or pieces. It makes things a lot easier and it cuts down on the oil I have to use, because I don’t have to fry the Quorn first, I only have to toss it in the Buffalo wing sauce and cook the mixture down in a pan.

The Buffalo wing tofu salad also works well as a wrap.  It’s very tasty and my husband, who is a meat eater, likes it a lot too.  Buffalo wing tofu is one of my most requested recipes.   I have never put it up on the website and I should sometime.

However, even though I satisfy my cravings for Buffalo wings with my salad, I have always been jealous of the chicken wing dip that is at  a lot of baby showers, bridal showers, and potlucks I have attended.  It looks so good and I have never tasted it.  It never even occurred to me to make a vegetarian version until the past couple of weeks leading up to the Super Bowl when recipes and mentions of this dip kept popping up in my news feed on Facebook.   I came up with my own version, adding some of my favorite things to add a personal touch to the recipe.   My version is really fast and easy to put together.  It’s also made in a crock pot, so it could easily be assembled before a get together and left to cook on low so you can attend to other party prep.  Remember, I have never had this dip, but this is my interpretation of how I think it would taste.

Here’s my vegetarian version of  chicken wing dip:

Vegetarian Chicken Wing Dip

2 packages of Quorn cutlets (8 cutlets)

2 packages of Neufchatel cheese, softened

1 and 1/2 cups of shredded extra sharp cheddar

1/4 cup Gorgonzola crumbles

8 ozs of hot sauce (I use Frank’s Red Hot)

1 and 1/2 cups of prepared blue cheese dressing

1 tablespoon minced garlic

fresh ground pepper and cayenne pepper, to taste

Start out by cooking the Quorn cutlets (follow the instructions on the box for your preferred method of cooking).  Next, dice the cutlets.   Combine all of the ingredients into a crock pot, minus a half cup of the shredded cheese, and cook on low for two hours.  Check on this from time to time, giving the mixture a good stir to ensure all of the ingredients are evenly distributed.

You can serve this right in the crock pot or in a bowl.  Either way, sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese on top of the dip.

For us tonight, I dished out individual serving in vintage soup crocks with woven wheat crackers.  I put too much in the crocks, because we weren’t able to finish our portions.  It’s a good thing these crocks can be cover up and popped in the oven to warm up later.

As for the Super Bowl, I still don’t understand football, even though I played in my high school’s Powder Puff football game for 4 consecutive years.  I still don’t know why I did that either.  I did enjoy the commercials, I loved to see Madonna dance, and as I wrap this up, there is still 39 seconds on the clock with the Giants in the lead.  We are rooting for the Giants in my house.

Have a safe night friends and keep cooking!

It’s going to be very cold  in upstate New York this weekend. As always, I am worried about the people and animals who have no shelter or inadequate shelter. This is something that tears my heart apart every year.

All of our cats are rescues. The majority of them are cats that we took in as strays. Watson and Crick were rescued during a very cold snap two years ago. We had been feeding them for months but couldn’t nab them. We caught Crick first, but Watson took a little longer.

It was almost twelve days from catching Crick to spotting Watson again. We had some very cold temps and I was heartbroken and distraught that he didn’t make it. Then I saw him! I was so happy! But then I knew I needed to take drastic measures to get him inside.

On the Sunday I caught him, I had put some wet food out for him and I put it inside our back porch, hoping he would come in to eat. He did and I managed to kick the door shut behind him, scaring us both.

Here’s a photo taken the night I brought him in. I had to keep him on our porch that night until I was able to get him to the vet to get a check up and get neutered. I wrapped him in towels and put a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel next to him. He slept for so long that night.

Here’s a more recent photo of him, almost two years later.

What a difference, eh? He is still my most shy cat, but I can expect to find all eleven pounds of him sleeping on me in the middle of the night. Often he wakes me up because he purrs so loudly, not to mention waking me up with the occasional lick or nibble on my hand, to get me to pet him.

Back to my point.  This weather reminds me of the Watson rescue effort and I am so very glad I took him, and all the other cats I have rescued, in from the cold.  They are so worth it.

As for my plans for this cold weekend, I plan on making some Chex mix, vegan no bake cookies, and hot cocoa with maybe a little bit of Frangelico, hee hee.  Perfect snacks for this cold, blustery weekend.  I might make some French onion soup too because I want to use my new to me soup bowls with handles.  Is there an actual name for those?  I guess I should google that later.

Anyway, what do you like to do to keep warm on days like these?  Fill me in!

Keep warm, friends!