soba, so good

okay, you deserve a fun post of yumminess after yesterday's downer post. life is all about balance, right? which also means i'm getting offline soon after posting this, to listen to christmas music on pandora and maybe some NPR BBC news and knit.

here is tonight's super-frugal dinner, all made with food items i already had on hand:

this is buckwheat soba noodles, mixed with steamed bok choy and kale, raw carrot, tahini, lemon juice, tamari, fresh ginger, and tofu stir-fried in organic veggie broth (my new cooking weapon is to buy 5 large cartons of this stuff to replace my one glass bottle of organic canola oil at - GASP! - $17/pop. i use way too much oil, and am concerned both about the saturated fat content of both my wallet and my body...i'm also planning on using applesauce to replace oil in many of my vegan baking recipes). this would be amazing with snap peas but i didn't have any so whatever. this meal was healthy, cheap, and came together quickly. i ate it cold.

i'm also a huge fan of this combo: brussels sprouts-nuts-garlic-red pepper flakes-tamari-sesame oil. holy YUM.


i'm off to the knitting. one student loan is overdue, the car reg will be done a month late, but the rest of the bills are more or less paid till next month and i should have a bit of cash left in there to float me through till christmas. i hope.

i think my friends are getting vegan peppermint bark in jars this year 'cause i never made it back to my sewing machine after the craziness of prepping and taking on a brand-new classroom. next year you'll get your napkin rolls with bamboo flatware, friends. i (try to) promise.

here are the lemon gem cupcakes i made for a special friend's birthday. from the best cookbook in the world, vegan with a vengeance.



love and light to you,

k.