Flyby Stardancer

So I have an ambition project for tomorrow... prepping future game-night foods to stick in the freezer. Mostly casseroles, filled pastas (either ravioli or tortelloni), and hand pies. Most of these will have both meat and vegetarian versions, and the meat for it got cooked up yesterday.

I’m trying to brainstorm ideas for the vegetarian fillings.

The casseroles are easy. Mac and cheese is already vegetarian (the vegetarians in the group are lacto-ovo, and looove their cheese). The vegetarian enchiladas will have me working on perfecting my taco “meat” TSP/TVP. Easy-peasy.

For the other two, I want to work with what I’ve already got in the house… Viable options that I have to work with include:
-pintos
-white beans
-white long grain rice
-pearl barley
-quinoa
-butternut squash
-homemade yogurt (last resort, mostly)

I’m actually thinking about putting the butternut squash in the slower cooker overnight, and then taking some and mashing it with white beans… A friend of mine once made butternut squash soup that he added white beans to for extra protein and a non-dairy creaminess. It was delicious. I’m a bit worried that mashing the two together would leave the filling too dense...

As it stands now, I have both pasta and pastry dough in the fridge, chilling, to await their filling tomorrow.

So, in past posts I've alluded to the fact that I'm part of a gaming group that meets every Sunday night. We currently have a rotation of three houses and four games, and 6-7 people (depending on the game). Well, two of the group (Best Friend and her husband) are vegetarian. And this group is really good about being guinea pigs for my culinary experiments.

Well, for this week I decided I wanted to make enchiladas. Well, a lasagna-like version of enchiladas since my crock's in a circle and that doesn't hold logs of tortillas wrapped around filling very well. I'm also playing around with TVP for the first time as a part of the filling. And given that I'm cooking in a crock pot due to lack of oven, I also run the risk of everything turning to a pot of mush. I've done some things to hopefully prevent that from happening...

( Rough recipe-ish description under here. )

So wish me luck with that... The crock isn't as full as I'd like for feeding six people, most of whom are big eaters, but I also have the fail!brownies and some homemade chocolate ice cream to hopefully make up for that.

Stolen from sakon76.

( Cut to save those not interested. )

So, surgery went well, and he's very awake today. He has a fabric Cone of Shame to wear while I can't directly supervise him. (I just put it on him after it came off in the hamper, and he seemed to be okay with me putting it on him.) I have meds to give him, and I'm supposed to have a one-week followup which can be over the phone if everything looks good on the incision, and a two-week followup to remove the sutures. He's supposed to be kept quiet for three weeks... That's going to be hard. I currently have him closed off in the master bed/bathroom area, but that also has most of the difficult jumps he likes to do. I'm going to need to figure out something to either dissuade him or steps to make them easier... And then there's Cleo. I have her out in the main house so she can run around and doesn't bug him, but neither like doors when someone's on the other side. When I was sitting with Jack after letting him out, she was whining and trying to get in. I let her in briefly so she could check him out, but then shooed her out.

They gave him his painkillers this morning at the vet's office, so he just needed the antibiotics. Both are pills, since I told them he was better at taking those. And to prove me right, I got his antibiotics in the treat mash, and he gobbled it as soon as I offered it.

My poor handsome boy... His left hip and the part of his belly even with his hip has been shaved. But he does have a boot on his left foot!

The wonderful eerian_sadow has set up a fundraise drive for anyone who wants to put in a donation to help cover the costs for my Jack's surgery.

Help Save Wheeljack's Leg

I thank everyone for their love, and their support, whether it be emotional or financial. My kitties are my babies, and it's hard to see one's babies hurt and in pain.

Wheeljack, my boy cat, has hurt his back left leg. I've made an appointment with the nearest vet, which will still be an hour before we leave. (The closest emergency vet is a corporate chain, and thus super-pricey.)

Update: Okay, spoke to the vet. He was only hurting on his femur and knee. Internals sounded good, he is a bit chubby, but I already knew that and have been slowly backing off on their food. Vet thinks he most likely sprained his leg, but is taking X-rays just to make sure there isn't a break.

So I went to try to pick the rest of my friend's plums, and they had gone bad on the tree. :( So I think I'll try making some lemon jelly after picking meyer lemons at my Dad's tomorrow... (Will have to wait to juice them until next week, since I work weekends.)

I've been working on projects for the Ravellenics (they ended up renaming the knitting/crochet games since the USOC was making such a stink. Bleh). I'm working on a scarf for my cousin. I hate knitting scarves, but she's worth it. And maybe this will motivate me enough to actually get it DONE.

( Pictures and more of what I've done under here. )

So, that's what I've been up to.

So, my straight skirt remains partially-sewn. Some more time-sensitive projects have popped up. Namely, fruit that needed to be turned into canned yummies.

( More behind here, including pictures! )

Okay, so I decided to go with making the purple skirt next, got the fabric washed...

And then Cleo decided she wanted to play while I was ironing the fabric. She snagged it with her claws, but I don't think there was any actual breakage... It all seemed fine after I pressed it and wiggled the strands back into place with the tip of a pin.

Next problem! The fabric was supposed to be 54" across. Apparently it shrunk in the wash, because when I folded it, it ended up being 51" across. This means the skirt would be an inch shorter, and have absolutely no wiggle room for hemming. So do I still make the circle skirt, or do I make another half-circle?

On the other hand, I ended up having enough in the length that I could make the waistband in the same color.

I've spent a couple hours now just trying to get an even line to hem to on my half-circle skirt... So I know how much to cut off. Makes me wish I had a dressform that mimics my body.

( Adding in pictures of my helpers! )