Happy Afternoon…smoothie!
And happy cocktail hour! Sparkling water + cherry juice.
What’s that you say? You want to know what the yellow robot is?
It’s my brand new yellow radio, totally inspired by Sherry and John! I’ve been admiring it since they first debuted it in their new kitchen, and then this week the super expensive price tag was slashed to moderately expensive thanks to a Joss & Main sale YHL hosted.
Matt and I have been searching for a small, attractive kitchen/upstairs music box for months and this was just the perfect match. Loving the splash of color most of all! I have plans to buy an input cord for my phone so we can play Pandora stat. I’ve had the radio on all afternoon to a country station and loved the cowboy company!
Tonight’s dinner featured a new recipe – seitan nuggets! Sarah gave out the recipe at her seitan talk at Whole Foods a few weeks ago, and I put vital wheat gluten on the grocery list after tasting them.
Vital wheat gluten is the protein part of wheat. Matt says you could make this at home by kneading a ball of wheat dough until the gluten was very developed and then rinsing out all the starch. Or you can just buy it in the bulk bins : ) It’s kind of like bread flour without the white flour component, and it smells and tastes just like bread dough. If you love dough, you’ll love this.
I followed Sarah’s recipe to a T, sans the onion powder. This version smells and tastes just like Thanksgiving dinner thanks to the herbs and broth.
After baking, they were chewy and springy and bready. I can’t say this is my new favorite food, but I enjoyed them a lot – especially the texture.
Sweet potato fries baked on the side!
Baked on a wire rack in the oven for 40 minutes at 400*. Cinnamon was tonight’s secret ingredient!
Salad = the lady chef’s vegetable du jour. Arugula topped with goat cheese, capers and lemon juice.
We dined on the porch watching the sun set
I’m off to write for my other blog and then settle in for the evening!
LOVE that radio! And the smoothie sounds delicious! 🙂
Smoothie and dinner look great!
Country music!!! Yee haw!
I actually bought a bag of vital wheat gluten, and a few days later found out I was gluten intolerant! Lol that went in the trash…
Bummmmmmmer 🙁
Hmm smoothie with crackers on top.. looks wonderful!
Love the radio 😀
I eat vital wheat gluten often, I like making pattie, I like the chewy-ness!
An afternoon smoothie is such a great snack! I crave them all the time!
The radio is cute!
ps – It’s sans OR omitting … right now you have it written as a double negative and it hurts my brain. Just fyi.
I just can’t think these days…thanks
Speaking of not thinking… it’s Sherry, not Sherri.
My gosh, what is wrong with me! I went to their About Me page to make sure I spelled it right and put the opposite! Hand eye coordination failure. Thanks
The graham crackers crushed on top of your smoothie look like the absolute perfect topping! That radio is so cute; I love having something to listen to while I’m in the kitchen. Usually I listen to music from my laptop or NPR/ Pandora from my phone, but I might have to invest in a kitchen radio – that would be much more convenient.
Last week I tried baking sweet potato wedges using a wire rack and loved the results – very ingenious method. Thanks for the inspiration!
Delicious pinks and happy yellows
those nuggets are intriguing. love your adventurous spirit in the kitchen!
I bought an input cord for under $15 in my local grocery – well, it has a small electronics dept as well. I take it on trips for use in the rental car.
What a cute yellow radio!! Quick question that you’ve probably answered in a lot of previous posts–what lens do you shoot closeup with? I’m in the market for a new wide angle and/or macro lens. Thanks!
The smoothie photos were taken with my stock lens, which was still on my camera from nursery shots. But all of the dinner ones were using my Canon 35 mm f/2.
Darling radio!
I do love the color of the radio, super fun!
Love the radio!! Even better than that yellow color though are all of the pretty colors on your plate! Those sweet potatoes look perfect! YUM!
What an awesome radio! Much more attractive than my ugly laptop sitting on the counter, getting splattered with whatever’s cooking!
Oooh I love the seitan nugget idea! I definitely want to try that one of these days…
LOVE that radio as well – so cute and stylish. I feel like it’s straight out of the Mad Men set 🙂
Those are the best radios – my parents have a green one and my grandmother’s is blue. Both live in the kitchen and are almost always on!
Love the writing on the smoothie pic – simple to follow! Do you listen to the radio while you write or just prepping dinner?
I can’t get over how perfect your fries always come out. Must try the wire rack method.
The smoothie looks delicious! I have some fresh strawberries in the fridge that are begging to be eaten. I also love the yellow radio – so fun! I’d really like to get a radio for my kitchen.
Love the radio! I’ve been looking for a retro clock I like, but haven’t found one yet. That smoothie looks so refreshing. I had my first strawberry smoothie yesterday and it totally hit the spot! Perfect for these warm days.
What a fun radio! Love the pop of color.
I love the radio! My thrifty and junk picking husband that I adore found one at the Goodwill by us for $5 and brought it home. I was so annoyed that he was replacing our perfectly functional radio with another one. Then I found out how awesome it was and what they retail for and I had to bite my tongue!
Also, I am a big fan of your blog (read it daily) and you and I are expecting in Sept. within days of each other 🙂 We are welcoming #2 (we have an almost 4 year old boy) and aren’t finding out what we are having, but it is fun to follow you on here since we are within days of each other! and…Boys are the BEST! I wasn’t sure about it until we had Henry and he is Amazing! Congrats!
what is your exact due date again?
$5!! A steal!!
Due 8/31 🙂
Goodwill is my mom’s favorite store. That’s where she got her Keurig coffee maker for $15 (still in the box!).
I definitely want to try Sarah’s seitan technique (I read her recipe post after you wrote about her food demo). We’ve had moderate luck making seitan, but often the texture comes out a bit too rubbery, so I hope this cooking method might help with that. Glad you enjoyed it!
Good luck! It’s worth experimenting with how much liquid you do or don’t add and seeing what differences you get in terms of texture, especially since it’s so cheap to make. 😉
Dinner by sunset…hooray! Happy settling in 🙂
Sweet Potato fries always make any meal better, yum!
that is just the most lovely-looking spot for dinnertime. i can’t wait for warm weather… and looking forward to a second apartment somewhere down the road that has a porch. 🙂
Your pictures are truly beautiful!
I always see regular quart and pint sized ball jars, but where did you find the larger sized blue ball jars in your kitchen photos? I would love to find those!! Thanks Kath!
The blue ones are from my grandmother – and I’ve seen them at several antique shops here in town, so that’s where I’d look!
I love retro appliances and electronics; super cute radio!
I love the bright and sunny splash of color on your countertop! I like how compact the radio is!
http://faithfulsolutions.blogspot.com/
I like that you try new things- that usually leads to experimenting to find something even better!
Nice cocktail. Do you have your first post pregnancy drink in mind yet? I would be dreaming of Belgians if I couldn’t drink for 9 months!
Oh gosh, no idea!! Probably a juicy red wine, then maybe a pumpkin beer since fall will be looming! The unfortunate thing is with a little one I can’t really have more than a little anyways – need to keep my mind clear! So it will be even longer before I can really taste around 🙂
Looks GOOD! I’ve been having sweet potato fries almost everyday with my lunch lately, but with Cajun seasoning. Yuuuuuuuuummmmm. I don’t know why I hated sweet potatoes as a kid, they are SO GOOD!
I actually thought the seitan nuggets (just from the 1st pic before you zoomed in) were really underbaked choc chip cookies. I was like, whoa, Kath is enjoying cookie dough for dinner. But honestly, that would have been perfect for me 🙂
The yellow radio is fab!
The second smoothie picture is awesome- love the font of the ingredients 🙂
I think you’ve mentioned this before, but what program do you use to put text on your photos? If it’s Adobe Lightroom I haven’t figured this feature out yet…
p.s. I LOVE DOUGH!
Photoshop… not having a good textover is Lightroom’s only downfall!
my gluten intolerant tummy started hurting at just the thought of pure wheat gluten! Lol, but I used to be a gluten eater. The texture of the nuggets looks nice. And sweet potatoes fries are the best part of any meals. Did you know Alexia makes sweet potato TOTS?!?!
The smoothie looks yummy! 🙂 That radio looks so cute in your kitchen! Love it.
That’s a tasy looking dinner! Do you put anything else on the sweet potatoes besides the cinnamon? Olive oil or are they just dry?
Yes, I tossed them in a bowl with about 1/2 a tbsp of olive oil, salt and some cayenne too
Your smoothie looks so refreshing and perfect for an afternoon ‘pick me up’! Love the citrus coloured radio…perfect ‘pop’ of colour for the kitchen!
I actually tried seitan before I gave up gluten years ago. I agree with you – good but not my favorite thing in the world.
Since eliminating meat and dairy from my diet, I’ve run into the ingredients more often. It’s a common vegan meat substitute.
Does the wire rack keep your fries from getting mushy?
Yes. They aren’t exactly crispy on the outside, but they have structure
love love love the yellow radio!! I’ve been looking to take advantage of the yhl joss and main sale! That may have to be my purchase!
Ooh- I’ve got to copy this dinner! I am a big fan of seitan, but have only bought it already made (or more often, eaten it from Whole Foods salad bar).
I really like that radio too- I have Pandora going 24-7, but my laptop speaker only gets so loud. The yellow would actually go perfectly in my kitchen (which is yellow and white) and compliment my Livestrong tea kettle. 🙂
Lovely radio. Got a little YHL crush there?!
Whoo hoo!!! I’m so happy you made them at home, and that you ignored Matt and just bought the wheat gluten from the bulk bin. 😉
oh my gosh that radio is CUTE. I think I need it in my life!
hello. i love the radio. what is in the jars on each side?
Teas!
This might be a weird comment/questions, but I’ve been monitoring wheat’s effects on my digestion ever since I read Wheat Belly a few months ago and have noticed that pasta and bread do tend to upset my stomach a bit more than other foods. Did you guys digest the seitan easily? Just wondering, but I guess owning a bakery, you guys eat lots of wheat anyway… I’m not gluten intolerant or anything, but like monitoring how my body responds to different foods and haven’t had seitan in a long time and have never made it from scratch.
I haven’t had a problem since last night, no
Kath, just curious if you think a toddler would enjoy the texture of seitan nuggets. Drake isn’t a big fan of meat and I’m always up for trying new things with him. He loved MamaPea’s tofu nuggets and is finally at the stage that he will try things – he’s not the best eater.
I think so! They were definitely easy to chew, and if he liked tofu nuggets I bet he would like these. I might leave out the herbs/soy for a child though
The radio’s adorable! I’ve been coveting it since John and Sherry posted it also, but my kitchen’s so small I have nowhere to put it.
Gonna keep telling you until you try it…you’ve gotta put chili powder (loads) on your sweet potatoes/yams. It’s over the top good!
XO
I didn’t know you could make homemade seitan. So cool!
I’m so excited to really work the smoothie angle once the weather warms up and finally decides to stay that way! Your strawberry concoction looks fab!