Snow Days and Nights/Pantry Turnover

My buddy and I woke up to the chime of my phone. 10 minutes before I received the NYC Alert text, The Electrician delivered the sweet, sweet news of the snow day. I texted the other 5th grade teachers and went back to bed, lulled by the exclamations of the ambitious shovelers outside and the spinning wheels of snow-trapped vehicles. Too soon I woke with a caffeine withdrawal headache and needed to trudge the fresh snow to Lula Bean for a large black.

The snow enveloped cars in white mountains, trimmed winter sticklings like a lush coat and brightened up the mismatched colors of apartment buildings down my street. With my pajama pants tucked into my huge 80’s-style Hoth moon boots, I enjoyed my walk in the snow. The day was brimming with opportunity and I was hoping not to squander it. Coffee will help.

My first endeavor, nutty wheat bread. It’s been a while since I last made bread. I was discouraged by uneven slices, impatient about letting it cool thoroughly after a 4-hour session in the bread maker and plagued by too much bread left over. But these are easy fixes! I reduced Nutty wheat above to a 1.5lb loaf, subbing curdled soy milk for buttermilk and some Earth Balance for the butter, and got a reasonably sized loaf. I added in some mixed fancy nuts I’ve been meaning to get the heck out of my pantry. Pantry turnover, as well as lunch for all of next week, was my mission.

Having a capital-S Slew of fresh dill in my possession, I made a vegan dill mayo with some sprigs and the remainder of my Vegenaise. This will top my lentil burgers. I am happy to announce that the green lentils have left the pantry. What a relief! They were bothering me in there. I am neurotic, yes.

I also made a simple wheat berry salad as an accompaniment to my lentil burgers. Just some wheat berries, raisins and some splashes of olive oil, fig balsamic vinegar and some red wine vinegar. To the right, the cooling lentils for my patties. Did I tell you that making this patties also killed the rest of the bread crumbs in my pantry? Booyah! Anyway, the patties were quite easy: lentils, onion, carrot and some spice and heat. I also added corn for color.