Hello and welcome to another edition of our weekend hang. I scheduled this one quite a bit in advance so that I could be fully present on our holiday. We’ve had some cool temperatures this week, so naturally I’ve been dreaming a season ahead while still drowning in tomatoes. It’s an abundant time of year with a bit of whiplash at times!

I’m going to leave it at that before leaving you to the links. A bit of a lighter edition this week, which you can hopefully forgive ;) Take care out there!

5 Things I’m Reading:

1. Social Media’s Last Taboo: It’s okay to be every kind of person online — except struggling. via The Cut (click here for non-paywalled option)
2. Being Vegan Isn’t The Point via Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s Substack
3. The difference between curing and healing via the examined family on Substack
4. The Teens Taking On Data Centers via the NYT (gift link)
5. On my nightstand: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Finally reading this! I’m about a third of the way in and I can’t say that I love it?!)

5 Things I’m Enjoying:

1. From The Atlantic’s How to Touch Grass series: What It Takes to Reclaim Your Attention Span
2. Made my blueberry muffins into a loaf and it was lovely! Swapped orange zest and juice for lemon, added some dried lavender, and baked at 350 for about 45 minutes
3. I find Shane Gillis kind of annoying to be honest, but the latest season of Tires had me screaming laughing at times
4. Learning a lot about sleep and insomnia from The Sleep Coach School on YouTube
5. The universe inside a sand dollar

5 Questions:

1. I want to like tahini but all the kinds I’ve tried have been bitter and oily. Do you have recommendations? I’m in Ontario.
   Tahini should be silky smooth and very pourable, pretty much right from the bottle. It also should not be overly bitter! I love shopping at the health food store, but some of the typical “health food store brands” that make nut/seed butters don’t seem to have tahini dialed in. I recommend checking the Middle Eastern foods section of your local supermarket instead. I’ve been getting this Al Kaneter one from Food Basics and it’s excellent. The price cannot be beat and it even comes in a squeeze bottle type of container. I think one of my Instagram followers or readers here recommended it to me a while ago, so whoever that was: thank you!
2. Back in the office post-summer and need lunch meal prep ideas please!
   I sent a “Back to Routine” roundup out to my email subscribers, which you can access here. It has a “great for meal prep” section that’s perfect for doing lunch prep.
3. Have you cooked with yuba at all? I want to but I don’t know where to start?
   I’ve made Miyoko Schinner’s yuba bacon from The Homemade Vegan Pantry and it was great! There are similar recipes to be found online–it’s a very beginner-friendly technique. I’ve also used it in a yuba “noodle” stir fry, which was equally simple and delicious! There’s a lot of cool yuba mock meat recipes in some of the Buddhist temple-produced cookbooks out there!
4. Wait, what’s the hack for making porridge in the rice cooker?
   A lot of people asked me about this when I posted about it on Instagram this week. I’m sorry to tell you it’s not a hack! I have a Zojirushi rice cooker with a built in steel cut oatmeal setting. This appliance has been worth every penny for us–it’s up there with my Vitamix blender! Serious Eats has a rough guide for making steel cut oatmeal in any rice cooker though.
5. What are you most looking forward to in the fall cooking-wise?
   Honey nut squash in salads, soups, gorgeous sides etc. I have a decent crop of them forming in the garden right now. I think I’m going to try them in a big pot next year and just let them spill out in this open area of another garden that we have. I’ve grown them in our raised veggie beds two years in a row and they take up way too much space. Also looking forward to apple cinnamon everything. I’m an apple cinnamon FREAK.

Pinned Recipes This Week:

1. Sesame Garlic Noodles with Broccoli, Basil & Crispy Tempeh
2. Grilled Tofu with Peach, Ginger & Miso Sauce
3. Pizza Night Salad
4. Roasted Butternut Squash with Lentils, Cherry Tomatoes & Herbed Yogurt
5. Veggie Sausage Sheet Pan Dinner with Pesto Cream