Tater Tot Casserole?!

A few years ago I remember a friend of mine mentioning tater tot casserole. I don't know how I got through life not knowing about this dish given my consumption of tater tots, however from the description it definitely wasn't vegan and I sort of forgot about it.

Then a couple of days ago I saw a post on a vegan version. I did some searching and didn't fall in love with any one recipe, but did get enough information to try it for myself.

First I made Mushroom Cream Sauce by Daily Garnish. It is one of my favorites. It seems that real tater tot casserole often involves condensed soup.

I also went with fresh veggies over frozen. This was more of a practicality on my part because I wanted to go very heavy on the zucchini (two small-medium zucchini). I had some cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots around that went in as well.

I mixed in the mushroom sauce and put it in a 9*9 dish. After a lot of consideration I put in some Daiya since I also had it around. I don't think it is necessary though.

I baked the dish at 450 for about 30 minutes. Because of the fresh veggies it probably could have baked longer depending how obliterated you like your veggies in a casserole. This was perfect for me however.

Oh, and in a desperate attempt to put off homework even longer I almost made my own tater tots from scratch. Turns out when you search for "homemade tater tot recipe" you find things like this:

(Source)

Amazing aren't they? Does that say something about people that are drawn to tater tots?

Powered by tater tot casserole I then did accomplish a considerable amount of homework. I also heavily HEAVILY bargained with Nim who went into crisis mode last night from lack of activity.

I promised him if he would just let me work last night, that no matter what freezing fog had consumed the Snoqualmie Valley I would try and walk him somewhere.

So this morning I was up before sunrise to drag out the garbage and Nim was up bright and early with me. When he wasn't adhered to my rear-end he was keeping one eye on me.

(A promise is a promise)

We headed out to Meadowbrook. He got to carry his long line and yell at the birds.

I was so hopeful that the frozen ground would let us sneak around this puddle into the next field but shortly after this photo we broke through and had to walk along the road a bit.

What I did figure out during this walk is that I step on him. A lot. And it seems that I step mostly on his left front foot (with my right foot). It happens when he jumps in front to face me and shake the long line at me. Sigh.

Now he is on the electric blanket and I am crossing my fingers that our walk didn't make his left front leg worse.

At least we have some gentle eyes for now...

Mystery Quilt 2013 - Top finished

Not a lot of homework happened today, but the quilt top is done!

Once I got it laid out I had to race the cats to get it sewn together.

Interestingly this quilt photographs "better" than I see it in person. I think it is one of those quilts in which you can see the pattern better from a distance and I stand on a chair to take the photo.

Some close-ups of blocks of the finished top:

Mystery Quilt 2013 - Blocks all done

Happy Sunday!

It is still freezing out here, but we got a bit of sun and went for a short walk. The walk was hardly dented Nim's energy expending needs right now...

I can't wait for him to be physically sound again. Eventually he laid around, blowing bubbles, sulking about his short walk.

I finally made a decision and made 6 blocks of one variation:

And 6 blocks of the other variation:

The last blocks to make started with 6 of these units:

And 12 of these:

They all came together to make these 6 blocks. I would say these were my favorite blocks to make:

Time to start putting the quilt together!

Mystery Quilt 2013 - Well Shoot

Well shoot. I decided to mess with a little more layout after reading some initial comments from Cindy to see if I could get a better idea of what I wanted.

This was fun times for the cats and my fabric is really scattered now.

Anyway, check out this mix of the two blocks I preferred. Turn out that once in the full assembly my second layout (I know, it gets confusing...block on the right, top row) is holding up the best in full assembly.

I could alternate the two layouts as shown below, but I don't think it will be the best look.

It seems to be that option 2 shows pattern best with all the scrappy fabric. The final quilt will have 12 of these units.

How does it look to others?

Mystery Quilt 2013 - ANOTHER layout

Right after my last post I was dissecting some of the other variations and realized I think I like this layout even better:

Previous preferred layout is on the right, new preferred is on the left. I am not going to risk doing half and half of both, but I was seriously tempted...

Mystery Quilt 2013 - Finally back on it!

Hello on a freezing Saturday! This cold weather has caused an electric blanket truce between Emile and Nim.

Leela is complete unfazed by the cold. She has the pellet stove and her tail. Sometimes I think she is more tough because she was born semi-feral and started life completely outdoors. I do remember it was a cold night when I went to pick up her up with her siblings.

Today I picked up a lot of cat food and some treats from my mom. Including Yaky Nugget. These are funny treats.

You microwave them and poof...

Crunchy cheese puff.

Today I also picked up something called rhus toxicodendron for Nim's limp. It is a homeopathic medication for joint pain. A friend of mine had success with it for her German Shepherd.

They are ridiculously tiny and the dispenser was almost Samantha-proof until I bothered to read the instructions.Anyway, I am willing to try anything that will help him out.

On to quilting!

I finally returned to the Mystery Quilt and I am working on the quilt blocks step. Misha was right about looking ahead and looking at other layouts.

The layout on the right is the one described in the instructions. The layout on the left is one of the alternates made by a tester. In my opinion, the one on the left works better with my scrappy selection.

Sunshine Award

It is ironic to get a Sunshine award in the freezing cold, but I totally loved it. These awards are always a great way to learn about other bloggers.

Millie (with Cindy and Charlie) of Bird Brains & Dog Tales presented me with the Sunshine award. They received it from Sage at The (mis)Adventures of Sage. You will want to check the link out to see Sage in the cat tree. I wonder if I could get a cat tree to support Nim!

Sunshine Award Seven Questions:

1. Favorite Number? Probably 5 or 13. Not sure why. I just think they are numbers I tend to pick. I do know that I have a general preference for odd numbers in general. Oh, and I hate the number 8.
2. Favorite non-alcoholic beverage? Green Tea
3. Facebook or Twitter? Neither, although I do enjoy reading some people's tweets. I don't have much to tweet about...lol, or perhaps I do but do others need to read them? I really should have set up a twitter account for Rusty. He would have had stuff to tweet about.
4. Your Passion? Dogs for sure (really most animals). I love hiking and the outdoors.
5. Favorite Pattern? For my quilting work I have a huge attraction to triangle and points. When I fabric shop I think I tend towards smaller patterns on the fabric, but that comes with quilting as well. 
6. Favorite Day of the Week? Right now it would have to be Monday. This very much changes depending on my life, but I love the fresh start of a Monday. 
7. Favorite Flower? Dahlias. I always love a more wildflower/small stand look to my flower bouquets. 

I would love to see some people pick as many as they want and comment to me with their answers!

Our week is...well...it is going.

Emile requires a lot of electric blanket time. Nim just kicked him off a few moments ago. After this post I need to intervene.

We are simply freezing out here. I don't know what it is with Emile, but he doesn't keep warm well. Kind of odd for a cat. Perhaps he needs his own electric blanket and pellet stove. I also find him against the space heater which I don't like.

In Nim's world the limp persists. Today we went to the vet for some Rimadyl and he has been swimming more frequently. I almost asked for a tranquilizer while I was at the vet too. One for Nim and one for me.

Still no sewing this week. Darn! Maybe this weekend...