Just a couple of recipes, I swear

Now that I’m officially off quarantine (ahaha) I’m allowed back into the house and have access to an actual oven. The downside of this is….well, I’ve been getting really bored, especially when storms knock out the internet. So:

Savory vegetarian eggplant turnovers (12-15 small pies)

Fillings:
– 1 medium eggplant.
– ½ an onion, chopped fine or shredded
– ½ a bell pepper of your preferred color.
– Other vegetables: I think that shredded cabbage, potatoes, mushrooms (things with a fairly neutral flavor) would work. Me, I was using what was on hand.
– ¾-1 cup Morningstar Griller Crumbles. You could substitute TVP; rehydrating it in some stock would probably help.
– 1-2 glugs BBQ sauce. (Y’know, when the bottle’s mostly empty and you thump it a couple of times and then shake it hard)
– 2 tsp Better Than Buillion or stock flavoring of your choice in about ½ cup water. Alternatively, use straight stock.

Crust:
– 1 smallish potato
– 1-1/2 cups flour (add the first cup, reserve the rest till as needed. I didn’t measure precisely)
– 1/4ish cup water
– 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil (I used mayo…because the jar was standing right there)

Assembly:
– Prep your potato first, either by microwaving it for about 3-5 minutes, or boiling it. I dunno, it’s up to you. While that’s cooking, make the filling.
– Dissolve the buillion in water in a large-enough pan and put on stove to heat up. Do this just before you finish with the eggplant or even afterwards.
– Dice the eggplant evenly into small pieces. Place in pan and cover so it steams in the stock.
– Prep the onion, bell pepper (plus or minus other veggies) and fake meat crumbles. Throw them on top of the eggplant. Stir to mix and cover again.
– Keep an eye on the pot and add more water plus buillion if it’s getting low. I cooked it until the eggplant lumps were nice and soft and the peppers were tender.
– Dough: peel and mash the potato in a bowl. Add a touch of water and the oil to it until it’s at proper mashed-potato consistency. Add 1 cup of flour and mix to “breadcrumbs” stage. Add a little more water to bring it together, and a little more flour to keep it nonsticky.
– Stick it in the fridge for about twenty minutes while you run out to put the goats away.
– Oven to 350, prep your countertop for rolling the dough. It’s pretty sticky, so flour it generously and keep your hands floured, too. This dough is really stretchy and can be rolled out quite thin.
– Make cut-outs, place filling by spoonfuls on it, fold over and press edges to seal. DON’T get greedy and put too much, they really do need to close and seal to come out properly.
– Bake for, uh, until slightly browned on top and dough is set.I’d guess about 20 minutes with the oven preheated.
– They’re pretty good!

Pasta with lima beans andn stuff in it (1&1/2 servings)
– Pasta (such as a brick of ramen, but any kind will do)
– 2 tbsps of peanut butter OR peanut butter powder
~ 1 tbsp of soy sauce
– 1 cup lima beans
– 1/2 cup each mushrooms, onion, bell pepper
– 1 glug sesame oil

– I typed out the directions for this TWICE and WordPress deleted it both times. I mean, seriously, it’s not hard to figure out.
– It’s delicious but potentially only when you’re extremely hungry.

The Modern Knight

I’ve just discovered the Youtube channel of Jason Kinsley, OBE, the games designer and CEO who also maintains the stables, kit and attitude of a mideval knight.

“Jason […] tries to run Rebellion – and all other aspects of his life – according to a medieval knight’s chivalric code of conduct.”What the code comes down to is try to be a decent person… and there are three parts – bravery, honesty and kindness.”

“In business the need to be brave is obvious; the ability to charge forward and seize the opportunity, and do the best that you can with it.
“Honesty doesn’t mean telling everyone your secrets, it means dealing fairly with people.
“So in business, I don’t try to get the best deal for myself, I’m trying to get the best deal for both sides.
“This is fairer and the right thing to do, and if the other side makes a profit they will come back and work with me again.
“And kindness is simply about the need to treat people well.”

His channel, Modern History TV, is a series of informative videos about knights, chivalry, and–be honest, the real stars of the show–his horses.

Jason Kingsley has a very obvious joy and sense of fun in what he’s doing which makes these videos actually fun to watch. There are tons of mideval history channels on YT, most of which are boring as anything and which tend to have a lot of tedious and largely irrelevant in-group feuding going on which can be very offputting to outsiders just looking for a starting point or visualized data.

These videos are short, to the point, and have extremely high production values. (and horses)

Pretty awesome. Take a look!