Using What I Have Journal Entry #10

 At just the right moment, when I was about to really lose my mind if I had to deal with one more hot day, the weather changed. And I made mochi brownies.

The recipe is from Sweet Simple Vegan. I was excited to try it because it incorporates silken tofu in rather significant amounts and therefore seemed to have more nutritional potential than a lot of mochi things. I am almost, but not quite, finished with the mochi flour I have, having made this recipe--so pantry utilization and the oven, here I come!

Also, I inadvertently traded these for fresh produce when I realized that these were a low FODMAP recipe, and therefore I could share them with my neighbors, one of whom follows a low FODMAP diet. (You've seen my previous vegan low FODMAP picnic I shared with her.) This was just tofu, soy milk, mochi flour, sugar, baking power, salt, cocoa powder, dark chocolate, and vanilla, after all. When I brought them over, she gave me some squash, peppers, and tomatoes she'd grown, and therefore I felt less anxious about avoiding the store this week--I am not at all on the verge of running out of food, but it sometimes feels weird when I realize how long it's been since I visited a store. But that, too, helps with the pantry utilization! I will continue to use what I have.

The mochi brownies were delicious, by all accounts, and I count this a success in more ways than one. Community eases my anxiety, gives me a sense that when things collapse--if they do--there are people to count on. We can barter. We can trade mochi brownies for butternut and delicata squash, tomatoes, and chili peppers.

And somehow, we will live.