Noodles that were Supposed to be Pancit but were Not

Who knew that substituting wide udon noodles for rice vermicelli would change an entire dish from Filipino to Japanese? A lot of people, probably, but who cares? I am a big fan of udon. My plan was to make the pancit dish out of Vegan Planet, which I did, but I was disappointed in the recipe's lack of onion and garlic, and I would have liked the sauce a bit sweeter and more plentiful. I did throw some creepy vegan shrimp in, along with tofu and seitan, and although I fancy the concept, it's definitely a strange one.

I've been thinking that I want to be more creative in the kitchen and make up more of my own meals. I tend to follow recipes, and although I have been branching out and substituting and actually spending time thinking about what flavors work well together, I still dive for the cookbook whenever it's time to prepare something. All three of you that read this blog, send me your wishes for more creativity in the kitchen in the weeks to come!

On another note, I have downloaded Living Cookbook, which is as exciting as it is overwhelming. The recipe software has seriously everything you could hope for as far as recipe and panty organizing, nutritional information, and a boatload of recipes. The cool thing about it too is that you can tweak the existing recipes to your liking, so for instance if there is a chicken dish that you find appealing, you can edit the recipe to substitute seitan for the chicken (after adding seitan to the ingredient database, of course). I could go on for hours about it, but my real dilemma is whether or not to buy it. It's only $35, however I am a cheap ass and try not to spend money on anything unless I really need/want it. Will I use it on a regular basis? Will I become irritated by its vast capabilities or frustrated when attempting to calculate the amount of zinc in hearts of palm? These are the burning questions, and the days in my trial version are dwindling.....