What's Been Goin' On...

This is a photo of Liv begging with all her might. When she heard we were baking a birthday cake for grandma, she made me get down Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, and flipped through until she came to page 65, and said, "This is the one. Make this one." I've never seen her do this before. I was convinced, and would have attempted it if I'd been prepared. I couldn't find the agar I used back in 2006, was out of silken tofu, and am unfamiliar with castor sugar. So get this creamy picture out of your mind! It's not what I baked.


I came up with this 'Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Frosting' from Joy of Vegan Baking. I've found that one of those giant tupperwares upside down transports a cake from my spring form pan perfectly. The red lid is beneath the plate.
I like this cookbook because it uses ingredients I have on hand and I haven't found a dud. It was a dense & delicious cake, and the frosting could have used more soy milk (my bad). Olivia never mentioned the creamy cupcake again. We'll tackle that another day.



My mom LOVES roosters, so I felt lucky to spot this cookie jar from the street at a garage sale. $10. Sold.

I filled it up with the crowd pleasing 'Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies' from Vive le Vegan!

I went over the critical 11 minute cooking time, and even a little crisp, these cookies are great.





If I'd had an Endangered Species bar, I would have made our favorite cookie, 'Chocolate Mint Melties' from eat, drink, and be vegan.

We think these cookies are the best.









See Jolie checking out the best of a Farmer's Market run? Tomato, Swiss Chard, and Kale plants for our garden. I also picked up some vegetables from The Peaceful Belly, but overall, I can't help but be disappointed about the lack of variety at the market. Next time I'm doing a head count, cuz I think there's as many meat vendors as veggie vendors. Is that wrong? I'm for local selling, buying, eating, etc. & I know meat speaks volumes of my location, but still...



Speaking of veggies... This is the 'Super Spring Salad' from the May issue of Meatout Mondays. It's a recipe from the wonderful blog, Live It Up Vegan!

As much as I love this kind of food, my family does not. Their idea of trying the salad was plucking out the big chunks of fresh corn cut off the cob. I don't overly try to convince them and enjoy it myself over the course of a couple days. Loved it! Thanks, Gaia!


Lately, this has been occupying the girls while I cook or do the dishes. They love it.

Write the shape of a letter using white glue. Stick beans (or noodles, or whatever) along the shape.
They are now on "J" and I plan to string up the alphabet.

This idea came from Kids Craft Weekly, which is a great resource for fuss-free themed ideas.


The kids also love to get in on the kitchen action using rolling pin and cutters. Abi had fun making 'Whole Wheat Sesame Crackers' from May All Be Fed by John Robbins.

Originally I was drawn to his 'Chapatis' recipe on the opposite page to accompany the dish below, which was my second (hand) Smoked Paprika experience, which is much less harmful than it sounds! :)



The crackers scooped up this 'Chana Dal'

2 c (uncooked) split baby garbanzos (chana dal)
6 c water
3 cloves red garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
sea salt to taste

Saute the garlic in oil until fragrant, add the rest and simmer until tender. Puree to desired consistency (I reserved some). Feeling brave, I threw on tomatoes after learning that tomatoes are OK if they're still on the vine, cherry, or from your own garden!! Buy organic.

I broke my Smoked Paprika seal on this awesome 'Smoked Paprika Hummus' recipe that the urban vegan sent after reading my desperate plea below.

This was delicious! I used Triscuits to scoop, and when those were gone, I grabbed a spoon. Thank you for this yummy recipe, Dynise!!

We've been bicycling everywhere! I pull the girls in a trailer and it feels great on many levels. More later.....

Vacation

The girls and I are flying to CA this morning, and we'll be there a week. We're going to celebrate Art & my 15th wedding anniversary. Time sure flys by!

The girls will be with G'ma & G'pa while Art and I spend some time in San Diego, where we met 17 years ago.





I'm really looking forward to getting away and being invigorated... inspired... connected... balanced... focused. Being near the ocean and with Art will do that for me. We'll eat at some great restaurants and visit family & friends (including Kleo!).

I always have my restaurant guide in my purse. It's a small address book alphabetized by city, with veg friendly restaurants listed. Before a trip, I go to Happy Cow and copy the restaurant's address, phone, & description in my book -- anytime I read a review of a restaurant I want to visit, I just jot it down. It's a handy resource on the road.






I'll leave you with some shots of our garden, and let the photos do the talking, as I still have 100 things to do before the plane takes off!

Pesto, Pancakes, Pineapple, & Peanut Butter

Look under "P" in Webster's and you'll find it all. This is 'Classic Pesto' from VwaV, pg. 132. This recipe had two strikes against it before I began: 1. Art isn't a huge pesto fan. 2. I don't like walnuts. I made it anyway. We had an abundance of the ingredients and I wanted something different for the soba noodles. The pesto was a big hit & rated super delicious. I skipped the nutritional yeast, but plan to add it next time.






The basil and tomatoes for the pesto dish came from our organic garden! Look how grown in it is compared to when we first planted it. It is such a joy to cook what you grow.








And, the walnuts for the pesto came from our walnut tree! Here you see Jolie really making the squirrels work to get the walnuts. The squirrels rule the tree-top & down below the walnut shells are furiously flying. We have walnut trees sprouting up all over the yard from them forgetting their stash. Even after the squirrels and crows have had their fill of walnuts, we still have a bunch left over.




Because I don't care for the taste of walnuts, I usually end up doing something silly them. We had a dinner party and guests each received walnut-mouse wine charms. Art's is blue & mine is brown, and everybody else took their unique colored mice home with them.
When Liv's birthday party theme was "ducks", I made walnut-duck party favors. People's names were written in sharpie on the back. Or, I'll just glitter pen people's names on walnuts as a place marker. But now, I look at the walnuts & I visualize P*E*S*T*O!



These are 'Banana Bliss Pancakes' from Vive le Vegan! pg. 19. I followed the recipe exactly and we just put a little Earth Balance on top. They are quite satisfying and next time I'll plan ahead and make the blueberry maple syrup on the next page for some added sweetness.








Last night, I made 'Pineapple Lemon Bars' from Vive pg. 135. We were out of lemon, so these are technically 'Pineapple Lime Bars' and there's some coconut in the recipe too. Instead of arrowroot powder, I used corn starch; and I opted for the wheat free version and used spelt flour. We ate them warm from the oven and they were good. This morning, I ate one for breakfast and it was amazing. To us, these are best chilled. This is my kind of breakfast bar.




Back up one page, and you get 'Peanut "Better" Cookies'. Again, I followed the recipe exactly -- utilizing the spelt flour option. I really like the quantity that this recipe yields. 12 cookies - one pan - not too much - just enough. The title fits. These are better peanut butter cookies. And it's a wholesome cookie that I can feel really good about giving the girls, who by the way, LOVED them.

Farmer's Market & Vegan Grub

Liv and I went to the farmer's market while Abi napped and Art worked with a band in the studio. It was fun with just the two of us, and we wandered over to the artists' area. The market has a wonderful, free art program for kids and this week the 3-5 year olds could choose between ice painting (paint with salt), or clay painting. Liv chose the later, and here you can see a great beginning to her fish composition.





There are several artistic vendors at the market, and my favorite is always the mosaics.












I saw the sign "Zucchini Artichoke" and saw neither zucchini nor artichoke, so I asked about this strange looking veggie. She told me that it cooks like a squash, but tastes just like an artichoke. Say what? Ease of squash...taste of artichoke? Count me in. Here she is showing me how to prepare it: Cut the neck into "carrot stick" pieces, Hollow out the seeds and dice the round part. Steam. We dipped ours in fresh lemon juice and Earth Balance. It really did taste like an artichoke! But it had a squash texture.


The sign reads:

RENT A TREE
We Care For Your Tree &
You Get To Pick
CHERRIES * PEACHES * APPLES
$75.00 - $100.00








Zucchini Artichoke
Baby New Potatoes
Swiss Chard
Kermit Squash
Yellow Squash
Summer Squash
Leek
Kale

No lettuce again. Not because of the deer, but because I wasn't there within the first 1/2 hour!



During the recent heat wave, this soup really hit the spot. All I wanted was food from the fridge, and preferably the freezer. But, even I need to eat more than just ice-cream, popsicles, & fruit from time to time. So, without heating up the kitchen, I enjoyed a healthy, hearty bowl of Earthy Lentil soup from Vive le Vegan! along with some whole wheat toast. The ultimate frozen dinner.



Cannellini Bean Yam Hummus also from Vive le Vegan! sans pinenuts & cillantro. Some pita chips did the dipping:

Pita Bread (whole wheat)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Paprika

Preheat oven to 350. Cut the pita into wedges. Arrange on baking sheets and brush with oil and sprinkle on spices. Bake 5 minutes.


Dinner was centered around a jasmine rice dome topped with pineapple, but the main event was the picked-that-morning, organic kale. On the back side, you see Morningstar Meal Starter sauteed in Soy Vay with pineapple to mellow it out a bit.

Miso Kale:

1 Onion
3 Tbs. Light Olive Oil
3 Tbs. Miso Paste
2 Bunches Kale, rinsed & rinsed, and chopped
3/4 C. Vegetable Broth

In a large pan, saute the onions in oil until tender. Add the kale and broth. Cook until the kale is wilted. Turn down the heat and add the miso being careful not to boil it.

Did you know that Miso consumption is linked with up to 50% reduced risk of breast cancer?



This is our first harvest from the garden. Very exciting that it was edible. Fresh basil and some really good, plump cherry tomatoes.











and some flowers in the backyard.

Glazed Citrus Scones & Daisies

I was at the Post Punk Kitchen and read in one of the forums how The Urban Vegan made VwaV's Glazed Orange Scones with lemons instead. I love lemon, & that sounded amazing so I had to give it a try. I went to the fridge and only had a 1/2 lemon and 3 limes. My wheels were already in motion and decided to make do with what I had, so I made mine citrus. (this photo was taken the next day after a store run) The scones keep really well in the fridge and allows for the glaze to harden, though I admit to eating 2 hot & sticky ones right off the press. The scones are surprisingly easy to make and oh so delicious. My new favorite ingredient is zest!


I had to include some flowers from the garden since they echo the yellow & green of the lemon & lime. The colors of summer!

Four girlfriends & I are throwing a baby shower for a dear friend. For the menu, we'll each bring a bread item along with a fruit or veggie item. I'm seriously considering these scones, only with the intended orange flavor. Any menu ideas for me? A bread item? A fruit or veggie dish?

Garden, Bundles, & Recipe Testing

"What are we doing today, boss?"











How about finishing up the garden spot that we started back in April? I had found some raised garden bed plans in Sunset Magazine, showed them to Art, and said, "Think you could do something like that on the side of the house?" He didn't follow the plans, & came up with something better, "It's all up here," he says pointing to his head. You can see the pipe arch, which will hold a netting to keep out birds, squirrels, deer, & whatever else.



I love that Art didn't buy much stuff for this project. He reused some old boards that were torn-up from the deck last summer, and only had to buy the nuts & bolts. The frames are 2 boards tall, and has a wire netting underneath to deter the groundhogs.






We put down 4 of my mosaic stepping stones and framed the beds with a perennial thyme ground cover. Inside the boxes, on the right, there is a cherry tomato, basil, habanero pepper, 2 other pepper plants, & marigolds. The box on the left has a yellow squash, 3 peppers, & marigolds. (marigolds in the garden help repel pests) The pepper plants are a mystery ~ Art said the tags were mismatched in the store, so we have 5 unknown varieties of pepper plants.



Digging in the dirt works up an appetite, so I cooked up some 'Banana Oat Bundles' from Vive le Vegan! Our bananas were really big & made the batter runny, so the first group on the bottom row looks more like cookies. I added more oats and the top 2 rows look more like little bundles. Olivia kept saying, "These are yummy cookies!" She really likes helping with this recipe because she can lick the banana puree, & I can feel good about all the ingredients. This time, we added some chocolate chips, I used cardamom instead of cinnamon, and they are smaller.

Here is a recipe that I tested for Catherine. It is her healthier, veg version of Sloppy Joes ~ 'Sloppy Lentils'. I've heard lots of chatter about Sloppy Lentils, but this is my first time making it. Her "Party Of One" recipe yield was the perfect amount for us. I ate one, the girls shared the other, and I spooned up the remaining from the saucepan. It was a perfect lunch for us. I thought that I had all the ingredients when I began, but as you can see, we're missing the pretty green color. Next time. Awesome recipe, Catherine, thanks for sharing it with us!

Garden, Bundles, & Recipe Testing

"What are we doing today, boss?"











How about finishing up the garden spot that we started back in April? I had found some raised garden bed plans in Sunset Magazine, showed them to Art, and said, "Think you could do something like that on the side of the house?" He didn't follow the plans, & came up with something better, "It's all up here," he says pointing to his head. You can see the pipe arch, which will hold a netting to keep out birds, squirrels, deer, & whatever else.



I love that Art didn't buy much stuff for this project. He reused some old boards that were torn-up from the deck last summer, and only had to buy the nuts & bolts. The frames are 2 boards tall, and has a wire netting underneath to deter the groundhogs.






We put down 4 of my mosaic stepping stones and framed the beds with a perennial thyme ground cover. Inside the boxes, on the right, there is a cherry tomato, basil, habanero pepper, 2 other pepper plants, & marigolds. The box on the left has a yellow squash, 3 peppers, & marigolds. (marigolds in the garden help repel pests) The pepper plants are a mystery ~ Art said the tags were mismatched in the store, so we have 5 unknown varieties of pepper plants.



Digging in the dirt works up an appetite, so I cooked up some 'Banana Oat Bundles' from Vive le Vegan! Our bananas were really big & made the batter runny, so the first group on the bottom row looks more like cookies. I added more oats and the top 2 rows look more like little bundles. Olivia kept saying, "These are yummy cookies!" She really likes helping with this recipe because she can lick the banana puree, & I can feel good about all the ingredients. This time, we added some chocolate chips, I used cardamom instead of cinnamon, and they are smaller.

Here is a recipe that I tested for Catherine. It is her healthier, veg version of Sloppy Joes ~ 'Sloppy Lentils'. I've heard lots of chatter about Sloppy Lentils, but this is my first time making it. Her "Party Of One" recipe yield was the perfect amount for us. I ate one, the girls shared the other, and I spooned up the remaining from the saucepan. It was a perfect lunch for us. I thought that I had all the ingredients when I began, but as you can see, we're missing the pretty green color. Next time. Awesome recipe, Catherine, thanks for sharing it with us!