Back.... with Avengance!

Yeah... it's been awhile. Ok so I have some good excuses, I think. I got laid off, went to Hawaii, moved cities, got 2 new jobs. It's all good though I don't really have to explain myself to you all, I probably don't even have a following! If I do, don't be offended, please forgive my absence and thanks so much for reading!

So what have I been up to lately. I have gone from making normal dinners to being laid off and having lots of time for more elaborate things, to being in Hawaii and being very lazy and wanting to eat out and eat bad (btw Hawaii has some AWESOME Mexican food, try Maui Tacos, it's a fast food chain), then to moving here and having two jobs and no time to cook.

So I'll start with a couple cupcakes I made. The first were peanut butter cupcakes which I loved so much for their simplicity. They were so creamy and tasty.

The second set of cupcakes are the Chocolate Cherry Creme Cupcakes. I made them for my hubby's birthday because he loves blackforest cake. They are pretty neat looking. I don't like cherries so I can't tell you about taste but my man sure loved them. So pretty!*Warning - the next one is NOTcompletely vegan*
While we were in Hawaii, basically the only food we could get was Mexican food. So we ate A LOT of it. Mind you there was this place called Wok Star on the main road in Kihei, Maui which had vegan and vegetarian options, not to mention one hell of an awesome owner. But anyway one of the first meals I remember while we were still on Oahu was at Chili's. I ordered this crazy big Taco salad with cheese quesadillas on the side.

So basically I made a black bean and corn relish with some red peppers, red onion, cayenne, chili powder, cumin, vinegar, and olive oil. Then I let it sit for about an hour before throwing it on some lettuce and tomatoes then I added salsa as more dressing to the relish (you could also use a balsamic vinegar) and of course some avocado!! YUM!
One thing that my hubby wanted these Medjool Coconut, Almond Date Treats from Save On. I bought them and then thought, what the heck!? I could make these! So I did. The ingredients are Dates, Almonds, and Coconut. All you need is a food processor. I also rolled them in Coconut afterwards.

Now this next one I'm very, very proud of. I made gnocchi. It was a long and tedious process but I was unemployed so I had the time. I used the good ol' pesto recipe from VWAV which is also where the Gnocchi recipe came from. My friend Jeff helped me and it was lots of fun eating the fruits of our labour.Ok, then I went on a pancake kick and these were my best attempt, using my Dad's good old family recipe, veganized. Then I melted chocolate chips and let strawberries sit in sugar overnight and topped with those. Not healthy for sure but man were they delicious. I had them for dinner/dessert even.

Lastly, I made this beautiful Chocolate Raspberry Blackout Cake from VWAV also! This cake was amazing. I made it as a dessert for a Sunday night dinner I made for my parents. I made the raspberry glaze though rather than using preserves. Do we even have preserves in Canada? Is that like jam?

Anyway until next time!! Keep baking what you love and loving what you bake!

Cooking in season!

I've found my new love (no offence to my husband of course): cooking in season!

We got a bunch of blueberries and fresh corn on the weekend and I looked through my recipes and found Corn Chowder and a Scones recipe I've been meaning to try (both from VWAV). I tell you when they say fresh is best they know what the heck they're talking about! Cutting corn directly off the cob into soup and watching plump fresh blueberries sizzle on the pan as the scones bake, it's an unreal feeling that makes you feel so good.
I've also taken to eating tomatoes with just salt and pepper. And greek salads with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. Also fruit salad with fresh peaches, blueberries and strawberries with just a sprinkle of sugar and a drizzle of maple syrup. Here's a picture of our fridge after we picked up blueberries.
So here are some meals I've made lately (lots of greek salad you'll notice). Below is some pesto garlic bread and pesto with a vegan roux mixed.
Below is a California type sandwich. The banana peppers were amazing! Yum yum. For more info see my other blog.
This was towards the beginning of summer when scapes were first out. Below is onions, scapes, beans, and mushrooms. A little pesto pasta (I swear it's not the only thing I eat, only like once every two weeks... not sure how it keeps coming up here)
Well that's a good enough update for now I think. I'll try and make my posts more frequent rather than huge ones all at once. What's in my future? A curry recipe... some cocoa-chocolate chip scones... some more birthday cupcakes perhaps... coconut pancakes with pineapple sauce, scalloped potatoes, pizza from scratch.... Very ambitious I know. The best part about summer is all the selection of fantastic fresh fruit and veggies... but unfortunately it's also a time when people are ridiculously busy and running around and vacationing etc. So you have all these ingredients but no time to do anything with them! Grrrr! The irony of it all! Oh well I'm only leaving for one more weekend this summer so I'll find some time hopefully. Until next time... love lots, laugh often and buy local!!!!

Hello! Yah yah I'm over a week late. Ok first of all here are the Vanilla/Chocolate Marble Cupcakes I made for my Mom's Birthday/Easter. I gave her Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and told her to pick one. I did the same with my Dad and of course instead of picking a nice easy one he choose Brooklyn vs. Boston Cream Cupcakes. But that's ok I like a challenge I just have to use some new ingredients. But my mom gave us Bunny Grahams for Easter and I put them on the cupcakes, don't they look adorable?
So we went home for Easter and I put myself in charge of dinner to relieve it from my Mom, partially because it was supposed to be my Mom's birthday dinner a few days earlier. I decided to go with a green theme (ok ok I lied it just happened) and I made Pesto Pasta from VWAV and Sesame Asparagus from VWAV and a green salad (with the green icing cupcakes for dessert).
Ooo pretty. So here is what the Sesame Asparagus looks like. It was so delicious. I have made it and the pesto so many times!! They are both absolutely amazing.


So this ended up turning weird. I made a quinoa pilaf and the asparagus and decided the pilaf had no flavor and mixed them together. It was weird... but ok.Finally my strange little corn tortilla burritos. I walked into the supermarket and fell in love with these little corn tortillas so I had leftover beans and rice and fryed them up with some pico de gallo and topped with some avocado mixed with more pico de gallo, They were tasty although the corn tortillas split easily. Definitely eat em all at once. After they are opened the dry out and crack and don't stay together.

Well that's what I've been up to. As I said I've been working full time so my hubby's been stepping up to the plate! It's been great! Anywho good eats to you all!

Soup, Sandwich & Salad

Latley I have been obsessed with pumpkin seeds. They are so delicious on salad. So that is why I posted this. My salad is pumpkin seeds, spinach, salad greens, cukes, onion, red pepper and Little Island Salad dressing.

This is what I was lucky enough to have my hubby make for me for dinner tonight. It was supposed to be a dinosaur kale quinoa wrap but after seeing Justin try to eat it that way, I tore my kale up and had a dinosaur kale, quinoa salad. It was delicious with the obvious ingredients in the name plus: tomatoes, avocado, grated carrot, & cucumbers. Add salad dressing and voila! It was super tasty (from the Thrive Diet).
So on Friday I made pesto, my first attempt. It was from Vegan with a Vengeance and it was really yummy but unfortunately i failed to read that it was a teaspoon and a half of coarse salt rather than what I used which was finely ground sea salt. Needless to say it was REALLY salty. But I still ate it up and again the next day and then for lunch yesterday. So overall a success. p.s. I LOVE WALNUTS (no gross pinenuts, ick)
I made miso soup last week sometime as well. It was half from the thrive diet (ground up sesame seeds, miso paste, green onions) but I added a little soya sauce and tofu (way too much tofu). It was good minus the copious amounts of tofu, oh well the first time you make something never goes perfect. I had it with a hummus, avocado, spinach and red pepper sandwich, toasted. It was a pretty quick, yummy little dinner.
That's all for this week, I made stir fry again but decided not to bore you with the same old same old. My hubby is making me a pizza from the Thrive book on Thursday if it's fabulous I will post it. Until then happy cooking!

Pasta replacer: Zucchini!

Tried a couple more Thrive Diet recipes: Zucchini Pasta & Sweet Pepper Hemp Pesto. Very, very yummy. I'm not sure if I'm completely convinced it will cure my cravings when the pasta is calling to me but it was very good. Zucchini Pasta was peeled zucchini, which might I add, not an easy thing to do!, sesame seeds, garlic, and fry it in coconut oil. Oh and of course I added something... I thought mushrooms would be a good addition. Took me forever to peel the stupid zucchinis. I tried whole the first time and ended up with nub to cut at the end, the second one I cut into four, big mistake! Took twice as long and I had four nubs to deal with! So no idea how to do this properly. The pesto is sweet peppers, hemp seed, sesame seed, brewer's yeast, hemp oil, fresh basil, and sea salt. It says it's good on crackers and as a dip as well. Tasty, I enjoyed it on the hot zucchini so I may warm it slightly for next use. I've heard sesame seeds and red peppers are supposed to be very healthy together for the body, not really sure why. Definitely worth trying!!!