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!

Update and stay tuned!

Hello

Unfortunately, I've been MIA lately. I've begun working full time and the energy isn't always there, not to mention the time. I have made some things though. I will get them together and post very soon. Most likely later today or tomorrow. Hugs to all!

Crepes!

Don't let the exclamation mark scare you... these are not scary they are delicious. And so pretty! Below are my strawberry chocolate ones and at the bottom there are my peanut butter banana ones (with a little chocolate drizzled).

So basically how I made these was using my pancake recipe. I veganized a pancake recipe that my dad passed down to me. I will tell you the veganized version:

Pancakes:
1 cup of flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup soy milk (I use chocolate usually)
1 mashed banana
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder

You mix the first three ingredients together then the next three and add a little more soy milk if you want a thinner batter (it will go a little further). If I do this I add maybe a tsp-tbsp extra. Then you fold in the baking powder and let it sit for a few minutes.

So to Crepe this recipe I used about 1 & 1/4 cup soy milk (chocolate) to make it a little thinner yet.

Then you just put some batter on a pan and shake the pan at every angle to get it nice and covered in a very thin layer. This is what it looks like after a flip:

Below are the ingredients I used. There were amazingly tasty smelling strawberries which prompted me to have a crepe morning in the first place. Then I melted chocolate chips with some soy milk to have chocolate sauce.

So that was my crepe adventure, delish! There were leftovers but you can't have any nah nah! I did miss whipped cream a bit but not too much . Here's one more picture for the road of the banana, peanut butter chocolate one....

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!

Falafel night!

Mmmm.... falafel. So I attempted falafel tonight. It went quite well actually. Would never have gone near as smooth without a food processor (I love you food processor). So this is from Vegan with a Vengeance I can't remember everything in the recipe off the top of my head but I think it's chick peas, bread crumbs, flour, cumin, cayenne, coriander, onions, garlic, & salt. You also have to let it rest in the fridge for a bit first as well as the dressing you put on it.
So this is from Vegan with a Vengeance I can't remember everything in the recipe off the top of my head but I think it's chick peas, bread crumbs, flour, cumin, cayenne, coriander, onions, garlic, & salt. You also have to let it rest in the fridge for a bit first as well as the dressing you put on it (Tahini Dressing where you fry garlic in oil and add tahini, paprika, salt, pepper, & balsamic vinegar, water and blend it all). Then after a 1/2 hour in the fridge you fry em in a lot of oil (didn't say they were super healthy). This is what they look like, draining after the pan frying.
So then you put em in a pita with lettuce, cukes, tomatoes and red onion and drizzle on the dressing. Fantastic. My husband just loved them too, I will definitely make them again!! It may become a Sunday tradition in fact!

Valentine's Day Treats

There! Got your attention! Banana Split Pudding Brownies from Vegan with a Vengeance. I made them for my hubby for Valentine's Day... although we may have partaken in 3 a day early.....

Ok now that I've shown you the prettiest picture I'll show you what we've been up to lately.

My husband made some crackers which I did not enjoy, but he loved! Lemon sesame crackers. They were very pretty I must say. They are from the Thrive Diet.


Ok, next I also made some lemon cupcakes. I took them from the sexy low fat cupcakes (VCTOTW) and added lemon juice and I put lemon juice in the buttercream icing. Well I used whole wheat flour and the cupcakes were uh, ahem, very healthy tasting. And my icing was so running. So all in all not my best work but I thought I would post anyway just to have something more to show for my past few weeks.

WARNING: MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF STIR FRY AHEAD!!!

Last but not least I show you what happens when I get let loose in the produce section. I found baby bok choy and zucchini and sugar snap peas.....and then I grabbed tofu thinking yum yum. Then I added my usual stir fry appearances (red peppers, garlic, onion, & lots of mushrooms) and did a make shift sauce of peanut sauce, soya sauce, veggie broth, basil, and some mixed thai seasoning (ingredients: basil, paprika, white pepper, black pepper, cayenne). And by the time it was all together well... look
Yup that's right I needed two gigantic frying pans to contain the spread of the stir fry. Here's a close up of the extreme yumminess served over brown rice (it's under there somewhere).
It was awesome, possibly a bit much... But very delish! I quite enjoyed it.. and I got to enjoy it in my lunch today and tomorrow and the next day and the next...

Yay! Cookbooks!

Ok small correction for the last post. The refried beans I usually use are Amy's not Annie's or Eden Organics not Simply Organic, yah I know that one was way off. Sorry about that!

So I got my two new cookbooks and what recipe do I make first? One off someone's blog. Credit due to Domestic Affair and her red lentil hummus.

http://domesticaffair.ca/

I decided to make this since chick pea hummus tends to give me some digestive issues. My lentil hummus was very thin though, not sure what I did wrong. Once the lentil mixture was done I tried it and decided I would eat simply that with no other additives... mmm. But it was still good, unfortunately still gave me some digestive problems...maybe hummus and I were not made for each other like I thought we were :(

Ok I did spend a lengthy amount of time going through my books this weekend though. Funny story actually. On friday when I knew my books would arrive, I got a call on my cell at work. Our building buzzer phones our cell when someone rings it so it was the lady with my books. I told her to wait and I'd phone my husband to go down and meet her. I phone him and he doesn't answer. So I wait like 15 grueling, feeling awful minutes for her to phone back saying... helllloooo? And I tell her to just leave a slip. So I get the slip and we go to the post office that night (despite the fact that it says pick up tomorrow after 1:00). So I wait in line like 15 minutes and by the time I get to the front I decide to play dumb about the 1:00 thing, at first I thought about leaving and coming back but after investing all that time.. you know. So the lady rifles through all the boxes after giving me a hard time that it's supposed to be tomorrow and I make everyone in the line wait just to get my precious vegan cookbooks. Then she's like and ACTUALLY because it's friday it should be after 1:00 on MONDAY. Then I was like man I'm glad I lied, lol. So I have my babies finally. Here are some I want to make, something for you to look forward to. (BTW if any of you (assuming anyone actually reads my blog) have made any of these, please give me the review!)

Vegan with a Vengeance:
Banana Split Pudding Brownies
Tofu Scramble
Chocolate Chip Scones
Carrot-Raisin Muffins
Spanakopita
Falafel!!!
Green Thai Curry
Spanish Omelet with Saffron, Roasted Red Pepper, & Almond Sauce
Lemon Gem Cupcakes

Veganomicon:
Spicy Tempeh Nori Rolls
Tofu Florentine
Chickpeas Romesco
Marinated Asian Tofu
Acorn Squash, Pear and Adzuki Soup with Sauteed Shiitakes
Potato and Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce
Mac Daddy
Curried Udon Noodle Stirfry
Fresh Rosemary Focaccia
Fudgy Wudgy Blueberry Brownies

Ok if your mouth is not watering you are a robot. Ok, I'm done now, any thoughts, feelings, emotions on what to make first? I'm thinking the banana/fudge brownies for sure, maybe a curry... Falafel... and I was so excited to see a Romesco with chickpeas, I love the type of sauce and my mom used to make it on chicken and it was one of the few times I enjoyed meat a lot so I figured damn it'll be good with chickpeas. Alright that is enough! I need to go finish eating some dinner! There is salivating happening. *MWAH*