Teaser

There is an exchange currently in process on the veg*n board so I spent most of yesterday afternoon / evening cooking goodies to share with my Vegantine. I am not posting any recipes just the names of what I made.

Chickpea Nibbles:

Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Peanut Butter Cannonballs, Naked Sexy Low Fat Lemon Cupcake:

Cheezy Quakers though mine were made into flower and butterfly shapes:



And two more, last night's dinner of braised kale with onions and garlic, V'con's Cheezy Sauce covered potatoes and Boca Chick Patties.

Of course I had a helper this morning in taking pictures. Everyone, meet Gryphin. Who was trying to see if he could swipe my socks off the chair. Too bad mommy was watching!

Mostly Homemade

Ok, maybe it should be somewhat homemade. I wanted to try out this lovely frozen package of ravioli that proudly proclaimed VEGAN on the front cover. This is my combination of veggies and a tich of Boca burger crumbles with the ravioli's under a light dusting of vegan parm. It wasnt bad on a whole but the texture of the ravioli filling was not to my liking. Nor was the flavor combination. But I tried it out!


Next I made a stir fry. Mind you, I eat a lot, and I do mean a LOT, of stir fry at the work cafeteria. But I wanted to whip one up with my favorite veggies instead of a small limited array. This included onions, carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, water chestnuts, snow peas and bean sprouts. I also did a brief fry on the tofu before I got to the serious veggie cooking. A tich of chili oil and some black bean paste and it turned out delish. I topped mine with green onions and tomato slices. So good, I had two plates.



We are trying to eat healthy here now that the winter pudge has become noticeable. So many of our meals have now included raw baby carrots and spinach as a side. It is nice, filling and easy to keep around. Thats all for the last week. Today I have several things in the works but that is for another post!

One romantic meal!

LB decided the menu for tonights dinner. Bacon Spaghetti, steamed broccoli, cauliflower and garlic bread.



I made mini chocolate crumb mousse bites for dessert. Yummy but slightly crumbly crust.



Hope everyone is enjoying their day of love.

The night before Valentines

I find myself huffing powdered sugar.

Not intentionally of course!

*cough*

Lets see some lovely foods to distract you from that statement.

Dinner was a mild version of Seitan o'Greatness. Seasoned with Nooch, mushroom powder, garlic and a tiny bit of thyme. This was simmered in a mushroom, onion and garlic mixture and that then received a touch of veggie bullion, water, unsweetened soymilk and cornstarch. Served atop green beans and mashed potatoes it was unbelievable. Like eating Green Bean Casserole with hearty bits of goodness in it and creamy potato.

Next I made goodies for a bake sale at work. Banana Bonanza Bread! Times two. This is the batch I made tonight. Though I made a batch last night and already took it into work.



Sexy Lemony Cupcakes from VCTOTW of course - the naked version! oh my!



The topped version with Lemony Buttercream frosting and a sprinkle of red sugar to get you in the mood! LB and I split this little number and his only complaint? He only got half. hahaha I love that man!



I also made mini chocolate mouse bites. Twelve full cupcake sized made with an awesome chocolate avocado mix and twelve mini full of tofu chocolate and maple mix. I plan to top these with cookies, strawberries and hand them out to my pals at work. Hopefully I will get a pic up tomorrow upon their completion as they are chilling currently!

Thats all folks. I am going to go fall into a powdered sugar coma for 12 hours now! Be safe and always wear your face mask when making a frosting double batch.

Tomorrow do something nice for those you love, even if that list only contains yourself and a kitty.

xoox
~Cali

Dressed Up Eggplant

Tonight I made a lovely eggplant recipe from VegWeb. Dressed Up Eggplant is a time and somewhat labor intensive recipe but it rewards you with a delicious dinner and hopefully lunch the next day.

Below is the VCTOTW chocolate cake with ganache and cream cheese frosting. It was rich and delish.


The Roasted Garlic Cauliflower soup. I did warn you that it was not overly photogenic. But it was yummy.


And finally. I could not resist Peach Muffins!
I used the recipe posted by VeganYumYum's very own Lolo on the first. The challenge was to see if spelt or wheat was better. Honestly, I have never used spelt flour before. But tonight I picked up a bag and used 1cup Spelt and 1cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. I think I did use too many peaches as I had enough batter for 12 regular muffins and 12 mini muffins.

They are slightly crumbly but taste divine. Even my hubby who dislikes peaches ate the one on the right. I found these light, delicately flavored and just slightly tangy from the peaches. Thank you so much Lolo!

Playing catch up

I wish I could say things have been exciting and so busy that I have simply not had time to blog. Unfortunately, that is not quite true. What did happen? We came down with super icky colds. Let me just recap what has been cooking.


Several weeks ago my best friend had a birthday! Yay! I made her a chocolate cake. Not just any old cake but two batches of VCTOTW basic chocolate cupcakes, put in a 9" round pan with parchment lining the bottom. One had chocolate chips and the other was just basic with a dash of cinnamon. I then made the Chocolate Ganache and let it set up in the freezer in one of the pans. A double batch of Cream Cheese frosting and the whole thing weighed 10 pounds! I will upload the pic of the slice I got soon as I find my camera connection cord.

It was the night of the cake delivery that people started dropping like over ripe fruit from the tree. C was violently ill all night and the next morning the birthday girl M was just as sick. We stayed away but my hubby LB got it anyways. I came down with it this past weekend.

We have been eating simple and easy foods. Rice, soup, blueberry cobbler. I went so far as to make burritos one night. They turned out lovely but were pretty basic. We had a nice breakfast on Saturday of Peach Pancakes. Surely I am forgetting something, but right now I cannot remember much of the past week.

There is no time this week for being sick though. We have an awesome event to attend on Friday. For which I have to plan, prepare, package and drag along food for me. Not a problem but my fridge needs cleaning and I do not feel like it. Also I fear the hotel we are staying at does not have a min fridge or microwave in the room. So now I am limited even more. The good news is that I still have 5 peaches to use up tonight some hopefully you will hear more from me tomorrow, with pictures!