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

Baking with fruit!

A very nice friend from work gave me an awesome thank you gift. Three pounds of fresh fruit. The blueberries were amazingly yummy and the two pounds of strawberries just as good.

First up, a recipe from the Joy of Vegan Baking! Blueberry Cobbler. Yum


Just look how it turned out. Here it is all warm, bubbly and sweet. So good. We scarfed it down before dinner on Sunday. What good is making a warm dessert if you have to eat it cold?!



Next when I got into work on Tuesday morning they were going to throw out 6 very brown bananas that has sat in the pantry all the long weekend. This just screamed for banana bread with a little bit of finely diced walnuts.



Those strawberries got eaten straight from the carton but last night I knew I needed to use the last half up. I modified the banana bread and made Strawberry Bread!



This bread is chewier than the banana version and flatter, possibly due to the smaller amount of fruit used. But it is delicious. Lightly sweet and with that delicate berry flavor permeating the dense crumb. I cannot wait to toast some and slather it with Earth Balance margarine.

These two breads I started baking after 9pm last night. Someday I will find motivation to bake before bedtime!

Late night baking

What do you do when chatting to your mother at 8pm? Well, I had the option of sitting on the couch or putzing in the kitchen. I ended up with banana bread and VCTOTW Basic Vanilla Cupcakes with chocolate chips. I just finished making some Cream Cheese Frosting that I bagged up and will frost the cuppers tomorrow at work. Since I am not keeping these things in the house to add to MY waistline!

So, breakfast? dessert? I gotcha covered!

mmmm Bread!

I was inspired by A Veg*n for Dinner's bread post. Though I am not quite capable of winging it that much, I based it off of the Outrageously Easy Big Bread I have made in the past. I started at 7:30pm and made half a batch of bread. Below is my rather long loaf and some little animal friends. A Bear who will make a great sandwich tomorrow and a poor little bunny who did not even get to cool down. LB and I ate Mr. Bunny while he was still glistening with buttery goodness.

mmmm buttery (read: Earth Balance margarine) goodness!


And a close up of our favorite yeast friends! Don't they look delicious?


My first experience making a yeast bread was taught to me by my mother when I was about 12. She led our 4H cooking group and we made large sized teddy bears out of an entire batch of dough. They got raisins for eyes, nose and belly button. Since these guys are (were) so little, I did not do more than puncture the appropriate spots. Sorry little animal breads, I will find something suitable next time!

I also whipped up a batch of Fudge that is sitting in the fridge right now awaiting a proper consistency for me to cut it into chunks and devour it. Though I might bring some into work. Just to prove I can be nice. When I want to. I did make this with Silk Mocha Soy Milk. It sounded like a good idea at the time! Will let you know how it tastes, with pictures later.