Huge party weekend called Halloween/Samhain. baking & cooking friday night and carved pumpkins, a puker, a bug eyed-jack skellington-like and the pentacle. Lunch party at 2 pm.
hot red cider heating in the crockpot, huge salad with best homemade dressing [paprika, oil, salt, sugar, dry mustard powder, olive/veg oil and rice vinegar] from julia. 2 kinds of roasted pumpkin seeds and asiago kroger cheese bread from andy d and v. and biscuits (with 2 vegans) by v.
cooked up 2 large pots of gypsy soup (moosewood cookbook). sweet sugary pumpkin seeds by chris and butterfinger toll house that got turned into mini chocolate pudding butterfinger crusted whipped cream topped little fridge cakes. Also on the dessert side were chocolate-cinnamon cupcakes frosted with floofy floofy airy chocolate frosting, and we topped them with sugar crystal decorations. spun sugar.
~
Recipe for GYPSY SOUP:
3-4 tbsp oil of the olive. 2 c chopped onions. 2 cloves crushed garlic. 2 c chopped & peeled sweet potatoes. 1/2 c chopped celery. 1 c chopped tomatoes. 3/4 c chopped sweet peppers. 1-1/2 c cooked chickpeas. 3 c stock/water. 2 tsp paprika. 1 tsp turmeric. 1 tsp basil. 1 tsp salt. dash cinnamon. dash cayenne. 1 bay leaf. 1 tbsp tamari.
soup kettle: saute onions, garlic, celery, and s. pot. in oil 5 mins. add seasonings except tamari, and the stock/water. simmer covered 15 mins. add tomatoes, peppers, chickpeas, and tamari. simmer 10 mins or till veg are tendery dendery.
~
Recipe for RED CIDER. from martha.
1 orange. 32 oz. cranberry juice. 2-3 inch cinnamon sticks. 1-2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced.
remove 2 3-inch long pieces of orange peel from orange, throw in a crockpot. juice the orange and strain seeds & pulp. to the crockpot, add orange juice, cranberry juice, cinnamon sticks and ginger peels. heat heat heat until steamy.
THEN on sunday it was andy d's bday, so i baked him a key lime pie. complete with meringue on top too. a bowl of sugar borrowed from the neighbors.
recipe from an old recipe postcard daun sent me from florida.
florida's state pie. the key lime pieeeh.

daun and i purchased the new Bolthouse Farms thick mango juice smoothie. ideas of mango orange bread with chocolate chips came into our minds.
trader joe's trip on saturday, i bought a generic brand of the mango smoothie and used it in my dessert bread. it is soooo good. nuts too.
adapted the recipe from veganomicon (which daun always has layin around) their recipe for cranberry-orange nut bread.
Here is Mango-Chocolate Chip Bread.
3/4 c bolthouse mango drink/generic brand from trader joe's
1/4 c oil
3/4 c turbinado sugar
1 tsp vanilla (or try orange extraction)
2 c flour (white whole wheat)
1-1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c semisweet vegan chocolate chips (ghiradelli or trader joe's brand)
1/4 c nuts is optional-i used hickory nuts from papaw and raw walnuts
325F. grease a loafer with veg marg
mix mango smoothie drink, oil, sugar and extract in large bowl. whip real nice.
add in flour, bp, bs, and salt. mix until just all moistened.
fold in chocolate chips and nuts. rubber scrape into loaf pan and bake 1 hour.
cool in pan and then loosen edges and invert onto wire rack.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Mom and dad gone to st. louisy. baked a vegan derby pie last night.
whoa. fatty sugar cremey pecan pie sticky insides-like...filled with chocolate chips and some hickory nuts from papaw.
whoa. ate outside with my work friends on this really windy day.
planning to have lemon bars, peanut butter cookies, and chicken soup tomorrow at work.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

recipe for "sticky chocolate chip-sugar nut pie"
from la dolce vegan, wolffie's derby pie (or Pegasus pie) A derby pie is a chocolate chip-nut pie originating in KY. i love food history.

1/2 c. earth balance, room temp
1 c. sugar
2 tbsp. ground flax seeds
6 tbsp. water
1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. soymilk- i did use very vanilla silk brand
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 c. walnuts- i used hickory nuts shelled by papaw
1 c. chocolate chips-mmmm ghiradelli semisweet is used
1 pie crust*
preheat 350f. blend marg, sugar, flax and water till smooth. add in flour, soymilk, and vanilla. blend again until smoothened. stir in nuts and chocolate. pour in pie crust. bake about 50 mins. 45-50. remove from oven and let cool then refrigerate overnight.
cut small slices or big ones and pop the buttons on your trousers.

pie crust i use-
1-1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. sugar
1/2 c. oil
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp. ice water
whisk flour, salt, and sugar. add in oil, vinegar and water. mix mix mix and press into 9-inch pie pan. pour filling in, then bake according to filling directions!

WAFFLES! the name of my future bunny/cat. is what we made this morning, last minute before daun went off to work. used the veganomicon recipe for the banana-nut waffles and tweaked it to our bare cupboard ingredients. added blueberries & blackberries. left out the nuts. never nuts. never nutmeg. here ya are...steal your mom's waffle maker and make up some. our recipe made 4 largies.
b.b.b waffles.
1-3/4 c. soymilk
1/4 c. water
OR soy creamer & water for the liquid
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 bananas
3 tbsp. oil
1 tbsp. honey (or 3)
1 tsp vanilla
2-1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. each of frozen blueberries & blackberries
plug in waffle iron to preheat. mix soymilk, water and vinegar. set aside to curdle. mash bananas, add to soymilk mixture along with oil, honey and vanilla. stir. mix dry in seperate bowl and add wet to dry, mix until just combined. oil waffle iron gridges and pour batter on. cook until done and soft!

Back to some raw foods now that I am home again for awhile. My food processor is wounded, so I mixed up these cookies:

Heavenly Cookies

*Since I used peanut butter, these taste like raw samoa girl scout cookies!*

Yield approximately 10 cookie balls

From Kristen's Raw

½ cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened, dried coconut
½ cup raisins
2 tablespoons raw agave nectar (I prefer the light agave)
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch Himalayan crystal salt
dash cinnamon

Stir everything together in a bowl with a spoon (large bowl and spoon if you’re making a double or triple batch). Then, take a moment and mash it together with your hands. Yes, it’s sticky and gooey, but it’s fun and you still have to roll them so you’ll be getting sticky and gooey anyway. Using a 1-tablespoon measured amount of cookie batter, roll them into balls. Store these in the refrigerator or freezer. *I added cocoa to a few of them, but I like them plainly much betterer*

Was scouring the internet for recipes, as i usually do when i am a bit boring...
visited raw food blogs again and that got me wanting to start it up once more. i was really raw before i moved down here for the summer, then i got down here and started gorging on vegan smart dogs & daunie's homemade biscuits.
so for dinner i made some banana soft serve ice cream.
just puree frozen bananas until they are really whippy and awesome looking. until they look like silky white velvety mooshy softness that you want to put into your mouth.
i got Gilda from the library, i wanted to watch it again after victoria mentioned it on facebook and said they had her makeup case at the library full of orson welles love letters. i have yet to make an appt. and view it, but it would be lovely to see it.

raw (or very close to) pudding during survivor! oh what a treat it was, rich and whippy. I do believe this will be a staple in my stomach from now on.

1 om-go-doe (avocado ya'll)
1/2 cup agave neck-tire
1/4 cup cocoa power
1/4 tsp seal salt
2 Tbsp. vanilla extraction
2 Tbsp. walter

• bland and drizzel in walter 1 tbsp at a time, he doesn't mind. (i rhyme) recipe from the daily raw cafe.
  
• photo courtesy martha stewart.

just threw together a really good raw smoothie.......
1 banana
4 dates, chopped
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1/3? cup water
bland and sarve!

Attended civil war day yesterday in a dress and moccasins. mandy was there! talked to mr. haywood, frink, and tova. got a sunburn. took tons of neat black and whites for my class!
then we traveled down the road a few miles to Mandy's house. I baked her some gooey fudgey brownies, the first official tasty vegan fudge goo brownie! I found the recipe on martha stewart, in the healthy section. It has sweet potato puree, but I substituted canned pumpkin.
Here is the luscious-ness in text form.

Makes 12

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) vegan margarine (e.b.)
  
• 2/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup sweet-potato puree (I used pumpkin)
  
• 1 large egg (I used 2 TBS. flaxmeal & 3 TBS. water)
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon instant coffee powder (omit)
  

I wanted to make some banana bread because I had two huge ripe bananas. I got this recipe off of "The Baking Bird" blog, it is for Veganomicon's Lower-Fat Banana Bread.
I also wanted to frost some banana bread with the cinnamon-vanilla frosting I found from az central, they are actually frosting shots.
Here is da recipe!
2 LG bananas
1/4 cup applesaue (I used apple buttah')
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
2 T molasses
2 c whole wheat white flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
(I left out the 1/4 tsp nutmeg. ick.)
350F. grease loaf pan. in large bowl, mash bananas with mashy the egg man, add apple butter, oil, sugar, and molasses and whisk. Sift in flour, soda, cinnamon and salt. Use a wooden spoon to mix wet and dry together until just combined. Spread in pan and bake 45-50 mins. Let cool completely.
WOW. this banana bread, sliced up and spread with the cinnamon vanilla frosting is so scrumptious. wowsers. this is something i will bake when i am a grandma.

Here is the frosting so you can just bake up the bread & frosting at once!
1/4 cup tofutti cream cheese
2 Tbs. veg. marg.
1/2 tsp cinnamon (the good vietnamese kind)
pinch salt
1 tsp pure vanilla
2-1/4 c. powdered sugar
In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, cinnamon, salt and vanilla. Use an electric mixer with the whisk attachment on high to beat until well mixed. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until just incorporated.

Increase speed to high and beat until thick and smooth. (Frosting can be refrigerated. Allow 10 to 15 minutes after removing from refrigerator before proceeding.)



Up next.....vegan strawberry/strawberry cupcakes & "the spiral"(my friends band) again!

coming soon....homemade Nutella!
i want back on the nutella wagon!

*~*
Made the homemade nutella last night!
the recipe came from the Los Angeles Times. It is thicker and less silky than the normal Nutella, but still so satisfactory and addicting. Here is the recipe for you to try!
2 c. hazelnuts, roasted at 400F at about 6 mins...until they darken and are aromatic! (rub skins off in a towel)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup powdered sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3-5 T oil (or hazelnut oil, moneybags)

after roasting nuts, blend in food processor with about 3 T oil. add in the rest of the ingredients and blend. if not smooth, and like the consistency of peanut butter, add more oil.
Refrigerate and then top on EVERYTHING.
Here are Nutella recommendations:
PUT IT ON:
muffins, cookies, bananas, pbj's, waffles/pancakes, your body, toast, english muffins, ice cream, brownies, cake, banana bread (wow that sounds most amazing!)

Today was such a loverly day!
adree picked me up about 11 and i had made pecan sandies for the easter celebration at her aunts house. we colored eggs and made up easter baskets for a name we drew. i got her aunt theresa, and adri stuck a cigarette in it and i put it in the stuffed bunnies bow. she loved it! hehehe.
i chowed on guac and spree candy.
sugar headache!
then i rode my bike to mandys and watched Prince Caspian (ooh hoo hooo! ben barnes!) with taylor, on the couch eating peanut butter out of a trough jar and eating crackers. we also played with her new bunny Pippin! cutest little scraggly bunny i've ever seen. he would bite the skin on my fingers and yank! then he lounged in the sunlight. too much cuteness. mandy got home and we talke-ed and listened to rasputina and lay on her bed.
magical!
Here is the recipe for the Pecan Sandies. veganized from martha stewart.

• 1/2 cup earth balance, room temperature
  
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole wheat white flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat "butter" and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in vanilla and salt. With mixer on low, gradually add flour, beating just until combined. Fold in pecans.
2. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls, and place on two baking sheets, 2 inches apart. With the dampened bottom of a glass, lightly flatten each ball.
3. Bake until cookies are golden brown, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer to wire racks, and let cool.

tonight adree and i drove to m-town, elm st. and watched our friends band practice in the garage. a rainy, chilly, windy night. full of amazing-ness. her mom baked up some chocolate chip cookies, veganized, and i made my famous, smear on everything fudge cocoa frosting for the middles and we made cookie sandwiches for the band. yeah we tried to fatted them up. and take over their instruments like daun said. (cookies sandwiches are my new love.
these cookies are from foodnetwork.com

Bev's Chocolate Chip Cookies

the cheez on my benoit was brie cheese!
wow it was tasty. tasted swell in fort collins.
stayed at adree's last night, i am the new adree because
she wasn't there half the time. working and then all day saturday
she was at a track meet. so i hungout with her mom. friday night her mom and i
made her favourite orzo (with mini bowtie pasta) and watched about 2 hours of "Giada's weekend getaways" on food network <3.
today the plumber man was at the house fixing the water. he has a girlfriend with legs up to here and is going to buy her a pair of gladiator sandals. we made really green guacamole and her mom grilled some pineapple with a lime zest-honey glaze.
it was really amazing and juicy juicy.
my mini daffodils have bloomed, and so have mom's purple crocus'.
mmmm food and flowers and springtime.

THE grilled pineapple with honey-lime zest.

1 large ripe pineapple
1 lime
Vegetable oil or cooking spray, to coat grill
4 tbsp. honey

Preheat grill or grill pan. Cut ends off the pineapple. Stand it upright and cut off the skin in strips. Quarter the pineapple lengthwise and cut out the core. Cut each quarter into 3 spears. Zest the lime and reserve. Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice over the spears. Brush the grill pan or outdoor grill with vegetable oil or cooking spray. Grill pineapple until evenly marked all over, 5 minutes. Garnish spears with lime zest and drizzled honey.

I got a whole bundle of goodies at the library yesterday, including three movies.
Yesterday was my last weekend day and I watched "Elizabeth: the Golden Age" and "Brideshead Revisited." During the first movie, I ate my lunch. Mom had went to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods on Friday with some of her work buddies and bought me a pack of Trader Joe's soy pita pockets. They were delicious, very soft. I enjoyed it while enjoying hunky Clive Owen as Walter Raleigh. Tan...mustache...sweaty.
Today I am going to watch "Flushed Away", my third movie choice.
I am very hungry, just did 5 miles so I need another pita pocket.
Also Mom made some hummus today and here is the recipe. It is quite tasty!!!

Olive Hummus. from allrecipes.com

1-15.5 oz can garbanzo beans, drained
1/3 cup pitted green olives
1 tsp minced garlic
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1-1/2 tsp. chopped fresh basil/dried
1 tsp cilantro leaves
salt & pepper to taste

Place beans, olives and garlic in food processor and puree. Add oil and lemon juice and puree again. Then add the basil, cilantro and salt and peeper. Puree until smooth. Refrigerate.
Great on pita pocket and indian naan bread.

I was looking thru "Vegan with a Vengeance" last night, and decided to make the basic scones.
I didn't have soy cream, so I substituted and made the recipe my own.
Mom had one and she loved it.
They are the BEST scones I have ever had. Yes, the best.
They are fluffy like a biscuit!!! And slightly sweet, because I made them blueberry.
Here is the recipe as I modified it:
BLUEBERRY SCONES:
3 cups whole wheat white flour. 2 tbsp. baking powder. 1/4 cup turbinado sugar. 1/4 tsp. salt. 1/3 cup canola oil. 1-6oz. container blueberry soy yogurt. 1 cup ricemilk & 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar. 1/4-1/3 cup blueberries. more sugar, for sprinkling.
400F. lightly grease a cookie sheet. whisk flour, bp, sugar, salt. Add oil, yogurt, ricemilk-vinegar and mix until just combined. Then add in the blueberries and mix in gently. Scoop out 1/4 cup fulls of dough and sprinkle each with sugar. Bake about 12-15 mins. Serve warm with earth balance or jam.

Made doggy spice bread for noodles the other night. it was gooey and not baked thru. smelled delish.
cooked up a batch of vegan mac and cheez again, and steamed some broccoli. this time i used the instant cheez-it sauce. perrrrty good.
snowy today...continuing the cleaning of the room.

Well I have no picture of the vegan ice cream, but the vanilla sure was tasty. TyLea came over around 3 and I made more of the 'amazing mac and cheez sauce' from the uncheese cookbook and we had that with wheat rotini. This is a photo of TyLea's mac with emeril's bayou blast spice on it, and some organic ketchup swirl. We watched about 4 episodes of The Office and she spent the night. Today we are going to do artsy-fartsy things and maybe ride bikes. Later tonight we are going to buy my book and go to Kohl's!
By the by, here is the vegan vanilly ice cream recipe!

1-1/2 c silk vanilla soymilk (very vanilla would make it very luxurious)
1/2 can coconut milk
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 c. + 2 TBs. turbinado sugar
Blend all together in a blender heeeeh
and pour into 2 shallow bowls and stick
in freezer. stir every hour until froze
(about 3-4 hrs.)

Got home from first day of classes at college, and made faux mac and cheeeez!
College was amazing. I have a fundamentals of design class, where we learn to look deeply at objects and describe them, what they look like in different ways. We studied a deer antler.
Later on I had my basic photography class, with a man named Darryl Jones, who actually has about 15 photography books published. He has many on Indiana, and one that I have seen before, of the old post office murals. He talked about cameras the whole time and took us into the dark room, we are doing photograms on Wednesday!
Anyway, this is a food blog, so here is the recipe for the yumful batch of mac and chee I made.
The cheez sauce is from "The Uncheese Cookbook" and is called: Amazing Mac 'N Cheez Sauce.
1/2 c flour, 1/2 c nutritional yeast, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp paprika, 2 c plain soymilk/ water, 1/4 c olive oil, 1/2 tsp prepared mustard (i used dijon)
combine flour, yeast, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika in a medium saucepan. gradually whisk in soymilk, olive oil, and mustard. Cook over medium heat whisking almost constantly until bubbly, thick, and smooth. (This takes about 10-12 mins. You will know when it gets thick! And the bubbles will pop on the surface when it is boiling)

*photogram example from mariaperez.co.uk

Copied a recipe at Daunie's for 'oat flour biscuits', out of her vegetarian times cookbook. Modified the recipe today and baked little flat buckwheat biscuits. They looked like flat little scones. They weren't fluffy like biscuits, but crunchy around the edges and cracker-like. But they were really really tasty!

little buckwheat biscuits.
1-1/3 c. whole wheat pastry flour
2/3 c. buckwheat flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. sea salt
1/3 c. oil
1/2 c. plain soymilk (about 1/2 c. more or less)

mix together dry. add oil and enough soymilk to make a soft dough.
knead the dough and roll out and cut with circles (or fun cookie cutters)
Bake at 450 degrees for about 10-15 mins. until they are browned slightly on the edges and on the bottom.
Serve warm with earth balance spread.