VEGAN MOUNDS! ALMOND JOY!

As you know, Erin McKenna, of Babycakes NYC, has a new book out called Babycakes Covers the Classics: Gluten-Free Vegan Recipes from Donuts to Snickerdoodles. I was sold after watching this adorable promo video, and after Andrew made the recipe for Mounds. This is a melt in your mouth confection reminiscent of the non-vegan version. Obviously, these mounds are much healthier, and taste much better. I can't even tell you how good these are. It's outrageous!

Next time, we'll store them in a heart-shaped box.

Meeting Up

Andrew and I went to our first Vegan Chicago Meetup event last weekend. It was a bowling event at Timber Lanes. It was also a potluck and there was a Chocolate Inspirations tasting.

I made the old standby-vegan mac n cheese:

1 1/2 cups of plain soy milk
1 cup of water
1/3 cup of tamari or soy sauce
1 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup of canola or vegetable oil
1 box of macaroni
1 dollop of mustard (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Boil water in a big pot for the pasta.

Blend all ingredients sans pasta in a blender (you can also mix by hand).

Once pasta is cooked, drain it, dump it in a big pan, and pour the cheesy sauce over it.

"Bake until the top of the pasta looks slightly browned and crispy about 15 minutes but not too crispy because that is gross."

To give credit where it's due, I tweaked this from a vegweb.com recipe which I would link to, but I can't find it anymore :(

I've tried numerous vegan mac n cheese recipes at restaurants and such, and this is by far the tastiest, and it is a very popular potluck dish.

We also made some Zesty Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes with Sweet Lemon Glaze-a spectacular Sporkonline.com recipe for some seriously moist and lemony cakes. These were not as popular for some reason, so we had plenty to take home with us. Fine with me!

OK, so back to the event. Andrew didn't want to go. Neither of us are social people, so we were both a bit nervous but there was no pressure. When we walked in, we were basically told that the first four lanes were Vegan Meetup designated, and "it's a party." We loaded our plates, sat down to eat, and immediately met some people who became our bowling partners. I won the first game, and came in third in the second game-which might be Heineken's fault. I'm no good at bowling under the influence.

We took home some Chocolate Inspirations Cinnamon Toast Toffee and Peanut Butter Pillows (like a vegan Butterfinger candy bar in bark form). OMG.

All in all, it was a good time, and Andrew told me that he was glad I made him go.

PB & Pumpkin Vegan Dog Treats Recipe

We're fostering a pit bull puppy. Her name is Ginger and she is a handful! Chews everything, barks, pees on the couch (my beautiful couch!), plays too rough... We're trying to train her against these behaviors and instill in her some manners so's she can find a permanent home. Of course, dog treats are necessary for dog training. She loves these.


Ingredients
· 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
· 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
· 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
· 2 tablespoons peanut butter
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a small bowl, whisk flaxseed with 6 tablespoons of water until frothy.
3. Mix together the flax mixture, flour, pumpkin, peanut butter, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add water as needed to help make the dough workable, but the dough should be dry and stiff. Roll the dough to a 3/8 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut desired shapes.
3. Bake in preheated oven until hard and golden brown-about 40 minutes.

And here's Ginger enjoying a treat:

Vegan Candy Corn from Scratch!

I got the recipe from the lovely Urban Housewife.

I actually halved the recipe because I didn't have enough powdered sugar on hand, and I still ended up with lots of candy. I am pleased with the results. I haven't had candy corn in years because the commercial stuff is filthy, but this tastes just like I remember. I expected it to be a lot of work, but it took less than an hour to make, and I would say it was easy. And fun. This could be a nice Halloween tradition for us vegans.

So tonight we're going to snuggle up with some homemade candy corn and watch Nightmare on Elm Street, The Crazies, or The Innocents (I added them all to the Netflix instant queue and I'm going to let Andrew pick).

Pumpkin Pie in a Cast Iron Skillet

So, we had a darling little pie pumpkin on display in our kitchen for a week or so. And yesterday, at the World Market (where we bought our new couch), we came across a bag of Stauffer's Ginger Snaps (which are vegan). And I knew that the pumpkin and the ginger snaps must be brought together to make a pumpkin pie with a gingersnap crust. And I knew I had to do it right away. So, I saw Andrew off to work, promising pie upon his return home.

I began roasting the pumpkin: at 425degrees, sliced in half, goo and seeds removed, cut side down in a baking dish, with a little water, for about an hour)

But! I forgot! We don't have a pie pan! I was bummed when I realized this, but determined. This is where the cast iron skillet came in. Its a twelve incher, quite a bit bigger than a traditional pie pan. I knew that the recipe I planned to be used needed to be adjusted, but I couldn't quite double it because I only had one package of tofu. So I kinda made it up as I went along. I was pessimistic because I am usually a measurer and I usually have tough luck with pumpkin pies (they don't firm up or they're too rubbery or WHATEVER)...but, guess what? This pie turned out PERFECT. The husband said it was the best pumpkin pie he'd ever had.

Here's what I did:

I made the crust:

Ingredients
1 bag Stauffer's Ginger Snaps
1/3 cup Earth Balance

Directions
Crush the snaps. Melt the balance. bring them together. Press into the bottom of the skillet. Bake at 350degreesF for 5 minutes.

Then I made the Pumpkin Pie Filling:

Ingredients
1 14oz package of soft tofu (blended in a blender until smooth)
2 1/2 cups cups of pumpkin puree
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp molasses
3/4 tsp cornstarch

Directions
Cream the pumpkin and sugar.
Add salt, cornstarch, spices, molasses, and tofu
Pour into crust
Bake at 425degreesF for 15 minutes, then at 350 for 30 minutes
Cool and chill for at least 2 hours

Yumma Yumma

Fantastical Shopping List

I have been unemployed for almost a week (did I tell you I walked off the job?!?) and since we just spent a bunch of money on our new apartment (which is awesome), I have no money to spend on anything else. However, if I had a few hundred dollars lying around, I would buy this stuff.

So, I have had my eye on these shoes for about a year now. God, I want them. I don't usually wear heels (Andrew and I are the same height and I don't want to tower over him), but Poppy, by the entirely vegan shoe line Novacas, has just a small bit of heel. Very hot. They can be found here.




Now, we are definitely going to get this clock. Its great because you can position the numbers any way you like because your wall is the clock face!


Are these leggings not fantastic?


"I love white wine. And red. And rum."

Stay Tuned

We got married!

We moved to Chicago!

Andrew turned 24!

We welcomed another family member!


And the blog is reborn!