For the Love of I-Scream Sammiches....

Mmmmmm..... Homemade ice cream in a martini glass with a homemade ice cream sammich on the side!  Where is the raspberry waterfall, flowing into a chocolate filled pool to sip this by?  Clearly it should be featured in the next Willy Wonka, but until then it remains in my head and my belly.  Oh so good.  And the best part is you can make this too.  I scooped the recipe from my Veganomicon.  It is the chocolate raspberry cookies and the vanilla ice cream with raspberry goodness added in.

Don't bust your computer screen with a spoon trying to dig in.  Made that mistake once or twice myself.Lil close up on this beauty.  I know I am bragging but it was that good.  Thank Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

Now, what is an i-scream sammich without a handsome face to enjoy it?  Soggy cookies surrounded by a puddle of purple goo.  Can't have that.

Hope you all are enjoying your summers and treating yourselves like the beautiful individuals you are.

Which brings me to a nice quote to leave you with, coming from the wise wise mouth of Eleanor Roosevelt:

"Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one."

Love, Beans and Butterbugs...

xx....

Limerick Me This

I was sitting at my kitchen table this evening, well a loaner kitchen table, it is acting as my kitchen table until I get my own set up in my new digs, but that is aside the point.  I was sitting there enjoying my breakfast I made for dinner.  I love dinner breakfasts or breakfast dinners.  Ahem, but yes, eating and reflecting.  Reflecting on all that I have on the go and how the pile seems to be growing rather then flowing.  It seems I have scared myself into an idle state because I am dwelling on what needs to be done rather then getting it done.  A wise owl has said to me, "just pick one thing on your list and do it, don't think about the other things."  So, here I am, taking half of the advise and posting a post I have been meaning to post for the past two months, but still dwelling in the ramblings above.  But, lets not worry about that.  We'll sweep that previous spewing of words under the carpet and continue on our merry way.

After I dwelled, I was thinking about all that is great in my life.  The wonderful people I am surrounded by, my art, my kitchen (even if it is a loaner).  And even though I have been idle and quiet on here I have still been creating.  Below are a mouthful of eats to be ogled.  But first a little limerick:

There once was a man from Nantucket

(haha, just kidding)

The real one:

I tried very hard to be veg,

I even called my vegan friend reg

but we ended up at dawn

sitting on my lawn

and nibbling on my front hedge.

That is for anyone finding it hard making the switch full time or part time.  I hope my blog will help you out and if you are reading this, check out all the other wonderful vegan blogs I have linked on the side.

Now for FOOOOOD...

Pictured above is a butternut squash soup and a black bean wrap I created inspired by a little tavern I immensely enjoy.

Madhouse Black Bean Wrap Wannabe

Roasted Vegetables (I used carrots, red onion, mushroom, garlic and red pepper)

Lettuce 

Cooked rice

Cooked black beans

Cumin

Chili Powder

Lime Juice

Guacamole (my recipe follows)

BBQ Sauce (kraft tastes just like what the restaurant uses)

Whole wheat wraps (I made my own, the recipe is found here)

All you have to do is mix you rice, black beans, cumin, chili powder and line j to taste.  Make as little or as much as you want.  I used equal parts black bean and rice, mixed with enough spice to flavour, not over power.  Lay a leaf of lettuce on the wrap followed by the bean/rice mixture, roasted veggies, guac and bbq sauce.  Fold the top and the bottom up and then roll the sides over.  Try not to over stuff because it could get messy.  When I make these or order them out, I get the guac and bbq sauce on the side and add a little to each bite.

Guacamole

2 Mashed large avocados

1 Finely chopped medium tomato 

1/2 Finely chopped small red onion

2-4 Minced cloves of garlic

1 Large lemon (juice only)

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and let them sit in the fridge for a few hours or over night to let the flavours jive.

Some Peanut Butter cookies I made, diabetic friendly.

I made this soup using the left over rice and beans from the wrap above.

And below is a Vegan Stawberry Cheesecake I made for my mom for her birthday.  She is a diabetic and never gets to have cheesecake anymore.  So, I found this recipe in La Dolce Vegan and substituted the sugars with mom friendly ones.  It worked out so well.  I was quite proud of my first vegan cheesecake making experience.  

Now go give your mom a hug, or a friend, or your lover, or your cat, or yourself, whomever is in hug distance.  The recipient is sure to enjoy. 

xo.  

That's Breader

I just can't help myself (the puns get me every time).

But anyway, here is my fantastic look into the bread making world and a peek at WIP.  This is works in progress of anything we have been creating.  Shellyfish from Musings from the Fishbowl came up with the idea and i recommend checking out her blog because it is the bees knees, yeah that is right, I said it.

Okay, first up:  Cheese and Onion Pull Apart Bread (from an old copy of Animal Times), Fresh Rosemary Focaccia (from V-Con), Heather's Swedish Rye Bread (from La Dolce),  Tomato Soda Bread (from La Dolce) and Cinnamon Raisin Bread (from How it All Vegan).

and a close up of the lovelies. 

Next we have Kissing Cousins Oat Bread (from La Dolce).  This one, along with a few others was made diabetic friendly.

This here, happens to be the tiniest loaf of banana bread in existence.  Titled, Brown Rice Flour Banana Bread (from La Dolce).  It just turned out so tiny, perhaps because I left out the walnuts, so my dad could have some and was unaware that the walnuts were the magical growing power in this loaf.  Or, it is supposed to be this way.  Either way it still tasted awesome.  I especially liked that it was sweetened with maple syrup. Yum.

Spelt Olive Bread (from Veg Times, Jan 09).  Thick bready goodness that goes perfectly with soup.
ZaZaZa, is the recipe I will be sharing with you today.

ZaZaZa Crust

2 c. Whole wheat flour

1/2 c. Wheat germ

1 Packet of dry yeast

3/4 tsp. Salt

1 tbsp. Olive oil

1 tbsp. Sweetener

1 c. Warm water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Mix flour, wheat germ, yeast, salt and sweetener (if not using the liquid variety) in a bowl.  Add the oil and water to the dry and knead briefly.  Let it sit 10 minutes.  Roll out the dough and fit to a lightly oiled pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool a bit and then top it with whatever you lil heart desires.  Bake that for another 10 to 20 minutes, depending on your crispiness liking, and you now have ZaZaZa.

In the picture above, I loaded mine with previously roasted veggies, like zuc, broc, mush, squash, peps etc. and some homemade cheese that just sort of sat there all blobby but good.  Hope that gives some inspiration.

More Rosemary Focaccia.  I liked this one so much I made it twice.  Next, I will try to whole wheat it's ass.

Do you spreckin the french?  I wish I did.  Especially, whilst doing an Edgar Degas puzzles and munching on this Easy French Loaf (from La Dolce).

This one makes me laugh.  My poo pretzel.  Don't let it's appearance fool you.  It tasted great.  The recipe can be found here.  

Now, some art I have been working on.  This below, is a self portrait I just completed, done on photoshop.  I have been doing other craft things but have not taken pictures and put them on my computer yet.  Next week perhaps.

I hope this post made everyone feel breader, ha sorry.

Go outside to play.

Give yourself a hug.

*Love*

I Make You Eats My Holiday Treats

So, here is some of the baking I did over the holidays, a little late, but I am catching up.  All of what you see was a part of the tins I made up for me loved ones.  I had a really nice sheet printed up and everything, which I was going to post, but since I made it on a different computer it will not let me open it.  Anywho, I have it here and will just retype the info.

Above: Cooties Coconut Cookies (I made these with egg replacer and diabetic sugar for my mom-ster, instead of with a banana and reg sugar), Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (both of these from How It All Vegan), Santa's Favorite Sugar Cookies found at nomeatfor.us, Fig Smushed Anise Almond Cookies (from V-con) and Curly Jim's Chocolate Chip cookies (from Please Don't Feed the Bears).  Curly Jim's are shown below too and would have been so much better if I used chocolate chips rather than carob chips.  Live and learn.

Next up are my peanut butter cups, adapted from a couple of recipes.  

Peanut Butter Cups

1c. Chocolate chips

1 c. Peanut butter

1/2 c. Confectioners sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

Melt 1/2 of the chocolate chips and spread evenly on 24 mini cupcake cups.  Set aside and let harden.  Now, mix your remaining ingredients and divide evenly among the harden shells.  Take the remaining chocolate chips and cover the peanut butter.  You may need to melt more chocolate chips to fill them right up.  Simple and tasty.

Below are my Chocolate Blueberry Coconut Drops with a Craisin on top, Mint Chocolate Fudge (from La Dolce Vegan) and another Peanut Butter Cup.  The Chocolate Blueberry Coconut Drops were super simple.

Chocolate Blueberry Coconut Drops

1 c. Chocolate chips

3/4 c. Shredded coconut

1/2 c. Dried blueberry

A handful of crasins

Mix all but the crasins together after the chips are melted.  Drop onto wax paper or in cups and top each with a craisin or two.  Let cool and you're done.  See, super simple.

Now, last but not least are Dream Bars (from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch).  I need to work on the butterscotch because they turned out quite greasy, but still tasty.
The only one missing from the batch are my attempt at Korean rice cakes with red bean filling.  It was my first time making them all on my own, with Canadian found ingredients, so it was a challenge.  I must say not bad for my first try, but no where near what the elderly Korean ladies can do.  Those adjumas are miracle workers.  Oh, I also made them diabetic friendly.

All of my test subjects told me they were happy, even if it was just to save my ego, but heck, i'll take it :)

Overall, my holiday was a success.  I had a wonderful new years, rung in, in a tree with lovely friends and then I drug them to a dance floor and danced with wings on.  One cannot complain.  

I hope 2009 brings everyone a lot of love, laughter and magic.

P.S. I am making a whore out of my oven. I am on a bread making kick.  I am also coining the term breader rather than baker.  Why can't a bread maker be called a breader, a hat maker is called a hatter?  Same goes for a shoe maker.  Shoer.

(Please note the restraint I am using to not make a million cheap puns with my neologisms).

Love Love

I'm Back With a Belly Full of Food

Sorry for my much delayed absence.  I am back in Canada now and loving it, but missing Korea too.  I have so much food and backlog to post, but am still trying to catch up on everything.  I have been attending long john parties, baking my little heart out *runs and hugs oven* (Korea was ovenless) and spending time with family and friends.  It was great to be home this year for x-mas.

As for my plans now, well, that is up in the air.  I am going to float for a while and see where a breeze might take me.  I am hoping for a really cool breeze that won't smack me into things on the way, bah, we'll see.

The picture you see below is of one of my first vegan breakies since I have been home.  Kind of a tofu florentine benedict combination from v-con, sided with some home fries.  Pretty heavenly.

This is moi at the Beir Gardens in T.O. when I first got back.  My one request was Canadian beer and a vegan meal.  One of my lovely friends brought me out and my fake smile really does not express how excited I actually was.

Well, I am going to leave it at that for now.  I am going out of town for pre-new years and new years festivities.  But, I will be back soon after and I will start all of my catching up.  I am way behind on all the blogs I like to frequent.

So...

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!

Be safe, hug your friends, kiss an animal (human or otherwise) and I will see you in 2009. *Love Love Love*

Bummers with a little Yummers

So, just a quick blurb to tell about my possible absence for the next little bit. I am going to try my best to make it to 20 posts this month and to keep up with awesome mofoing madness but I just found out hindering news. I was supposed to be heading back home to Canada at the end of November with every intention to return in January, but in the last couple of days everything has changed. I will not be returning and the date to leave has been moved up to early November. I won't get into the details of why, but I will say it was a matter of principle. I am sad about this of course and I am going to miss all of the wonderful people that I have grown to adore but am certain we will keep in touch and carry on a lasting friendship even with distance. Everything happens for a reason though. I have no idea where the winds will take me but I am very excited to find out. Anywho, what all this means is I have a whole lot to do and people to see before I go and I have to jam it all into a short time. Wish me luck and I apologize again in advance if I do not get around to seeing all your lovely posts. You all rock to and I am happy to be a part of this vegan blogging community.

On a more happier note, here is a little picture of a yummy leftover thanksgiving sammich (the pictures from that and the rest of my birthday fun are coming, they are just on a friends camera so I need to get them from her).

P.S. I will be doing what is in your vegan freezer as well, probably this weekend. Thanks for the tag Becks (P.S. in the ps: check out her site because it's rocking).

Sur to the Vey time!

So, a lovely survey from the lovely veganview.

1. Choose between locally grown or organic, which do you usually choose?
I'd say local first since I just finished having a conversation about the amount of gasoline that goes into transporting food.  Local organic though, I think takes the cake.

2. Favorite way to prepare potatoes:
I like em all, but if I have to pick I would go with mashed.  You can build houses.

3. Do you press your tofu before preparing/cooking it (if you eat soy)?
Um, almost never, but I consider it.

4. Name your favorite recipe that is a tradition in your family:
Hmm...Grandma's Apple Cake and there are too many that my mom makes to list.

5. Any food allergies?
Luckily no.

6. When you want to go to a fancy dinner, where do you go?
Since going vegan and moving to Korea shortly there after, I will need more time once home to establish that.

7. When you have a cold, what do you crave?
If I am craving food at all, I most certainly want comfort food.  (Breads, pasta, soup etc.)

8. What kind of water do you drink? (Filtered, spring, tap, etc.)
Filtered or bottled.

9. Name a flavor of soda you'd love to see:
Pina Coloda, I have tried pineapple so why not throw coconut in there too.  Diet though, not a fan of sugar pop.

10. If the recipes you ate as a child were compiled into a cookbook, what would the title be?
Mom's Home Cooking.....Like I mentioned above she made a lot of awesome food and still does.

11. If you were allowed to grow one food that can't grow in your climate, what would it be?
Coconut or Cacao.

12. Favorite type of mushroom?
I love all mushrooms, but I have been without portobello here and it hurts.

13. Most frustrating part of your kitchen?
NO OVEN (*sobs in corner*).

14. Last food you burned?
Hahaha...my lentil soup from last night....will post with the option to burn or not.

15. Usual response to a veg*n's favorite question, "But where do you get your protein?":
Tofu, soy anything, dark leafies, beans, legumes, nuts, etc.  Followed by, you'd be surprised with how much protein is found in non meat sources.

16. If you were baking your own birthday cake today, what flavor would it be?
Mmmm, can I trade it in for pumpkin pie or apple crisp?  But, if not I think I would make a carrot cake loaded with nuts and pineapple and coconut.  Ooooo, or ice cream cake, i just thought of that one...yup, ice cream cake it is.

17. Favorite brand of chocolate chips?
Do not have a brand in mind, I am just happy if it is milkless.

18. You have $200 of your tax return reserved for Williams Sonoma- What do you buy?
After quickly peeking at the site, I would have to say a kitchen aid blender.  I need a good blender.

19. Do you plan your menus in advance? Any tips to share?
Sometimes, when I want to make a certain something.  No tips really, just a lot of internet searches for what I am thinking and a grocery list.

20. You have 3 minutes before you have to leave the house and you're starving- What do you eat?
Open fridge or cupboards and grab what catches my eye (e.g. fruit, nuts, cold left overs, slice of bread).

21. If Martha Stewart, Paula Deen, and Rachel Ray got into a fight, who would win?
I am so bad with T.V. thingies.  (*Insert my friends making fun of my pop culture knowledge*)

22. If you eat oatmeal, what do you add to it before serving?
Cinnamon, dried or fresh fruit, coconut and some form of sweetener.  My favorite for a while, when I still had a stash of oatmeal, was banana, coconut and some sugar topped with soy milk.  (I cannot buy oatmeal in my city and must stalk up when I go to a big city foreign food mart).

23. If you got to travel to one country and learn all the traditional dishes there, where would you go (ignore commitments in your current place of residence)?
I would say vietnam because I love vietnamese food and I really want to go to Hanoi.  But if a situation like this were to arise, I would like to go somewhere I had little knowledge of to learn completely new things.

24. Favorite late night snack?
Depends how hungry I am, but usually popcorn.

25. Favorite springtime food?
Spring rolls :)

26. Favorite food-related magazine?
Any Veg one I can get my hands on right now.

27. Which do you prefer: shoyu, tamari, conventional soy sauce, or Bragg's Aminos?
Mmm, tamari.  I have yet to try Bragg's though.

28. What vegetable or fruit do you dislike the most?
For some reason cooked green peppers do not make my taste buds happy, but if they are cooked in something it is fine.  Oh, and grapefruit, but i keep trying it to see if my taste buds have changed.

29. Name a holiday food you look forward to all year long:
Ooo, soy nog or tofurkey or pumpkin pie.  Just holiday meals make me happy.

30. If you could convert anyone to veganism with your magic wand, who would you convert?
Family or future life partner.