Muffins!

I. Love. Muffins. I could eat half a dozen muffins in a day and still want to eat more. (Okay, I may have done it in the past). They are ridiculously easy to make, and there are so many varieties to choose from. I always have all the ingredients on hand to make at least one kind of them.

The other day I decided that I REALLY wanted pumpkin muffins. The ones from Vegan with a Vengeance are really the best pumpkin muffins, hence their name. I grabbed the huge can of pumpkin I had on the top shelf of my cabinet only to discover that I had expired early last year. I didn’t even realize it had been there that long. If it had expired early this year I probably would have used it still, but it was just there for too long.

Despite not having any pumpkin in the house or the will to go to the store to get more (and I only live about 2 minutes – walking – away from a grocery store), I still wanted muffins. I was flipping through the muffin section to figure out what kind I could make with the ingredients I had. I realized I had frozen cherries from Trader Joe’s that I’ve been meaning to use. I also remembered I had some slivered almonds that I had bought for VCon Caesar dressing. So, I ended up making the Cherry Almond muffins. I’ve never made this recipe before, and I’m not sure if I will again. It’s not bad or anything! I’m just not a big fan of nuts in my muffins. I hate banana nut muffins because of the walnuts in them. I thought I had used a lot of cherries for these, but after eating a few of the muffins I noticed that some bites were super cherry-y, while others were all muffin/nut and no cherry. I also didn’t have any of the soy yogurt that it calls for, so I added extra soy milk. I think the yogurt would have helped it to be a lot moister in the end.

Halloweeny

I love Halloween. It's just such a fun holiday where you don't have to worry about sending cards or making phone calls to distant relatives to keep on their good side. You can dress up as absolutely anything you want to, no matter how ridiculous or offensive. You can have a themed party! One of the main things I want to do when I move out of my parents house is have theme parties.

Jess Sconed is always doing cool theme-y things, and it makes me totally jealous. This weekend is Fakin' Fest, which is a "celebration of vegan bacon and bacon-flavored things." How about Vegan Prom? And a LOST season premiere?

Anyway, enough about Jess, EVEN THOUGH SHE IS THE COOLEST EVER.

If I could throw a Halloween party right now, I would. I can't, however, since I live in a trailer with my parents that can only fit a few people at a time (comfortably) and I have old neighbors and not much extra parking and it's a month from Halloween anyway and no one is even ready for it to be Fall nevermind Halloween which is only one day away from November which means it's going to start snowing pretty soon and we'll get heavy snow at 2 in the afternoon and everyone will leave work early which will cause major traffic jams in the city which means you're not getting home until 5 or 6 anyway so you should have just stayed at work, assholes.

These are just some cool ideas I've come across for parties that I would be into. I would call everything "spooky" whatevers, like Spooky Spice Cake. But I wouldn't tell my boyfriend they were called that because apparently he hates the word spooky! I had no idea until a few days ago, but I will respect his wishes because he respects my wish to never utter the word "panties" in my presence.

Frozen Ice Hands

• Using clean, non-powdered and non-latex gloves, fill them with water or the punch you will be serving (can also use a complimentary juice, don’t use an alcoholic mix since it may not freeze properly). Tie them off tightly with an elastic band so no water will leak out.
• Lay the gloves on a cookie sheet and freeze. Do this the night before the party. Once frozen solid, cut the glove off and place in the punch bowl.
• Make at least two so you have a fresh one to add as the first one melts.

Puke Pumpkins

No matter how many of these I see, I always love them!

Vampire Fangs in Blood

Just don't use Red Delicious apples, because they are the worse apple ever.

All kinds of fancy drinks

Not too many, though!

Vegan caramel apples

That recipe looks awesome

Plus a million other things that I'm too tired to look for right now.

VeganMoFo is here!

Today is October 1st, which means it's the first day of VeganMoFo! This is the third year of the mofo.

I've been crazy busy these past few weeks because I've been working my regular job, started school and started an additional job. I LOVE my second job. I work at a family farm that has raspberries, blueberries, peaches, pumpkins and APPLES! I have access to free, freshly picked apples four days a week, and it is the best thing ever. Even if I had to pay for them, all apples, no matter what variety, are only $1.29 per pound. A lot of people complain about it (people complain about everything!), but I was at the grocery store and Honeycrisp apples are over $3.00 per pound. And the ones in the grocery store are shipped from who knows where.

Expect to see many apple posts this month. I have so many apples that I don't have room for them.

VeganMoFo is coming!

See you in October, forkers!

Check out Kittee's blog to see what VeganMoFo is all about.

So much for blogging more in the summer...

Well, I pretty much forgot to blog all summer. I've mostly just been throwing together sandwiches and going out to eat. I did manage to cook a little bit the other day, though, so I'll tell you about that. Tempeh bacon is one of my favorite things. I used to recipe from Vegan Brunch, which is just an improved upon version of the one in VwaV. Since I had some tempeh laying around that expired in June, I figured I should eat it.

Cookin'


Ready to eat


Doesn't that just look perfect? I just ate my third one, and I am sadly out of the tempeh. (I had two yesterday and one today).

As I said in a previous post, we grow our own tomatoes. My mom has probably two dozen tomato plants of various sizes in our garden. Unfortunately, this summer has been horrible for growing vegetables. It's one of the top 10 coldest/wettest summers on record here in New England. We've thrown out dozens and dozens of tomatoes because of bottom rot (or whatever it's called). There have been a few good tomatoes, so I managed to put some on these sandwiches. I should be utterly sick of tomatoes at this point, not longing for more fresh ones.

Sausages

One of my favorite things to make these days is sausage. Whether I use Julie Hanson's recipe which is mostly vital wheat gluten, or Isa's recipe that mixes gluten with mashed beans, I love that it makes so many sausages in the end. I find that I can't eat them all within a few days, so I just throw them into the freezer for another time.



Seeing as though I had about a dozen sausages hanging around, I decided to whip up some mac and cheese using some Creamy Cheddar Teese. I've never used Teese before for mac and cheese, or any other kind of block cheese for that matter. I wasn't really sure what to do, so I just melted the Teese on the stove. I'm used to making a cheesy sauce in the blender and then throwing it in the oven for a half hour to harden up a bit.



It came out less appetizing than I had hoped. I was able to eat most of what was on my plate, but the thought of eating the rest of it grossed me out. Sorry, Teese! I wanted to like you in my mac and cheese, but it's just not happening. I still love your mozzarella, and I'm going to make some pizza on my new-ish pizza stone someday.



All plated up. I also fried up a tomato, but it just didn't come out that great. I can't wait until tomoato season starts so I can eat real tomatoes again. After eating ones fresh from the garden all my life, I can't stomach those terrible ones they sell at the store year-round.

Wow

I can't believe it's been over two months since I last posted anything. I was very bogged down by schoolwork and worrying about finals, that I could hardly be bothered with making food, taking pictures of said food, and blogging about it afterward.

Isa's Vegan Brunch book just came out, and I got my copy in the mail about a week ago. Not to brag, but my name is in the acknowledgments. I think I tested a good amount of recipes while testing was going on, but when I was flipping through the book I saw the banana flapjacks. Knowing I had bananas that were close to becoming compost, I decided to make them. They looked very promising while they were cooking, but alas they did not come out the way I expected. They seemed to not want to cook fully. It may have just been that the bananas kept it too moist and squishy to become a proper pancake. I did have fun making them, though. After I tried the first few and found that I disliked them, I decided to make a giant pancake with the rest of the batter. I didn't want to pour the batter in the trash incase it leaked, and this way it was just something solid I was throwing away.

Regular size:


Gigantic:


Since I was still in the mood for a breakfasty meal, I decided to make some Fronch Toast. Isa tells us that we should never toast our bread, but rather let it dry out in the oven. Well, I toast. It has always worked for me and has never given me a problem. I also just use regular bread instead of a loaf of italian.



From "Vegan with a Vengeance" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

"Fronch" Toast

1 loaf of Italian of French bread, baguette style
1/2 c soy creamer
1/2 c rice milk or plain soy milk
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 c chickpea flour
Several tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

Slice the bread into 1-inch thick rounds. The bread should be a bit stale, if not you can put in a 350 oven for 3-4 minutes to dry it out. Pour the soy creamer and rice milk into a wide shallow bowl. Mix in the cornstarch and stir until dissolved. Add the chickpea flour and mix until it is mostly absorbed; some lumps are OK. Heat a non-stick skillet over med-high heat. Add enough oil to create a thin layer on the bottom. Soak the bread slices (as many as you can fit in the pan) in the mixture and transfer to the skillet. Cook each side for about 2 minutes; if they are not brown enough, heat for another minute or so on each side. They should be golden brown.


And speaking of eating breakfast, I am currently eating a delicious Egg McVegan, as usual. For some reason I get in the mood to eat them when I blog. Or I get in the mood to blog when I eat them.