Saddness hits our home

Chuck, my sweet husband and his dad in April.

Daddy has gone on to the Lord. He passed away Sunday morning. The last time we were able to speak to him was last Wednesday. He kept saying to me, "Pumpkin why is it taking so long to go to the Lord. I am ready. I am tired of being her like this." All I could say to him was, "In the Lord's time, Daddy." Then he would ask Chuck and all my DH could say was, I don't know dad, just keep praying. It was heart breaking. By Thursday all he would do was make sounds, but never acknowledged anyone. Still we asked them to put the phone to his ear so we could tell him we love him. Every night we prayed that he could go and no longer suffer. Early Sunday morning I woke from an amazing dream. I was there with Daddy and he was suffering something awful. I put my arms under his back and held him, while I sang, "Hush Little Baby", (I sing this to my grandson and it always calms him down.) Daddy became calm and looked at me completely lucid and said, "Pumpkin will you pray with me?" "Sure, daddy, I will pray with you." Then I kissed him on the forehead and woke up. It was so real. I could feel Daddy's soft skin and hear his voice as if I was really there. About 3 hours later daddy passed away. We went to church and talked to our Bishop. He said he just needed help passing and your spirits met and you helped him across. What an awesome experience and sad one at the same time. I can still feel him, hear him, and see his sweet eyes.

Daddy and me in April.

Thank you to all of your prayers during the last few months and those who made is possible for DH and I to visith him. DH in March and both of us in April. He went to the Lord knowing he was well loved and that we will be together again. Daddy was an incredible man. Daddy was a wonderful father to my DH and told me I was his only daughter. He never treated me as a daughter-in-law, but as I was born to him. He loved his granddaughters and his only regret was that he did not get to meet his great grandson, Jr, his squirt as he lovingly named him.

We love you Daddy!!!

Tasty test recipe for Julie's next cookbook

It is so much fun testing recipes for upcoming Vegan cookbooks! The hardest part is deciding on which recipe to test. Here I give you another delicious quick bread that is so moist and delicious that you have to be careful to save some for others. I am sorry the recipe is still under wraps, but when Julie finishes the cookbook you need to , BUY IT!

Fresh out of the oven! Smells so good!

Yummy and moist!

Cream cheese delight! Just what the doctor ordered!

Gone crazy for smokey links and nooch!

I am obsessed with Julie's Smokey Links over at the special members site of Everyday Dish. They are amazing. If you can, you should join because the recipes are amazing! It has been warm here and all I want is simple yummy food. Fresh tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, quick couscous, and mouth watering smokey links!!!!

Told you I was obsessed! This time roasted red potatoes, fresh zucchini, asparagus, beets, and the stars smokey links and nooch! (nutritional yeast to those of you who don't know the nickname).

Oh my gosh!!! More nooch and darn ran out of smokey links. I still have more fresh beets, zucchini, asparagus, red potatoes, and out of this world pineapple!

I know I promised more fun and new recipes along with testing for Julie, but the past couple weeks have been crazy. We are hit hard in June with family birthdays. But don't fret, I have new recipes to test next week so stay tuned. :o)

Testing Breakfast Recipes for Julie. Delish!!!

Some test recipes for Julie. Sorry to make everyone drool, but you will have to just keep drooling until Julie's new book, "Vegan Diner" comes out. Trust me you will want this book for the biscuits and gravy alone!!! Enjoy! :o)

Breakfast anyone?

New Sausage and pancake recipe. Can you say YUM?

Ok, stop drooling on your keyboard.


Now wipe your chin, folks!

This is my weakness. Can I say RED LIGHT FOOD?

You bet. They are perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.

You ask, How do I know? Trust me I ate biscuits and gravy 4 times in one day. lol

The next day I walked 5.6 miles.

:o)

Were back! Fun Photos and Delicious Sausages/Hot dogs!

We’re home! A big hug and thank you to all of your for your thoughts and prayers for dad. I have to say that driving to Texas from the San Diego area is a very long trip. Total we drove almost 3,800 miles. Along the way we were granted the privilege of staying in KOA camps, the great, the ok, and the ugly. I also learned that as a vegan traveling on the road I need to pack more foods that I could eat. We encountered thunder storms, tornado watches, humidity, and wind, and I mean THUNDER STORMS, TORNADO WATCHES, HUMIDITY, and AND WIND! All of these wonderful aspects of nature gave us little time to BBQ or cook on our camp stove. The problem with that is that you can’t do cooking inside of the cabins. We were supposed to tent camp, but Mother Nature had other plans. :o) Needless to say DH, my omniman could get food anywhere, but me I had little choices. PB&J was big, along with potato chips. I was craving a bean burrito, but quickly found out that all the Mexican places in our area used lard in their beans. GROSS! Now

I have to give a big shout out to VEGGIE GIRL, for turning me on to Sunwarrior Rice Protein Powder. This stuff was and is a life saver. I brought along almond milk, my Magic Bullet, and my kitchen scale. This is the best vegan protein drink you will ever find. I use the vanilla flavored and give it a double thumbs up!! Mix it with your choice of milk, fruit, and a little stevia if you are using some not so ripe fruit and WA LA Heaven! Thank you so much, Liz!!! I couldn’t have made it without you! The Sunday before we left we had a family reunion with my side of the family. My mom and sister live south and did a bit of shopping at a Whole Foods market for me. They brought me veggie burgers, rice cheese, strawberries, lettuce and tomatoes so I would have something yummy to eat while the rest of the family devoured Texas BBQ. Thanks mom! Thanks sis! Oh, let me tell you that strawberries are a perfect addition ot the Sunwarrior Rice protein drink!

On to family: Dad was so happy to see us. He became more alert and ready to fight the longer we stayed. By the time we left he was able to walk with the help of his physical therapist, shower and dress himself, and even stand. We had lunch with him everyday out on the patio, which brought color and smiles back into his face. Sadly, we had to say good-bye, which is the hardest thing I ever had to do. We left him with a mini photo album to look at and remember who loves him and to continue fighting. We invited him to come live with us and we are hoping he will take us up on it. Phones calls everyday just isn’t enough. We miss him so and can’t wait to be together again.

My family lives in Texas too, which gave us a great reason to have a family reunion. It was nice to see my family. Enjoy the pictues. Not sure if I am pale from a lack of vegan food (:o)) or really bad lighting.

I have not seen my big brother for about 10 years.

My brother is a hunter and a cyclist.

My sister love animals. She has probably 15 dogs and maybe 8 cats. If it is a fur person it can find a home at my sister’s house.

Our oldest daughter moved back to Texas in 2005 right before Katrina hit. It was good to see you kiddo.

Mom and Dad are retired and moved to Texas last August.

Hi Family!!! Thanks for the fun reunion!

Well my friends I have been trying to make some decisions to get myself back in the kitchen, which I have missed, but my slump still exists. So to help me get back in the swing of things I have decided to do the following. Next week I will focus my meals from cookbooks that are sitting on my shelves gathering dust along with hundreds of recipes I have printed out to try. I am also going to be testing some new recipes for some new cookbooks, which will be on bookstore shelves or available via the internet soon from some great chefs with great recipes and blogs. So stay tuned for next weeks posts!!!

I have to say that I did join Julie's new Members Only area on Everdaydish and you gotta join! The recipes are amazing. Here is just a little pick at the best vegan sausage/hot dogs you will ever eat. I mean you can forget all the store bought brands and stock up your freezer with these. Yes, they freeze perfectly. I have gilled them as you can see in the picture, sliced them and fried them up, and eaten them cold. Dear hubby, my omnivore says they are spot on!!! Go for it all you foodies!

With that I leave you with hugs and appreciation for you wonderful friendship!!!

We never know what the future holds

Hi everyone, Sadly Chuck's dad is not doing well at all so we are off to Texas. I am not sure how long we will be gone. We have some dear friends staying at the house with the fur kids, which we are so thankful for.

Please keep Dad and us in your prayers. It is a long drive.

Love you all and will post as soon as we get back.

HUGS!!!

Cooking for others is great therapy!

Sorry for my absence, but sometimes life just doesn't go the way you expect. Many of you know I have been out of work with a back injury and it is just going on too long. My last day of work was last October 10. We were hoping I would be back to work by December and here is it April and I am still not working. It looks like it could be another 3 months, but I am shooting for sooner. Needless to say I have been in a rut.

I have not cared about cooking in the least. I have been living on Purebars, but that is another post. Last week I tried to cook, but everything that could go wrong did. We were having a Birthday breakfast at church and since I am vegan and other ladies in the church have various dietary needs I figured I would try to help out. See cooking for others was to be my therapy. First I needed to make gluten free mini muffins. Let me tell you that when you that the muffins grew so big that they spilled over my oven, made a horrible burning smell, and became a disaster. I was so frustrated. My fresh blueberries gone! I also needed to make a vegan quiche. Got myself pumped up and encouraged only to find out that I was out of mushrooms and leeks. One of the ladies at church is allergic to onions and dairy so I always make my dishes with leeks. Off to the store I go only to find out that they are out of leeks. They have not been able to get them for 5 weeks. What? Leeks, they grow year round! Frustration begins to get the best of me. I call my mom, she lives in Texas and I am in California, just to have someone to cry to. She was laughing, can you believe that? I told her this is not a laughing matter, but she just couldn't help herself. THANKS MOM! Off to another store, which I did not have time for, but what is a girl to do. Thank God, they had leeks. I arrived back home, did some deep breathing for stress relief, and attempted the gluten free muffins again. This time I made regular size muffins and they came out super! Now I was on a roll. Sugar free blueberry vegan muffins done, (made with stevia) check! Gluten free apple cinnamon vegan muffins done, check! Mini orange poppy seed vegan muffins done, check!

In the end, Saturday morning was perfect. I got up at 4:15 am and started making the quiche. I used a recipe from Whole Foods and it was awesome! I did add a couple tablespoons of nutrtional yeast to the recipe. I know that there are a lot of vegan quiche recipes from great cooks, but this one set up perfect and tasted great. I couldn't get a decent picture so here you have before cooking and after. As far as the muffin pictures, I forgot and they were gone in a flash

Getting ready to go into the oven.

Sliced and ready to devour.

Another picture. Does the green spinach and the blue plate make a yellow quiche?

I was blessed with a new toy, but you will have to wait. :o)

Hugs to all! I miss you all!!

Happy Anniversary!

First off I would like to say, "Happy St. Patrick's Day" to all of you in blogland! Although it is a very special day to many of you, to me and my sweetie it is our own special day, our wedding anniversary. Yes, we got married on St. Patrick's Day, and no I did not wear green. :o) That is usually the first question. Actually we are old married folks and browns and creams were the big colors of the day. Seems very odd now, but it was way cool back in the day. Hey back in the day was great, we paid $6.00 for our marriage license!

Here we are 32 years ago, the happy couple!!

And here we are today! Even though are looks have changed, the love just keeps on growing. We are still that happy couple. My sweetheart told me he is shooting for at least another 32 years! My thoughts, which I verbalized, "It's for eternity sweetheart"! Oh, yeah! :o

Off to spend a very mushy day together!!!

Rough few weeks, but comfort food helped!

Hey everyone, I am alive and hoping to be on the mend. Some how a UTI found me and has caused me havoc and pain over the last couple weeks. I did my best to go the natural way, by using herbs, homeopathic meds, and chiropractor, but after 7 days of peeing razor blades it was time for a call to my medical doctor. Sure enough, a UTI, which I knew already. Well I have been on the meds for 3 days and I am seeing some improvement. Granted me and AZO have a very tight relationship. Ladies if you ever get one of these nasty infections get your AZO right away. I have also increased my intake of cranberry and blueberry juice to help keep those nasty bacterias away. So enough of the painful whining and onto a new vegan blogger I found and one of his tasty recipes.

Check out Josh's vegan blog. His recipes sound great. I tried his Mock Swiss steak and thought I was in Heaven with the tomato gravy type sauce served over brown rice. The steaks have a wonderful texture. He says it serves 2, but I made mine to serve 4 and it was plenty. Enjoy my friends.

Thanks Josh for an awesome recipe!!!

For Chocolate Lovers - Daring Baker's Challenge

It is time again for another Daring Baker's Challenge Post!

The February Challenge comes to you from Wendy at wmpesblog (Arizona) and Dharm at Dad - Baker and Chef (Malaysia).

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.


As you can see from my photo you can see I failed to turn off the flash before taking the picture, but there were not second chances due to the devouring of the cake. :o) This cake is a flourless cake, yes you heard me right, flourless. I veganized the original recipe in hopes that is would work and it did!!! The ice cream is another story, but hey everything still tasted good.

Chocolate Valentino Veganized

16oz of vegan chocolate chips. (I used half chocolate and half carob)
1/2 cup of Earth Balance
5 Tablespoons of flaxseed meal
1 1/4 cup of water
2 Tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons of Ener-G Egg Replacer
3/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon of warm water

In a small bowl mix together the flaxseed meal and 1 1/4 cup of water so that it has time to get all gooey.

Melt the chocolate and EB in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until the chocolate and EB are melted and well blended.

Blend the chocolate mixture and flaxseed mixture together. It will be almost rubbery as you do this, but keep mixing.

Beat your Egg Replacer and warm water together until you achieve stiff peaks. Once you do gentle fold 1/3 of this into your chocolate mixture and repeat until all is gently folded in.

Prepare your pan with oil and parchment paper if you choose. I baked mine in a large muffin tin and did not use parchment paper, but believe I will next time. They were a little frustrating to get out of the pan. I baked mine at 375 for about 40 minutes. The original recipe calls to bake the cake for 25 minutes and that it will be similar to a brownie look with an internal temperature of 140. I checked after 25 minute and the internal temperature was 140, but they were still goop so I continued baking until the toothpick came out clean. Cool on a cake rack for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

DH love these. He said he wished they were a bit sweeter, but it was because I used half unsweetened carob chips. A girl has to use what is on had with today's economy. All and all they were a great success.

Now for the ice cream part. I don't own an ice cream maker and as you can see I had little success making it without one. I have to tell you that I used the new Mimic Creme as my base along with sugar and vanilla and the flavor was right one. Therefore my little chocolate lovers are bathing in a beautiful, flavorful melted ice cream. :o)

Enjoy!!!

What's a Girl to Do!

First let me thank all of you for your kind words, prayers, and thoughts. Dad had his facial reconstruction done. He was not able to have everything fixed. The surgeon did not think Dad would survive a 6 to 10 hour surgery. They were able to repair his nose, jaw, part of his chin, and ankles, which took about 2 hours. He sounds good and has been moved to a rehab facility. They say he may have to be there for about 4 months. We told him whatever it takes to get better. You just fight and stay strong and positive!

Now if having dad in the hospital is not enough our precious Shiloh, she is s lab Akita mix) started acting very strange on Friday. She would try and walk and just fall over. Her head seemed to be cocked to the left and she would not straighten it out. I began to cry because I was so scared. Sh is my baby. Her birthday is next month and she will be 13. I know that is getting up in age for a large dog, but you would not know she is that old. She runs, wrestles, and plays like a kid. She goes hiking in the mountains and eats just fine. Well I called DH and told him and he told me to call the vet immediately. I did and they said we can bring her in Saturday afternoon. By Saturday morning she seemed worse and after calling the vet they said bring her right in. I thought by now that she must have an ear infection and her equilibrium is off. It was just too sad. We had to pick her up to get her in and out of the car because she was not stable enough to do it herself. I want you to know that my DH was so proud of me because I was trying so hard not be hysterical. I don't handle loosing my kids! After the vet examined her the news was not what we wanted to hear, it is neurological. He gave us two possible problems, either an infection in her brain or a brain tumor. Can you say sick? I knew I had to be strong because Shiloh looks to me for help and I didn't want her to see my a mess. We got 2 antibiotics and steroids in hopes that it would help. By Saturday night Shiloh was really bad. She could not even lay down on her bed without falling down. She would try to go outside to do her business and run into things and fall down just trying to get outside. At this point I was hysterical and didn't know what to do. DH and I had family prayer and I couldn't even pray only tears came out. I said I don't want her to suffer. He said I don't think she is suffering and in pain. I agree, but she looks at me with those sweet eyes asking, "Mom what is wrong?" She has faithfully taken her different meds twice a day and to our amazement today she has her head almost straight, walks with little problem, and ran outside today to play with Joshua our other fur kid. She goes back in a week to see how she is doing. I am praying that is was an infection and she is going to be ok. Sorry for rambling, but sometimes you just need to spill your guts.



I know this is not a post of yummy food, but I have had little imagination or creativity in the kitchen. I am hoping that life will get better very soon. I need to remember to be of good cheer and fear not, but as a human that is sometimes so tough. I do have a yummy dessert to share, but can't post that until Friday so stay tuned.

Super grandson making us smile!

Hugs to all of you!!!

Thank you and an update on dad.

Hi Everyone,

No food porn today, just a quick thank you for all your kind words, well wishes, and prayers for my sweet father-in-law. I hope you all know how much DH and I appreciate your love. I thought no better day than today, Valentines Day, to say thank you. Dad had his heart surgery and that went well. While healing he has fallen 3 times in the hospital. Once when DH was with him, once when he got up by himself to get his water during the night (why the nurses had his water out of reach is beyond all of us), and once while the nurses had him standing while changing his sheets (another why wasn't he sitting?). The reason he kept falling was because of super low blood pressure, like 80/40 NOT GOOD! The good news is that his blood pressure has improved and he will be able to start the facial reconstruction on Monday, the bad news is during the last 2 falls he broke both ankles and they have to do surgery on one of them and possible the other. My sweet husband is the light of his fathers life and just sitting with him up to 8 hours a day has done a tremendous amount of good for dad. I will keep you posted on how things go on Monday. Once again thank you all, for you concern, thoughts, and love.

Not much cooking going on here.

Sorry for the lack of posts, but we have had so much going on and most of it has not been in the kitchen. As you can see simple meals have been on the menu. Steamed yellow squash, my new love beet green's, and nooch! I can't live without Nutritional Yeast, pure and simple it rocks! Oh and the beets that came with these greens have already been devoured. :o)

Unfortunately the next couple weeks will also be simple meal because DH had to fly to Texas to be with his dad that took a terrible fall. He blacked out and fell fracturing almost every bone in his face. He is in ICU awaiting different surgeries. Dad is 85 so this is very scary. All of you out there that have a connection with Heaven, please send up your prayers. I am home with the fur kids pretty much just eating veggies and trying to keep busy.

PS - Look at this little grandson of mine, isn't he just the cutest little man you ever did see?

Check out the action on Brandie's blog. Jr. is moving now!

Technical Difficulties but I am still here.

Sorry for being away for so long. My camera decided to no longer work and DH was redoing the office so things were a bit crazy. Needless to say not much creative cooking going on and I didn't want to bore you with tons of grand baby pictures. :o) I did try a new recipe from Bryanna and it is fantastic! It is quick and very low fat. I took this picture with my phone, which seemed to work better than I thought. Oh, after the picture the noodles had soaked up the sauce so I added more. This stuff is so addicting!






Also, DH is going to til the garden this weekend and get ready to plant. Here are the last of the carrots. I hope the weather holds and we get some broccoli, carrot, and lettuce seeds started on Saturday.

January is National Soup Month

I hope everyone is having a wonderful new year so far. I got a newsletter from our church today along with some soup recipes and low and behold January is National Soup Month. There was a Curried Lentil Soup recipe that peeked my interest. I changed it a bit, cut the recipe in half, and have named it Curried Lentil Stew. It is thick and tasty. I just had a bowl and I bet you anything it would be fantastic over rice. Here we have it served it my VEGAN bowl courtesy of our sweet daughter. Thanks Brandie!

Curried Lentil Stew

1 1/2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 medium carrots, cut in 1/2 inch rounds
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/3 cup or 76 grams dried green lentils
1 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 teaspoon salt

freshly ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 cups of No-Chicken broth
5 ounces or 142 grams of frozen green beans

Add sweet potatoes, carrots, onion, green beans, and lentils to your 4 to 6 quart slow cooker.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add curry powder, cumin, salt, pepper, ginger root, and garlic, and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly, add the broth, mix, and add to the crock pot. Give it a good stir, pop on the lid, and visit in a couple hours to see how your lentils and veggies are doing. Mine took about 4 hours and I used my small crock pot.

Enjoy!

Traditions, where would we be without them?

Like many of you in blogging land, I too grew up eating black eyed peas on New Years Day. My mom always made them with a ham hock, which was always disgusting to me, therefor creating in me bad memories. Going vegan has given me a great love for these one eyed beauties. This year hubby said can we have corn bread too? Well, I came up with the great idea to have black eyed pea tacos. Hey we still get the peas and the corn. :o) It seems to me that I saw a similar combination, black beans and butternut squash, on one of my blogging buddies post, but can't remember who. Anyway to who ever it was, Thank you!!!!


This years creation was so good. I called Brandie to let her know what I was having and she too said that sounds so good! They may be simple, but after the busy Christmas time, simple was just what the doctor ordered.

Corn tortillas heated in a dry skillet and filled with black eyed peas, baked butternut squash, tomatoes, and avocado. Mouth watering good!

May your black eyed peas bring you great wealth this year!

A Quiet Homemade Christmas

Happy New Year! Just a post full of Christmas love!

DH plays Santa for some families in church ever year and this year we got to be Santa for our grandson. We spent Christmas eve with Brandie, Micah, and Jr. Jr. was not even afraid of Santa! Here is myself, DH (Santa) and Jr. What a happy boy!

This is a wonderful vegan basket of goodies from a very good friend of mine and her husband. Chuck got a nice shirt, socks for me, popcorn, hot chocolate, hand lotion, organic sparkling apple cider for New Years Eve, the DVD of Sleeping Beauty, pita chips and more. N & E, Chuck and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.



Thanks to Bethany I made roasted butternut squash seeds. They were so good that they disappeared shortly after coming out of the oven. :o)

This years economy made way to a homemade Christmas. This is a little wooden house and family that Chuck makes from wood. Then I do the painting. This one is Brandie, Micah, and Jr's. Brandie loves skulls so I painted the family in hoodie's with skulls. I am so glad they liked it.

DH made this wonderful wooden toy for Jr. It rolls across the floor and makes the sound similar to those stand up toys (popcorn popper). Jr loves it. Brandie loved it so much she asked her dad to make some more in different sizes so the sounds are different. DH has already made Jr. 2 more. A new tradition has been born. Grandpa has to make Jr a wooden toy each Christmas.

Another shot so you can see. The dowels in the middle are the ones that make noise as it rolls.

Because we spent Christmas Eve with Brandie and the family Christmas day was quiet and simple. Tofurky roast was the main attraction.

What a mess, but boy is it good. Susan's Green bean casserole, potatoes and gravy, carrots, broccoli, stuffing, and the best cranberry sauce ever thanks to Veggie girls great advice.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!!!

Picked Garden Goodies Before the Freeze

Looks like our garden will be nearing it's end. I think winter has finally arrived.
We have a freeze warning beginning tonight, which is not good for the garden. One good thing is that I didn't have to do much thinking about dinner. Picked some veggies and made up a quick rice and lentil dish, dinner served. The rest of the garden will be covered in burlap tonight and we will hope for the best.

Here is dinner: tons of steamed zucchini, sauteed kale, 3 kinds of lettuce for a green salad, topped with fresh tomatoes, and a mixture of wild rice, brown rice, green and red lentils cooked in "no-chicken" broth, onions, and garlic.

Now I am off to the garden to tuck the veggies into their burlap bed.

Home grown goodness!

We have had some crisp cool weather along with some light rain the past couple of days so we just let Mother nature water the garden. Today with clear skies, back out to our garden I went. Needless to say our produce enjoyed Mother natures gift and have blessed us with some delicious goodies. I picked some Romain lettuce, tomatoes, and DH brought in about 17 jalapenos.

Here is one of out tomato plants

We still have maybe 6 or 7 heads of Romain lettuce growing.

Future popper.:o)

Now, most of you know that I am not a huge fan of super "HOT" foods. Don't get me wrong, I love a good dish of spice just not the kind that burns my mouth so bad that I can't enjoy or taste the food. DH on the other hand believes the "HOTTER" the better. I wanted to surprise him with something fun and with all those jalapenos I figured why not make something that I have never made nor eaten. Jalapeno Poppers. Seeing that I never liked cream cheese, the kind from a cow, poppers have never been in my diet, but tofutti cream cheese I love so why not give them a shot. I found a recipe on the Tofutti website and went for it. DH dipped his in salsa of course and I dipped mine in organic ketchup. Can you say delicious? Oh my gosh! DH was thrilled and so was I. If any of you out there want to give them a try, here is the recipe I used. I have also put my version of it below. The ingredients are the same with the addition of seasoning the flour and bread crumbs and the directions are a bit more detailed.







Vegan Poppers

12 jalapeno peppers, sliced in half lengthwise, tops and seeds removed
8 ounces Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese (I use the one without transfats)
1 cup soy milk (I used plain)
1 cup flour (season with salt and pepper)
1 cup bread crumbs (I used a mixture of homemade and panko seasoned with salt and pepper) oil for frying

Preparation:

Cut the peppers in half and scrape out the seeds. Keep the halves together because you have to put them back together. Fill each half of the pepper with Tofutti and put the halves back together.
Put the soy milk and the flour into two separate bowls.
Dip the stuffed jalapenos into the soy milk and then into the flour, making sure that they are well-coated. Allow the coated jalapenos to dry for about 10 minutes.
Dip the jalapenos into the soy milk again and roll them through the breadcrumbs. Allow them to dry then repeat the process to ensure that the entire surface of each jalapeno is coated.
In a large skillet or deep fryer, heat the oil. Deep fry the jalapenos for about 3 minutes or until golden brown then transfer them to paper towels to drain.

I still have some peppers left so I whipped up a batch of Jalapeno Corn Muffins thanks to Beverly Lynn Bennett, The Vegan Chef.

We finished up this delicious meal with a wonderful, cooling green salad dressed with a Dijon mustard and cilantro dressing. Quick, simple, and tasty.

Go for it folks!

You know you want to. :o)

Going where we've never gone before!

DH and I decided it was time to try something new, go where we have never gone before, and expand our horizons with new and different foods. Now I know that many of you out there are much more adventurous and these will not be new to you, but we have to start somewhere. DH and I were watching the Christmas special on Food Network and DH got his first new food recipe to try, Parsnip Puree. For those of you who do not know my DH is a very sweet omni, but willing to try everything. Off to the store we went in search of our new ingredients.

With that said, I bring you Mr. Organic Celery Root also known as

Celeriac and Vegetable Octopus.

Wikipedia definition: Celeriac may be used raw or cooked. It has a tough, furrowed, outer surface which is usually sliced off before use because it is too rough to peel. Celeriac has a celery flavour, and is often used as a flavouring in soups and stews; it can also be used on its own, usually mashed, or used in baked dishes. Celeriac is not as widely used as some other root vegetables, perhaps because it is harder to prepare and clean: Celeriac can leave quite an unpleasant taste in the mouth a little while after eating.

Now we can't forget the star, Mrs. Parsnip.

Wikipedia definition: Until the potato arrived from the New World, its place in dishes was occupied by the parsnip and other root vegetables. Parsnips can be boiled, roasted or used in stews, soups, and casseroles. In some cases, the parsnip is boiled and the solid portions are removed from the soup or stew, leaving behind a more subtle flavour than the whole root and contributing starch to thicken the dish. Roasted parsnip is considered an essential part of Christmas dinner in some parts of the English-speaking world. Parsnips can also be fried, or be eaten raw.

Parsnip Puree

The orginal recipe, which you can find here, has bacon, butter, and whole milk. I used Earth Balance, unsweetened soy milk, and chives.

As dinner was served, I waited to hear what DH had to say about his new found food. "Well it is very smooth and very sweet!" I had to agree with him on the sweet, but I liked our new recipe and although DH cleaned his plate, seconds were not in the future. He said, " I hope Brandie likes it because there are leftovers." Thank you DH for having such a open mind.

What will be next you ask? I already have my ingredients and will share them with you later this week. :o)

Blogging buddies make my week a success!

This weeks food has been made possible by 3 really super blogging buddies. First I need to send a big thank you out to Julie of Everydaydish.tv for her enchiladas recipe. Our ladies group at church has a progressive dinner each year for Christmas. This year the theme was Mexican and the main dish was enchiladas. Seeing that I wanted to eat too I needed to make vegan enchiladas, which I have never done. I emailed Julie and the same day I received an email from her describing how she makes them. Thank you so much! I followed her cooking directions along with a yummy filling of black beans, sauteed leeks, chili powder, red pepper flakes, garlic, cumin the addition of some Gimmi Lean "meat" and some extra Follow Your Heart Cheddar Cheeze over the top of 2 big cans of enchiladas sauce. They were the hit of the dinner. People were shocked to see me eating them and kept saying, "Thought you were vegan". Well, vegans can have just as much fun as the rest of you. Ladies were tasting from my plate and going to get some of their own. Good thing I made 2 pans of them. Sadly in all the hurrying I forgot to take a decent picture so this is all I have to offer. They are so good!!! Boy I want to make some more!!!





My next big Thank you goes out to Becks for asking Jess if I could have her mum's awesome vegan biscuit recipe. Mum, I want to thank you for your fantastic recipe and Jess for allowing me to try them. You have an awesome MUM!!! I have not had a decent biscuit since going vegan 2 years ago. As you can see I had a comfort meal of biscuits and gravy. Brandie made some scramble tofu to go along. Thank you so much sharing!

Ok everyone, lets see what yummy comfort meals we can all come up

with as our weather turn chilly!

Daring Bakers Challenge became a family affair!

Well, folks I don't know where November went, but it is almost over and today was the November Daring Bakers Challenge due date.

This months challenge was CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING.

Brandie got hold of the camera so here I am stirring the Golden syrup.

Brandie was excited to do the decorating. She is an awesome cake decorator.

I made 12 mini bundt cakes, which were decorated in a perfect fall theme by Brandie.

Thanks Brandie!

Look at those cute pumpkins!


All pretty and ready to be devoured!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

How has everyone been? I have been busy with family and our grandson, which has left me with little cooking time. I appreciate everyone stopping by and saying hi while I have been away from my blog. So many things to write about. First off I have been given a blog award by Virginia. Thank you so much! Everyone check our her blog, she is a real sweetie and her blog is fantastic.

Other big news is about our sweet grandson. He turned 5 months old 7 days ago and cut his 2 bottom teeth. He is growing up too fast. Check out Brandie's blog for some really cute pictures. This is one of his new 5 month old pictures.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was made perfect by some great recipes that many of you were kind enough to share.

First I made the Vegan Turkey Roast by Brian McCarthy, which all of you can see and learn over at Julie's site Everyday Dish. I used a flour sack dish cloth to wrap it in because I was out of cheesecloth. I also added 1 tsp of poultry seasoning. I wish I had an electric meat slicer because this roast is going to make some really kick bootie sandwiches!

Next item on our menu was The Best Vegan Green Bean Casserole from Susan over at Fat free Vegan. Instead of baking this as one large casserole I put it individual dishes. Remember my problem with cooked mushroom? Well, this recipe is so good I challenge all of you who have a fear of mushrooms to go for it. Delicious!!! I always hated cream of mushroom soup and was leery, but this mushroom sauce is out of this world!

You can't have Thanksgiving with out stuffing and gravy and thanks to Bryanna we all ate way to much. :o) Her Bread stuffing and rich brown fat free gravy made our meal a huge hit! I used "no-chicken" broth for the stuffing and added an extra teaspoon of poultry seasoning too. If you don't know who Bryanna is go visit her blog, recipes galore!!!

Darn forgot to take pictures of these. You will just have to take my word for it! Delish!

Finally what I wait for all year long, Brussels sprouts. Brandie and I adore them so when winter comes we are all over them. These were roasted with some olive oil, salt, and garlic. Yum!

Sorry no desserts kids. I have been off sugar for nearly 2 months and am doing my best to continue, so apples have become my favorite dessert. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. :o)

I am indeed grateful for all of my blogging buddies. Your kindness and inspiration are a blessing to all.

Hugs!

Frustration and I've Been Tagged

Me and the kitchen are having issues today. Well, not everything, but some. I made some wonderful English muffins and some super sausage, but when it came to bread today I fell flat. I make bread every week so when something terrible goes wrong I have a hard time understanding my stupidity. First I spent 2 hours making Dave's' killer bread from Everyday dish. Now I make this all the time as you can tell from my post here, but today all was well, until I realized I forgot the salt. Nasty! I think unsalted bread is for the birds and I mean that literally. The ducks love it. With that failure under my belt I went to plan B, which is another favorite of the family, My 7 or 9 grain. All was going well until it was time to take it from the pan. It stuck, I mean stuck. The pan was greased well, but still it wouldn't budge. I finally cut it out of the pan, which left us with a very ugly loaf of bread. Next get the camera and document the disasters so all of you can have your giggle of the day and the camera won't work. The batteries have been charging for 3 hours or more and still nothing. Thank goodness I was tagged or I would have nothing to write about. :o)



Well I have been tagged so here are 7 random things about me.



1. I brush my teeth for 2 minutes every morning and 4 minutes every night. I also floss every night before brushing.



2. I rarely chew on the left side of my mouth.



3. I like the taste and texture of raw mushrooms, but can't stand the smell or texture of cooked mushrooms. I really want to and am trying as hard as I can to get past my issues.



4. My second toe on both feet are longer than my big toe, in fact my second toe on my left foot is 5/8 of an inch longer than my big toe. Brandie, my daughter has the same kind of toes and so does our grandson! Yeah! Keep the long toe gene going.



5. When I hit 5' 3" I cried for days. I have blue eyes and loved being 5 foot 2 eyes of blue. Shoot now I am 5'4". Maybe when I get older I will shrink back to 5 foot 2 eyes of blue. :o)



6. I love lizard and snakes. People think that is weird since I am a girl. Right now I only have one snake named Zero. I have had her for about 12 years.



7. I have a phobia of dirty door handles. Especially when you walk out of a public restroom. I always open the door with a paper towel. Hey, some people don't wash there hands. Nasty!!




There you have it. 7 random things about me. I am sure there are many more, but after my frustrating day in the kitchen this is all I could muster up.

Have fun playing this game!
I tag:

Brandie

Becks

Vegetation

Of course there is always a bright light at the end of a frustrating day and that is our grandson.
Isn't he a cutie? Ok, he does not have the Alfalfa look going on. That line is a branch from the haunted Halloween tree that was on the background of the photo shoot.

Can it be? Vegan Corned Beef

Fall is in the air and we have had our first drop of moisture. *cheering*!! We have had a long hot summer here in sunny southern California and today's sprinkles, wind, and patchy clouds were very welcomed. My blogging vacation is over and it time to get back to posting. Have you ever had a craving of something that you have not eaten in a long time? In fact so long ago that you don't know what it really tastes like, but you still want it? This happened to me this past week. I was craving corned beef. It has been so long since I had it that I really can't remember what it tastes like, but I was still determined to make VEGAN CORNED BEEF! After searching the Internet I found Bryanna's New Seitan "Corned Beef" recipe. Let me tell you that it takes some work and I had to use 2 crockpots because it made 2 huge roasts. I even let it sit in the refrigerator for 2 days an idea from Bryanna, which I am sure let the "roast" flavors meld and the texture to form. We sliced it up and gave it a quick heating before serving it up. FANTASTIC!!! Brandie also loved it. Her only suggestion would be to cut back to 3 whole cloves as the recipe calls for 6. This roast has an amazing texture, which in my opinion comes from the minute tapioca in it. Moist, tender, unbelievable! Click on the link above to make this mouth watering recipe. We served ours with chive mashed potatoes, zucchini, and a green salad. Look at that "corned beef"! Sorry for the little green chive stuck on the roast, but it escaped from the potatoes. :o) This recipe has not soy except some soy sauce, but it is made with vital wheat gluten. Bryanna is certainly the Queen of Vegan Corned Beef! Thank you, Bryanna!

VeganMoFo Day 31 Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Today is the last day of Vegan MoFo. I did it. I made it all 31 days. Yes, I feel accomplished. Today's post is a quick lunch that Brandie and I had together. It is about as scary as I can muster up. :o) Two great cooks and one Halloweegan blogger were my inspiration. Lindsay and Vegan dad have recipes for Chickenless Nuggets. I did not have all the ingredients for Lindsay's (Happy Herbivore) so I used part of Vegan dads recipe. Actually the nuggets are from Lindsay's E-book, but the breading is from Vegan dad's blog. The Frankenstein look is from River. She has had amazing Halloweegan treats posted this MoFo.

I give you Frankenstein Chickenless Nuggets!

And now I must get ready for all the little trick or treaters that will soon be arriving.

Ya'all come back now, ya hear! :o)

VeganMoFo Day 30 Mock Tuna Eaten Two Ways

Can you all believe that we only have one more day of MoFo? How quickly this month flew by. Wow I woke up this morning to some clouds and a cool breeze. I was sure today would be a little cooler day and thoughts turned to stew or chili, but as the morning got hotter and hotter that idea flew right out the window. Although it was a warm day bread had to be made. We have been out for a few days and I really hate to spend hard earned money store bought bread. Besides what is costs for a loaf in the store you can make at least 6 or 7 loaves at home.

I was also visiting many blogs and stopped in to Happy Herbivore. Lindsay had her "Mock Tuna Salad" recipe posted with pictures of an amazing sandwich, which I just had to make. Stop by her blog and see her amazing recipes she shares with all of us. She also has her secret stash of recipes that she puts into E-books, which we can all purchase. She is about to release her second E-book on Saturday. Go for it! You won't be disappointed. How about some food porn and my version of her recipe.

Here I used the "Mock Tuna" as a filling for lettuce wraps.

Fantastic! This was one good for me green plates. :o)

This is the delicious "Mock Tuna Salad" on fresh homemade bread. Oh my, I could eat the whole bowl, but I didn't. It is all about control. :o)

Here is my version of her recipe, which is very similar. You can see her recipe here. Now don't laugh, but my version is mostly done by grams. I am trying to track what I eat, so I can find my girly figure, and the program works better with grams.

Mock Tuna Salad

1 15oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (236 grams)

chopped celery, (92 grams)

Sweet pickle relish (33 grams)

1 Tablespoon Tamari or soy sauce

2 Tablespoons of light vegan mayonnaise

finely chopped onion (16 grams)

1/2 teaspoon kelp powder

Mash the chickpeas, I use a potato masher, add the rest of the ingredients, mix well, and chill. Eat and enjoy.

Check out the original recipe for normal measurements. Also I forgot the nutritional yeast, why who knows, but I would for sure add it next time. I love the stuff.

VeganMoFo Day 29 Daring Bakers Challenge

My very first Daring Bakers Challenge. Lets just say this was very interesting. I was thrilled that it was vegan so no substitutions were necessary, but a pizza challenge where you had to toss the pizza was a bit hysterical to say the least. DH took about 10 pictures of me tossing and never got the pizza in the picture. It was too high and I was too low. Yes, he did finally get one picture that makes me look like the wicked witch of the west, but hey it is me tossing a pizza. I told him look at me, gross take another one and I will try and smile. It didn't happen. We couldn't get both of us in the picture. lol... seriously.

Here the little pizza doughs getting ready to rest for the night.

Italian sausage, pepperoni, bell pepper, spinach, and olives with basic pizza sauce with yummy Follow Your Heart Cheese.

We had to make 2 pizzas so here is our second one. This pizza has zucchini, spinach, bell pepper, pepperoni, and Follow Your Heart Cheese.

After all that I forgot to take a picture of the cooked pizzas. Guess we were too busy eating. :o)

VeganMoFo Day 28 Mini sandwiches

Hi everyone, sorry no pictures from the potato bar, but let me tell you the line was long and by the time we got to the table all that was vegan was a potato. Luckily Brandie and I had brought Earth Balance and some nutritional yeast. I did take a picture of a fun lunch earlier. These little mini rice cheese sandwiches are made from some mini rolls I made earlier this week. They are about as big around as a very small juice glass. :o) I just cut them in half, then cut the rice cheese with the little juice glass and gave them a quick fry. Hey like silver dollar sammies. I wanted to cut out a face and make it like a mini jack-o-lantern, but alas, too hungry.

I leave you with a cute picture of Brandie, Micah, and little Micah. What a awesome family!

Look at little casper. :o)

VeganMoFo Day 27 Light and easy

It's a hot one tonight folks. They say our Santa Ana should break by Wednesday and am I ever ready. Bring on the fall weather or at least at close as we can in the San Diego area. I so miss cool temps and colored leaves. I guess that's the price we pay to live here and boy, do we pay the price. Even DH wanted a salad tonight. Not that he is not a salad eater he loves them, but he went without lunch and I figured he would be really hungry. He settled for a very small portion of leftover spaghetti and the salad. Spaghetti was too much for me and I opted for beans. Quick and easy. Of course veggies were included. It always kinda bums me out when I cook up a big pan of spinach and look whats left. Yes, that is the the whole pan I didn't even give any to DH. :o)So sad. Now I know why frozen spinach is so expensive.

Can you believe Mofo is almost over? Tomorrow is shopping day and a Halloween party at church. I will try and get some pictures since it is a baked potato bar vegan eating should be pretty easy. I am making steamed broccoli and a yeasty cheese sauce. :o)