It's Been Forever, or I'm a BAD BAD Blogger

I know, I know.....since April '08. But part of my New Years' Goals is to be more organized, which includes actually being active in all of my commitments (including blogging).

Since then, we found out we are expecting child #4, we lost a furbaby (Princess- one of our sister cats- she had always had some problems and died in my arms, very loved and very missed), and dh is going in for another surgery at the end of this month.

HAPPY VEGANNIVERSARY to us!! The 1st of this month is one year of committing to veganism, and I am so happy about that choice. Staying ignorant to the suffering of others is no excuse to continue a lifestyle that is damaging.

I do cook and bake as much as I did when I started this blog, I just haven't been sharing. I promise to try and post as often as I can with yummy pics and recipes (including many of my oh-crap-what's-left-in-the-kitchen-throw togethers :p )

This weeks highlights (sorry- no pics) included a PB and chocolate chip cake from Vegan Express, Seitan and Shallot Marsala with Homemade Gnocchi from The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook, Vegan Cowboy Tamale Pie, and a freezable Apple Walnut Cake - this one can be made in 2 loaf pans instead, and I subbed 1/2 cup mixed seeds for 1/2 cup walnuts and everyone loved it.

I have been trying to cook to "feed the freezer", in other words- doubling recipes and freezing the extras so that once this baby (a.k.a Peanut) comes, we'll have some stress-free, healthy "real" meals. I used to do OAMCing (Once a Month Cooking) sessions when we only had 2 preschool-aged kids, but find devoting a whole day to just cooking/preparing food/freezing to be too much with running my business, homeschooling/socialization and working out of the home. So, most of what I will be posting will be freezable foods :)

Nice to be back and I hope my 1 reader catches this update LOL!

Vegan Raspberry Whisper Bundt Cake

I modified another recipe to come up with this tasty moist cake...Dessert for tonight, but the kiddos and I tried a sliver to make sure it is up to standards ;)
It's not overly sweet and I topped it with powdered sugar...My Bundt pan reminds me of a castle.

Raspberry Whisper Bundt Cake-

3 tsp EnerG egg replacer
2 c plain rice milk
1 c raspberry syrup (in breakfast aisle)
1/2 c oil (I used a mild olive)
4 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 c. flour (I used 2 c white and 1 c whole wheat pastry flour)
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350
Grease and flour your bundt pan. In one bowl, mix EnerG egg replacer powder with all of the liquid ingredients. In a second bowl, sift all of the rest of the dry ingredients together. Add dry mix to wet. Mix together until combined, do not over-mix.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, checking that a knife pulls out clean. :)
Let cake cool, then pop it out of the pan and sift powdered sugar on top.

EAT!

The past coupla days.....

Here's Mock Tuna from this recipe. I didn't add celery, subbed regular onion for the green and I upped the pickles and onion quantities, though.

It's very good. Reminds me of my childhood. Now all I need is some cancer-bread (squishy white bread) and some potato chips to shove on top, under the top piece of bread :p

I wonder if it would work in a "Tuna" Casserole? My hubby loved that when he was a kiddo ans still eating flesh.


Here's some pics of the 3 Bean Chili I mentioned yesterday. They are horrible, but it's a crappy cellphone camera.

The first one is the whole crock, the second is in the bowl.
I screwed up the recipe for anyone not liking spicy stuff, though. We have really cheap chili powder and I doubled it....last time I bought this stuff, that's what I HAD to do. *sigh*, it made it inedible to the males in the house. My daughter an I loved it, cuz we love spicy food :p

It was too spicy for us today (after a night in the fridge. Needed Better than Sour Cream to calm it down...

Next time I will just use the requested amount and touch up at the end.



For your sweet tooth, may I present the Cheeseless Cake w/Cherries and Soy Whip:

It was yummy, but did not taste very cheesecake-y...which is what my husband was craving. I may try it again using Better than Cream Cheese by Tofutti.

We all still liked it, as it's own kinda pie.

As crappy as my photos are, I thought the glowing dessert was kinda cool :)

Hope everyone (all 2 of you, lol) enjoyed the food porn provided today from the gilleoin house.

No pics, but a decription and review :p

My newest group of cookbooks included The Simple Little Vegan Slow Cooker, Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker and pre-ordering Nava Atlas' Vegan Express....

Yes, I was harsh on Mrs. Atlas' Vegetarian Celebrations in a past post, but this book way makes up for the Vegan shortcomings of that one :) (And again, I'll state that I do realize that the other is a Vegetarian book, not Vegan-- before a lynch mob heads this way)... We've tried two of the recipes, paired together at her suggestion. The Cheese Grits with Corn (made with Vegan Gourmet Cheddar) were a perfect accompaniment to the BBQ Tempeh Bacon with Black-Eyed Peas and Greens. Everyone in this family loved it, I used Swiss Chard for the greens and even my less-than-happy-with-greens 8 yr. old ate his serving and asked for more. So, thank you Ms. Atlas, from the gilleoin household. Bonus points to her for having one of my fave vegan blog mistresses create the photos for the book :)

Other recipes I'll be reviewing/posting pics of will come from the other books mentioned. Yes, I am a cookbook addict. I also have Vegan Family Favorites on its way here :)

I wish I could get my hands on Vegan Lunch Box, but the scammers selling used at Amazon have it priced at $101.00- $299.98 *sigh* And the second printing isn't coming out until the end of June! People who do that annoy me...it took me literally years to get a copy of Simply Heavenly for less than $35-$100 because of the same type of scammers. I finally found it at Alibris or Bigger Books or another shop like that for $13 plus shipping, so I paid what it would have cost brand new at B&N with the shipping included ($20). If you are looking for it right now, half.com has it for $16, though. It's a very good cookbook with a ton of vegan recipes, including mock meats/seafood and mock cheeses/dairy products :) We've liked all of the recipes I've made so far...

In the crock pot now- 3 Bean Chili with Chive Flecked Cornmeal Dumplings (I'm using scallions instead of chives, though) from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. Don't let Vegetarian dissuade you from getting this one if you are vegan, she lists the recipes with vegan alternatives, too.
In the oven- Ruth McClanahan's Creamy Tofu Cheeseless Cake from Compassionate Cook: Please don't Eat the Animals. I did jimmy around with the measurements to make less filling so it would fit in a store bought graham cracker crust. This will be topped with cherries MMmmmMMmm.