Tuesday, May 23, 2006

You know you're a procrastinator when...

I will never understand why I'll devote all the time in the world to my blog during the school year, when its the last thing I should do, but now when I'm only taking one correspondence course, I put it off. Weird!

So this means I've probably got a long post, with lots of pictures. I haven't really been inspired to cook lately, so I haven't been trying a whole lot of new things, but I did some groceries today, and I feel like cookin' again! Bam!

First, from Vegan with a Vengeance, I've mostly been making cookies and junk. A lot of the recipes seem complicated, so I haven't made any entrees or anything. I made the Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies. Cookie heaven! Chocolate cookies with an almond flavouring, with a dollop of jam in the middle. So freakin' cute! And delicious too. Between me, my mom, and my boyfriend, these didn't last long at all. I imagine these would be great with raspberry jam, but I worked with what I had, apricot and strawberry. Both were equally good. Its a really soft cookie.














Also from VwaV, Chocolate-Rum Pudding Cake. I've never made or eaten pudding cake before, and it is pretty good. It wasn't fancy or anything, but it was a great treat while watching CSI late at night...I loved how the "pudding" kind of went to the bottom of the cake. I tried it with ice cream, but preferred it all on its own. It was a pretty rich cake, best served with a glass of vanilla soymilk.














Then I made oatmeal banana raisin waffles from VwaV for breakfast. What a pain in the butt. I'm not sure if it was the texture of the batter or the waffle iron, or a combination of both, but the first batch was ruined. The batter stuck to the very well oiled iron and it still isn't clean! The second batch made it through, but I wasn't all that impressed with the waffles. They seemed kind of grainy. But there was a nice banana-cinnamon taste to them. I think I'd maybe try them again, to overcome the negative feelings from the first batch.














While we're on this "baked goods" roll, let me introduce Cootie's Coconut Cookies from How It All Vegan. These gems are like banana bread cookies, with the twist of coconut in them. Yum! These didn't last long either, and this time I was the only one eating them ;). Billy would love these, if I left the coconut out. I have dreams of trying this recipe again with chocolate chips instead of coconut. Mmmm mmmm. These were so simple to make, I whipped them up after a long shift at work and curled up with my book (Scar Tissue) to enjoy them warm from the oven. They are moist and sweet and full of banana flavour.














Now with all this junk food, I feel I have to present something healthy! Last week, I had a craving for a pasta dish that needed to be quick enough to make before work. Enter Vive le Vegan's Pureed Chickpea Pasta Sauce with Fresh Herbs. Oh my yum! It is so delicious and so easy to make, you just puree all the ingredients in a food processor, add some herbs and green onion and toss with cooked pasta. I really wanted to use my whole wheat bowtie pasta, so I did, but I think this sauce would work great with noodles too. And I didn't make enough pasta, so the sauce was a bit excessive, but that's my fault. The sauce has chickpeas, garlic, sunflower oil, lemon juice, miso, tamari, vinegar, dry mustard and some spices and seasonings, including turmeric, with soymilk. Fresh parsley and oregano were stirred in at the last minute, and it was all served with fresh lemon. I loved it! Its tangy and delectable.














So I'm all caught up now. Tonite I'm making cabbage rolls from La Dolce Vegan. I'll post about those soon.
Some life updates:
I saw the Da Vinci Code yesterday. It was alright, I was a little disappointed with some of the changes they made from the book, and I spent the whole carride home pointing out those changes :P I'm like that.
Billy got accepted to Sports Administration at LU, the same school as me...so next year we'll both be starving students together :) I'm really proud of him. He didn't get into the Phys Ed. program he wanted but he's excited about this program, and they only accepted 50 people. Its the only program of its kind, so its a great opportunity for him.

Well I'd best get cooking!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was a little disappointed with the Da Vinci Code as well. What was with that ending? And just one cryptex? Come on. Oh, and your baking looks great! :)

Melissa said...

Haha, don't even get me started :P

Anonymous said...

I used to have a waffle iron, but always ended up making a mess of it like your first batch. So, I gave up. However, the look cute.

You've tried a bunch of VwaV cookies I have yet to try. Now I'm inspired!

KleoPatra said...

That first trio of cookies reminded me of Mickey Mouse.

All your stuff looks so good!

Nice to see you posting again, by the way...

Carrie™ said...

Those banana coconut cookies look great! I've been so consumed with making recipes from LDV, I forgot about the other 2 books! I should dig out HIAV and make those. I feel a cold coming on, so I'm sicky and sucky and craving treats. Cookies usually work. :o)

sarchan said...

Yeah, I've noticed that vegan waffles can be quite finicky. The only "trick" I've had luck with is letting the waffle iron heat up, on the highest setting, and letting them in until they are sort of crispy (which is how I like my waffles), even if this means waiting a little longer until after the iron beeps. I know this isn't much of a trick. But I have managed to make successful (rather than soggy) vegan waffles! So--never fear:)! Anyway, I've been thinking about trying that Chickpea Sauce from VlV for quite awhile, and I think you convinced me. Everything looks delicious as always.

Danielle D. said...

Soooo...have you cooked anything new lately?