"Nothing will turn a man's home into a castle more quickly and effectively than a dachshund."

From Queen Victoria herself!
We love the breed so much. So much so that...

We got a second dog! We adopted Kali from the Canadian Dachshund Rescue last weekend. She's a six year old black and tan dachshund. She weighs the same as Dill but is much skinnier (very bony). Her owner died, which is how she ended up with the CDR. She is just the sweetest dog ever! Dill and her had a rough start on Saturday, as Dill was very possessive of her belongings (including us!), but a week later they're sleeping in the same bed and following each other around with no aggression. Hopefully they will be fast friends soon! The CDR has offered us support the entire time and I highly recommend them if you are thinking of getting a wiener dog...rescue is so much better than buying from a breeder (we've done both).




On to the food!

I love the urge to cook comforting foods that comes with winter. It's kind of like a middle finger to the cold! Yes, it may be cold, but I'm inside enjoying a delicious meal :)

"Stuffed Shells"- 125 Best Vegan Recipes
These are meant to be stuffed pasta shells, but Billy was the shopper last weekend and didn't get the right size. So I just mixed the pasta with the stuffing and sauce. Its ground round and breadcrumbs with seasonings. Simple and tasty.


Scalloped Potatoes-Vive le Vegan
These are pretty good. Potatoes and onions topped with a soymilk sauce that includes miso and nutmeg.


Ice Cream Sandwiches
For the ice cream I used chocolate peanut butter soy ice cream, and for the cookies, I used the chocolate chocolate chip cookies from Veganomicon. Yum!

Nooooooooooooooooo!

My first time ever hosting Thanksgiving and I forget my &%!$ camera in my classroom! Bah! So we will have to settle with a list of all the food I'm making :(

-chocolate truffles (The Vegan Table): so yummy and simple!
-spinach dip (125 Best Vegan Recipes): always a winner. Note: this recipe is best made with Vegenaise (there are no other comparisons)
-tofu roast (homemade tofurkey, La Dolce Vegan)
-mashed potatoes (mine will have horseradish in them)
-mushroom gravy
-pumpkin cheesecake (Sinfully Vegan)
-green beans in garlic butter sauce (Vegan Table)
-holiday cranberry sauce (Veganomicon)
-stuffing (boxed)
-pumpkin and apple pie

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians...may it be delicious and cruelty free ;)

Listen up picky eaters: "If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being?"

Food for thought....

The quest for hubby-friendly meals continues!

American Chop Soy- 125 Best Vegan Recipes
aka American Chop Suey, or Macaroni and Beef, or American Goulash

This is a simple and yummy meal that comes together quickly. I subbed green pepper for mushrooms to satisfy certain picky eaters in the household. This recipe is listed under the kid-friendly recipes section ;). The lighting in this picture makes me ache for summer time.


Chipotle Veggie Bean Burrito-Vive le Vegan
Not actually chipotle, because I used smoked tabasco instead, but still delicious. A bunch of spices cooked with green pepper, onion, tomatoes and black beans. Billy ate 3. I topped mine with tomatoes and cheese, as the recipe recommends, but you can also put the cheese inside and eat it by hand. An avocado sauce was served on the side.


This is our friend's new puppy Hank, a Cairn terrier. How can you resist that face??

"What's left in the cupboard?" Food

I spent what little grocery budget we had left for the month on birthday food last weekend, so this week's meals were limited to what we already had in house. I think I did a pretty good job!

Breakfast for Dinner, Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Pancake mix, with added in chocolate chips and made with half milk and half water, as I didn't have enough soy milk. Luckily, I always stock pure maple syrup, so these were delicious!



Cheap and Easy Spanish Rice
This was created because I had rice and a jar of salsa and wanted to eat them together. Very simple, and I added in TVP for some protein. Billy liked this, so it was a bonus!



1 cup rice (I used arborio)
2 cups water
3/4-1 cup salsa
1 cup TVP, prepared
margarine
1 clove garlic, minced

On medium heat, saute the garlic and rice in butter for 1-2 minutes. Add water and salsa and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is cooked. Stir in prepared TVP, and fluff with a fork. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Veggies and Dip
I had a bunch of prepared veggies left over from the party, so I whipped up the Thousand Island Dressing from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food to dip them in. So yummy!



Chili and Cornbread-
Amazingly, I was able to make this chili from 125 Best Vegan Recipes with only what I had stocked (proving the importance of a well stocked pantry!). I changed up the beans based on what I had, so there's white kidney beans, black eyed peas, and kidney beans. I also made corn bread from QAEVCF. While I don't particularly love eating corn bread as a side, I love crumbling it right into the chili.


So those were my pantry adventures for the week. Next, the seemingly decadent meals I make after having done groceries today! :P

It tastes good like pepper, but crunchy like a bell.

Ah, Homer...haha.

Billy and I planned our meals together this week to save on groceries, and also, it's nice to occasionally eat the same thing for dinner together!

He has always like stuffed peppers so I thought I'd try a new recipe.

Stuffed Pepper Boats- 125 Best Vegan Recipes

These are stuffed with rice, tomatoes, seasoning, sausage, mushroom, and onion and topped with cheese. The cheese should go on in the last few minutes under the broiler, rather than at the beginning, because it does not melt!

These are delicious...Billy wolfed his down, which translates into "success!".

Banan-o-rama Green Smoothie- Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Foods

Billy doesn't eat a whole lot of greens, or fresh veggies for that matter...unless I plunk them down in front of him. So when he said he loved the spinach mango smoothie I made last week, and then proceeded to pick out TWO smoothies with kale in them....well, you couldn't get me to the grocery store fast enough!

This one has kale, frozen banana and tropical fruit and apple juice. It's so sweet that you don't mind the slight kale aftertaste. The other one had strawberries and pineapple and had a stronger kale flavouring. Also, it wasn't a pretty green colour, so I won't be showing it.

I love these smoothies when I sleep in. Something light and healthy to hold me over til lunch.

I just ordered some Daiya cheese for the first time, so I'm very excited to start cooking with it!

A waffle is like a pancake with a syrup trap...

Lentil Rice Pilaf by Casbah

I have had this box of pilaf in my cupboard for some time now. I was saving it for when I didn't have anything else to make...and yesterday was that day. It has a very simple list of ingredients but is delicious. The seasoning is very nice. I also threw in some baby spinach at the end of the cooking time to add some greens. I plan on buying some more and keeping them on hand for days when I don't want to cook. One serving has 8 g of fiber and of protein!






Billy and I made our grocery list and meal plans for the upcoming week today, and afterwards, I was left with the urge to cook. So for breakfast, I made waffles.

Cornmeal Waffles with Blueberry Syrup- 125 Best Vegan Recipes

The cornmeal gives a really nice texture and I love how these are crispy. I had it with some leftover breakfast sausage.



Update: These waffles freeze really well. I wrapped them in wax paper and then foil, and froze them. To reheat them, I popped each quarter into the toaster for a few minutes. They stay nice and crispy!


I'm off to the kitchen to make some goodies for a bonfire tonite!

A good night

My 25th birthday party was last night. Yes, I threw a party for myself :P But really, I do it for an excuse to go all out and cook up a storm for my friends and family! Here we go...

Spinach Dip from 125 Best Vegan Recipes
I make this dip whenever I'm hosting an event, it is a crowd pleaser and never lasts long. As a life long spinach dip lover, you can't even tell it's vegan! Served in a pumpernickel bowl along with sourdough.


Citrus glitters and Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles from VCIYCJ
The citrus glitters are delicious...I used lemon, lime and orange zest. I decided to try the mexican snickerdoodles, since the blogging community seems to really like them. They are spicy! There's a 1/2 tsp of cayenne in the batter. It's an acquired taste. I didn't mind them, but some people didn't like the spice. These would also be good without the pepper. It's weird because they're still really sweet, then you taste the spice, and suddenly you want another bite!

Guacamole from Vegan Brunch

Very nice. Served simply with salsa and tortillas. I left out the raw red onion and cilantro, not a fan.

Ranch Dip with chips-internet recipe

A simple mayo/sour cream dip with garlic powder, onion powder, parsley and pepper. Also a crowd pleaser...no leftovers today :(

Gingerbread cupcakes with lemon buttercream from VCTOTW

I also made the basic chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream, which were a hit. As an aside, for our wedding this summer, we opted to serve cupcakes instead of sheetcake. I made all the cupcakes and used VCTOTW's chocolate recipe. People were fighting for seconds!

Billy requested the gingerbread cupcakes. The cupcake itself is not very sweet but the icing makes up for that. They're good but not my favourite flavour.

The rest is in this picture of the food table...

I put numbers on top of the items but it's hard to see:

1- a 6 layer nacho dip from Vegan Comfort Foods: refried beans, sour cream mixed with taco seasoning, guacamole, salsa, lettuce and green onions. This was a favourite too, it did not last long!

2- veggie platter with a vegan store bought white bean dip with grilled red peppers. It was ok, not everyone's favourite so I was quick to point out I didn't make it haha. Also, there were mini pitas served with it.

3- spinach dip, as above, in pumpernickel with bread served on the side

4- fruit platter with chocolate pudding dip

5- at the bottom, tsatziki sauce, made by a friend, apparently from V'con. Very good with pitas and pretzels!

6- guacamole served with salsa and tortilla chips

7- on the cupcake tower, chocolate cupcakes with buttercream. It's a mini cupcake tower so I couldn't load it up, and had to put the cupcakes out in batches

8- gingerbread cupcakes with lemon buttercream and crystallized ginger

9- citrus glitter cookies

NOT PICTURED- mexican chocolate snickerdoodles, the camera cut them off (top tier)

No emphasis was placed on this being good vegan food....it's just good food!!!

And my drink of choice last night, from Vegan Brunch...

Pink grapefruit mimosas

Yum! Grapefruit juice, pink champagne, and agave.

Tonight's dinner is a store bought flatbread with storebough bruschetta, so I will not be cooking today :P

IS ANYONE ELSE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH UPLOADING PHOTOS? They all come in at the top and it takes forever to arrange them :(

Wanna see my weiner?

My husband and I got a puppy just before Christmas. A miniature dachshund (weiner dog) named Dill (as in the pickle). She is rambunctious and beautiful...and lots of work!

Billy and I made the hearty bean soup from 125 Best Vegan Recipes before the weekend. I brought some with me to camp, and it was the perfect meal after snowmobiling! Black beans, navy beans, celery, carrots, tomatoes...mmmm. Not the best picture, my new apartment just doensn't get the same great lighting for food pictures like my old place.

Today, I made the peas and basil risotto from Vegan Italiano, as well as the Tuscan beans and tomatoes. The risotto is so creamy! I love the fresh basil in it. The beans are also very good. The book tends to use can sizes that aren't available here, like 15 oz cans of beans or tomatoes, so I decided to up the amount of beans and tomatoes, but didn't bother to up the quantity of garlic and sage, so these could be more flavourful.

I also made the banana date scones from Veganomicon today but did not have time to take a picture, so I will try to post it later. I will say that they are very healthful, and a good breakfast bread. No refined sugar, just dates and brown rice syrup.

I've been working a lot more now and sadly my cooking was pretty non-existent for a while. That, and I also forgot to take pictures of the food I did make. But I do have a few things. A couple weeks ago, I made sticky pecan squares from 125 Best Vegan Recipes. They were really good. It's basically a shortbread type base with the crunchy sweet pecan mix on top.

From V'Con I made the cashew quinoa stirfry, which was really good. I really enjoyed the quinoa cooked in pineapple juice. I also grilled some smoky tempeh to go along with it.

And for a party this weekend, I made vanilla gluten freedom cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes...mini style! They were so cute, and everyone really enjoyed them. I prefer the chocolate ones, but the vanilla ones aren't bad either. Today, I made the chocolate ones to use up the icing I had leftover, which is just the buttercream frosting with a bit of red food colouring.

Bad pictures, but good food

Well, after a hectic, busy and sleepless month...I'm finally done school! I am now a teacher. Woot! While I did cook a bit, I didn't always take pictures, but I'll show what I do have. Billy turned 25 last month so we had a big party with lots of good food.
I made Billy's favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe from Vive le Vegan, and then also made a gluten free batch for our friend with Celiac's. The gluten free ones were so good!!


I also made him a wheat free carrot cake with cream cheese icing from Sinfully Vegan, but I forgot to take a picture. It was delicious, and I'm glad he really enjoyed it. I also made a standard chocolate cake with chocolate icing. I can't remember for sure, but I think the chocolate cake recipe was from How It All Vegan, and everyone loved it.

I also had a hummus platter with veggies and mini pitas, as well as some kick butt spinach dip from 125 Best Vegan Recipes. It never lasts long.



Meals were kept pretty simple during my teaching placement. For example, from Vegan Italiano, I made a quick broccoli pasta sauce. It was very tasty.

Last night, for game 7 against the Flames and the Sharks, I made chocolate gluten freedom cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes for all our friends to eat. They were surprisingly moist. It was my first time cooking with quinoa and tapioca flour, and it was well worth the 12 dollar flour!

Lots of Food!

Today, is my last day of class!! But I'm not done school. I have next week off and then I have a month of practicum teaching...then I'm done! Woot!

I've been cooking more lately, which feels great.

First, I made a pasta recipe from 125 Best Vegan Recipes: penne with sundried tomatoes, artichokes, portobellos, roasted red peppers and onions. The onions are lightly caramelized, and then you throw in the rest of the ingredients, ten minutes later you have dinner. This dish was really good and something that I'd expect to get from a restaurant.

I also made the lemon and pea risotto from Veganomicon. Yum yum. The basic risotto before the addition of lemon juice, zest and peas was good too, but I really like the lemon twist. It's served with roasted red peppers.

I made cookies for class yesterday, although I ended up being one of two people that brought something so they didn't last long. I made the chocolate raspberry cookies from V'con. They are so good! Chewy and rich, with a distinct almond flavour from the almond extract. I think the word "almond" should be in the name of these cookies because it kind of overrides the raspberry flavour. Nevertheless, very good cookies and they were loved by my classmates.

Also, from V'con, I made banana bread for Billy. For some reason, my microwave timer stopped so the correct baking time on these was kind of a guess, but it turned out really well. The molasses in the recipe gives it a nice, different flavour.

Last, I made some slowcooker porridge from Vegan Slowcooker, using steel cut oats. The taste was good, but in the morning the porridge had brown spots on top, so I'd cook it a little less next time. With some brown sugar and soy milk, it was a good breakfast to start the day.

Pudding, tofu and tea

I made the chocolate pudding from "125 Best Vegan Recipes" but I didn't have cocoa powder, so I just used chocolate chips. The recipe made four little pudding cups worth, but you could easily double the recipe. It was really good pudding! Not too sweet and the perfect texture. I think you could even leave the chips out and make vanilla pudding.

This morning, I was actually up at a decent hour, so I made brunch, courtesy of Veganomicon. I made the tofu florentine with home fries and cheezy sauce. Its basically braised and broiled tofu on a bed of home fries and steamed spinach, topped with a nutritional yeast sauce and chopped tomatoes. I'm not a huge fan of slabs of tofu, seasoned or not, but this was actually really good. The tofu in combination with all the other foods was a good balance.

I also had some Spring Morning green tea brewed in my cute tea set, which Billy's mom got me for my birthday. The loose leaf tea and the tea set are from a store called Teaopia. They sell tons of different loose leaf teas, and you can make your own combinations as well. They also have an in-store coffee bar, kind of like Starbucks but way better, and also way more vegan friendly!

Updates

Lots has been going on since I posted in January. Like I mentioned, we're engaged. Not much going on in terms of planning right now. I'm on the home stretch for school, so I'm focusing on that. We have a foster kitty living with us, and we're all settled in to our new apartment. I turned 23 on Saturday and celebrated with a surprise party, courtesy of Billy and my friends. Billy even baked me a cake from Sinfully Vegan, so this was the first time I haven't had to make my own cake ;). It's the chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting. I also happened to have a spinach dip made up (from 125 Best Vegan Recipes) and it was a smashing success, tasted just like the real deal.

I haven't been cooking as much as I'd like, but I have made some things, and forgotten to take pictures of most of them. I made the double pea soup from Veganomicon. It was alright, but I'm not sure I liked the use of so many green peas. I ended up blending the soup to make it look more appealing, pea soup is supposed to be thick and creamy!

I also made the jelly donut cupcakes, which were alright. I think the corn starch gave them a funny taste, but they were a nice snack.

The Caesar salad in V'con is great though!

And tonite for dinner, I made linguine with bread crumbs and lemon from Vegan Italiano, which was very good, along with some skillet garlic bread and steamed broccoli.

My job application has to be in by the end of the month, so I'm hoping that after this week I can get back into a more regular cooking routine again.