Blahhhh

Ugh, it's the first week back from March break, and I feel like a zombie...I cannot get back into the groove of things, plus I've got a dumb assignment due tomorrow. Anyways, Sunday was nice and sunny and in an effort to feel like I actually did something during my time off I decided to bake some stuff.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins- The Vegan Lunchbox

So yummy! I made jumbo and regular sizes since I had lots of leftover pumpkin puree.


Wolffie's B'naner Bars- La Dolce Vegan
Billy wanted banana bread, but for all of my go-to recipes, I was missing a key ingredient, so I made these instead. These taste just like banana bread but with more of a soft, cakey texture. Billy was kind enough to leave me ONE piece of the eight that the recipe made for my lunch on Monday :P


Stuffed Peppers-Looneyspoons
These were wonderful! I can't post the recipe as mine because the recipe was vegan on its own (except I used vegan Worcestershire sauce). We added a bit of ground round in with the rice and black beans. These are nicely spiced.

Dinner last night...

Lemon Rosemary Roasted Potatoes- Vive le Vegan

YUM



Pizza Burgers- Skinny Bitch in the Kitch

A veggie burger topped with vegan cheese, warm pizza sauce and "peperoni", as well as some slivered fresh basil. Sooooo good! The grilling was courtesy of hubby.


Mint chocolate chip ice box cookies- Vegan Cookies...

These are interesting. They have flakes of fresh green mint in them. They're crunchy but not hard.

Before:


After:


Pumpkin Bran Muffins- Vegan Brunch

Going through my cookbooks while we were meal planning for this week, I was reading out the names of some muffin recipes for Billy so he could decide what kind we'd have. I was prepared for chocolate or raspberry or some deliciousness. But he stopped me at pumpkin bran! Fine by me :) These are really nice and have a nice flavour from cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. The recipe calls for wheat bran flakes, not the kind of bran that's in the cereal.


I got a gift card to Michael's from my brother in law and his wife for my birthday so I decided to go spend it up today. I bought myself two skeins of 100% organically grown cotton, worsted. I've never really seen thicker yarns of cotton. I would never have bought these myself at 12$ a skein, so I figured it was a good way to use the giftcard to spoil myself a bit :) I think I may use it to make some soft storage baskets. The colour is Walnut.


There should be some more baked goods this week eventually....plans for banana bread and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (if I can get off Netflix long enough!)

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??

Perfect Timing

Yesterday, I awoke on my first day of March Break with a cold. And it's only worse today. Nice timing! :( So there was no cooking today, only lots of sleeping, knitting and drinking ginger ale and now tea. So since I have no food updates, here's an update on my latest knitting projects.

Some finished projects:

Tomato pincushion


Star crossed beret/slouchy hat



Unfinished projects:

Cushion cover. I just finished the first side today (it took me nearly three months to do, only because I get bored with it easily. But the zigzags are cute). Hopefully it won't be another three months for the other side!


1 of 2 baby socks. For a former coworker. Gender unknown, so I chose a variegated yarn with neutral-ish colours. This yarn is supposed to give a fair isle effect, which I didn't see much. But it did self-stripe which I think is really cool and way easier than doing actual stripes!


I'm also working on glove #1 of a pair of seed stitch fingerless gloves, but I'm not far enough in to merit taking pictures yet.

Sick tea: loose leaf chamomile citron combined with PC's tropical green tea. I can't taste it but it feels good...

Double Team Dinner

I chose meals for the week that I knew Billy would like and eat (so no mushrooms, zucchini, potatoes, excessive onion, or any other "weird" veggies). We also planned to cook them together. So since we had made a "date" to make this stirfry together last night...it was so much easier to get motivated to get in the kitchen, rather than just vegging because I was tired and didn't want to cook. It was a lot of fun! Billy took care of all the chopping, and I whisked the stir fry sauce together and covered the sauteeing and rice making. Dinner was made and served within 30 minutes.

"The Way We Stir" Chicken Stir Fry- Looneyspoons


PC meatless chicken, snow peas, red pepper and green onions sauteed in a ginger peanut butter sauce and served over brown rice. Healthful, quick and delicious.

Stuff in random order:

My latest knitting project. This was supposed to be a slouch hat, but it was a b*itch to make, so I shortened it to a regular hat. 100% mercerized cotton.


Dinner last night:
Billy BBQed and made me a double stacked veggie burger with a perfectly melted vegan cheese slice in the middle :)


East Coast Coffee Cake- Vegan Brunch
I did the jam swirl option and it is tasty!


Egg MacGuffin- Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Foods
Billy asked for seconds...success!


Here's a photo of what the tofu "egg" patties look like while they're cooking up.


Sunday mornings....does it get any better than that? Rolled out of a bed and the first thing I did was make myself a cup of masala chai. Mmmmmmm

1 month into my new job, I'm cooking again!

I am trying to make more meals that both me and the hubby can enjoy together, since we have a lot of fun cooking together, and its nice to eat the same thing every once in a while. So we chose a few recipes to make this week that hopefully I can show you soon. Of course, I also picked a recipe just for me!

Ham and Cheese Puff Pockets
I got the idea for these from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, although I didn't use the same dough to make them. I just used Pillsbury dough (I don't have time to achieve that kind of flakiness, although I know a few girls who do...ha!) I just wrapped the dough around some chopped Tofurkey deli slices and vegan cheese slices. So yummy! Billy ate it too so it's not just PMS food as the book states :P



Potato and Leek Soup- The Vegan Table

A very simple soup, and it's completely blended. I persuaded hubby to try some (he doesn't like potatoes or onions) and he liked it! I guess because there's no chunks of the offending foods. So while it was intended to be a "Melissa only" meal, he ended up sharing it with me :)

Caesar Salad- The Vegan Table
This was made to go along with the delicious soup. It's not my favourite of the vegan Caesars floating around out there, but it is good and I would make it again. It's simple to make. The dressing is tofu based. I didn't make the homemade croutons though, as I have a big bag of store bought ones to use up.



More to come!

"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