Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Cashew spread

I made this garden herb spreadable "cheese" this week and it is fantastic! You wouldn't guess that it is soy free and cashew based. Its delicious spread on bagels like cream cheese...a great breakfast option for me since I avoid soy in the morning and therefore can't use the Tofutti cream chrese. I've also used it as a salad dressing and mixed it into pasta sauce....yum!

Here is the link: http://vegnews.reach.li/c/6sgTHm/


Saturday, May 11, 2013

Baby Ian is here!

After 9 long months (and then some), my handsome baby boy, Ian Robert, is here! We did not know the gender before hand so it was such a treat to find out. Pretty much everyone I know either thought it was a girl or wanted it to be a girl, but there can be no disappointment for this precious gift we've been given. My labour did not go the way I wanted and I ended up with an emergency C-section to get him out safely, but it doesn't matter anymore.


We will be subsisting on frozen meals I made before Ian arrived so I don't know how many food updates I'll have for the next few weeks but here are a couple of things I made in the last week of my pregnancy.

Chocolate Mint Oreo Cupcakes- Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
HUGE fan of having the cookies in the batter :) I made these for my sister's birthday dinner.
 Hot and Sour Soup- La Dolce Vegan
I was missing a few ingredients for this so it was pretty basic...but also very yummy and quick, which is great when you can only stand for ten minutes at a time ;)

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Bad Blogger!

OK, so I wouldn't even identify myself as a "blogger" anymore, maybe just someone who happens to have a blog that is rarely updated? I can't bring myself to shut it down completely, if for no other reason than I often refer to past posts for recipe ideas and things I changed about recipes when I'm cooking.

The past few months have been crazy, with full time work, baby on the way, etc, etc. I have been cooking, but I stopped taking pictures, because most nights it was an accomplishment in itself just to have a home cooked meal, picture or not. I have a few pictures on my camera that I'll post, but I don't remember which recipes they all are!

Baby Vegan is expected any time now. My estimated due date is the end of April but I am now full term and on maternity leave for a year! Youppi! I expect I'll be able to post a birth announcement and then probably go into hiding for a few weeks while hubby and I adjust to new life as parents.

Balsamic Glazed "Chicken" with Cheesy Broccoli Quinoa
I believe both of these recipes came from Pinterest and I just veganized them. Delicious, especially the quinoa!


Mystery Meal: some sort of rice and beans!

Chocolate Chip Bars - How It All Vegan

We are huge fans of hummus. In my second trimester, I was making beans and chickpeas from scratch every Sunday and then making delicious, homemade hummus, from various recipes. I've slacked on this in the last few weeks and we've been buying it.
 Spaghetti and Beanballs- Veganomicon
Pretty good, but I prefer the "meatballs" from La Dolce Vegan. For all the prep these took, I would've preferred to just stir beans into the sauce.

Rice and lentils (probably from Supermarket Vegan)

Boston Cream Pie Cake- Vegan Pie in the Sky

I had a Chapter's gift card and treated myself to this book so I'd have the trifecta (cupcakes, cookies and pie!) This cake pie was delicious! Chocolate pie crust, followed by vanilla cake and a cream layer, topped with ganache. Yum!

Mystery Meal- Orzo and red beans

Strawberry Tarts- Vegan Pie in the Sky
So good! I used frozen premade tart crusts since I had a bunch to use up. These are simple and light, and the coconut whipped topping is great.

Spicy Creamy Kale Pasta- recipe here 

I found this one on Pinterest and will be making it again. It was fantastic, and a great way to sneak in some nuts. I've been making an effort to eat more nuts during the pregnancy, although usually I stick to peanut butter!
  
Spaghetti Sauce- recipe here
Billy and I went to visit friends of ours with a new baby and we couldn't go empty handed, so we brought some goodies for them. One of them being this spaghetti and "meat sauce". I veganized the recipe by using Tofurky sausages and Yves Ground Round. Soooo good. Billy stole a bowl of it before we brought it over, and I've since made it for his birthday dinner. I'll also be making more this week to freeze for dinners after the baby is born.

Banana Muffins- nothing special, won't be making these again.  Recipe on pinterest somewhere.

Banana Everything Cookies (?)- Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar
Also made for my postpartum friend, since she's a fan of the recipe.

 Grill Cupcakes

Billy recently celebrated his 30th birthday. I wanted to do something super special, but being 37 weeks pregnant at the time, we settled for a house party with our closest friends! The theme was beer and BBQ and I would say Billy got his fill of both! These are just basic chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, decorated with hot tamales to look like a charcoal grill :) Idea from pinterest, of course!













And made fresh this morning, and destined for the freezer, raisin bran muffins. Literally made with raisin bran cereal. Recipe to come, if I can find it again!











That's it for now!
Send me your positive labour vibes :)