Pictures only :)

Hello beautiful people of the blogosphere and elsewhere.

New Hurr.

Chili, cats, and cookies

Sorry it's been a while since the last post. :) I made this amazing chili with homemade seitan from Vegan with a Vengeance a little while ago, plus corn muffins from The Kind Diet with peanut butter. Yum.

I had a pet photoshoot...of my cat Bourbon.

And made these cookies (my own recipe!) It had coconut, homemade almond/walnut maple butter, and they were really yummy. I wrote down the recipe, somewhere, but I can't find it :( I'll let you know-they were super good!!

                                         

A New Breakfast

 Oat bran has been all over the blogosphere...especially on Heather Eats Almond Butter, so I decided to get some yesterday. I cooked about 1/3 cup with some nutritional yeast, (it was good!) a teaspoon of peanut butter, and toppings were unsweetened coconut and homemade carob walnut granola. Yum!! Like my Tinker Bell spoon?

I have this week off school, so I can actually find some time to blog! I'll just be hanging out with friends, doing an online class, and probably baking...more than usual. :) Speaking of which, I made these Chocolate Thumbprint cookies last weekend for my soccer team. They were so good!

Surprise surprise!

MY camera went through one of these:

Yes. My camera went through the washing machine. 'Nuf said.

It is sitting in a bag of rice right now (supposedly this works?) and I have to keep it there for a week. Only 4 more days...that'll be interesting to open on christmas.
Anyways.

I've been busy busy busy baking, I have made:

Lots of peppermint bark(is white chocolate vegan? I think NOT.)
homemade peppermint-walnut chocolate
granola (vegan)
orange cookies (vegan...not literaly orange but with orange zest and liquere)
sunflower seed cookies (vegan)
sun-butter (veagn...sunflower seeds in a food processor with local honey and a tiny bit of canola)
peanut brittle (so far from vegan its sad)
more non vegan candy...

And maybe I'll just have to make it all again when I can take pictures, just for the sake of the blog :)

I have a curse. A camera curse. They hate me. Urgh. I apologize-the best time of year to blog (in my opinion) and my camera went through a vigorous washing machine cycle. Poor baby.

I guess I can just post boring wordy posts, but who likes that. Maybe I can get my hands on my dad's camera or moms. But with my luck I doubt they'd let me use it :)

Merry Kwanzicha? Merry Christmas, happy late hannukah, and happy kwanza. Or holidays. To sum it up.

December birthdays!?

We have a lot in our family. So many that we just have a joint birthday party for them...My dad, sister, nephew, and brother in law. And extended family, but this is just people that live in the area. We had a celebration at my grandmas, and I brought dessert!

The 4 year old in me was unleashed :D

Fauxtess cupcakes and lemon gem cupcakes from vegan with a vengeanceWe didn't have birthday candles!!! Wow. A food basket put together by my dad for my sister's family: Dark chocolate, clementines, marcona almonds, garlic ann arbor tortilla factory chips, olive oil soap, wasa crackers, cheese, more cheese, hummus, dates, tea, falafel chips, and salsa.

By the way...both my lights in my room are burned out. I have 4 candles lit and one is "homemade cookie" scented. YUM.

I'm pretty busy this week :D Gotta go catch up on email and homework, then make some tea. Talk to you guys soon! Thanks for reading.

My favorite vegetable...and pudding!

And the carrots continue. Thanks for stopping to get these mom :D We still have a couple carrots in our garden, but they always come up so small. So I'll wait it out.

Carrots are by far my favorite veggie (if you can't tell already.) They are soo versatile, raw with hummus, steamed, roasted, stir fried, or baked into yummy casseroles, or muffins, or even stirred into soups.
I love them soo much, I'll go through a bag of full size carrots in 3 or 4 days. No joke.

I can't believe tomorrows Friday...it really is insane! I've felt pretty chill all week, with a little extra time than normal (NOT FOR LONG!) and not a ton of theatre guild practice. We have cue to cue on halloween, from like 11 AM to 9 PM, so no trick or treating for us! boo hoo. Oh whatever, it is only 9 in the evening after all, its not like I can't sneak out to scope out the few houses that hand out dark chocolate and gum, and just give the milky ways and other candy to my friends :)
Speaking of holidays and such, my friend Emily had a birthday yesterday. Happy birthday Emily if you're reading! The vegan cupcake she gave me was VERY yummy. Some sort of chocolate cake with custard, but there was something really gooey about the cake itself that was awesome.

So about that pumpkin pudding-I've been trying over the past few days to get it right. The other day I almost had it-but it was too "jelly" like. The flavor is spot on, but I can't seem to get the texture. I'll notify you guys the second I get it....silken tofu? Hmm. I'll do more research. In the meantime, I had an avocado to use up so I came up with Raw chocolate pudding! Yum!!

Urg. Natural light can be a bit weird sometimes, especially at 7:30 PM. I need better picture techniques.

Raw chocolate pudding:

8 pitted dates

2 bananas

1 avocado

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2-3 tbsp agave or maple

pinch salt

Whiz together in a food processor. Feel free to add chocolate chips, walnuts, or whatever! This is soo yummy and silky smooth. Definetly reccomend it.

I have some english thesis statement waiting for me to tend to, and some cleaning of my room! Talk to you soon, bloggie.

A new week

Ello 'der.

I had a great day today!! I ran a 5k with my dad and sisters this morning. A few players from our soccer team were in it-thats the reason for my soccer shirt. It was really cool, and the route wasn't extremely hard, but I think it was a bit harder than the last 5k.

I finished at 29:55 chip time, which is 1 second off from the last 5k!! That time was 29:54. Bummer. But I still had fun, and I hope to improve next time. Beforehand I had a massive honeycrisp apple, and later in the day I cooked this beauty:

Barley casserole from The Kind Diet. All I can say is MMMMM. I'll look forward to this tomorrow for dinner! It has barley, I threw in some spelt berries, carrot, celery, shoyu, spices, and a delicious tahini dressing with onions and spices. Its then layered and baked, and the tahini dressing hardens a bit on the top, but is still oozing when you eat it. So good!!!
I've had various attempts this week on making vegan pudding. Thats right. So first I tried chocolate pudding...FAIL. I tried it again, even more of a fail! Today I tried pumpkin pudding, and the first time it was so runny, and I tried to reduce it more and little pearls formed of like, cornstarch. I was really confused. Now in the fridge I have a little pumpkin 'pudding' but its more of a weird custard. Whatever. I'll try again!! I know I can do this!!

I have a busy busy week plans, so I apologize in advance for not posting a ton. Have an awesome week you guys :)

So I found this little grey cord...

and it's called my camera cord!

Sparkled Ginger cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance. So very yum.

Kabocha...hmm well okay.

Cookies for Daphne's birthday! These were taken late so the lighting SUCKS. Chocolate chip :D

Roasted apple, onion and sweet potato soup from Fresh and fast vegan pleasures. Very distinct and well bonded flavors. Great for the fall!

Pumpkin oatmeal cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance. I say no more.

I'm sure you can guess what these are...

Hmm. Well I've been pretty darn busy lately, involved in a musical, art, guitar, writing, singing, sports, biking, and homework. Oh, theres also cooking :D

Things have been going very well, surprisingly, the homework load isn't INSANE. I do find time to cook in the evening, although I do the more elaborate things on the weekend. I'm really enjoying biking home, its relaxing and basically all downhill so it's an easy ride.

I missed blogging a ton!!! My mom found the camera cord (thanks mommy!) at her office, and I was very releived and excited to see that I'd be able to be connected to the blogosphere once again. Thank you guys so much for reading....I'll try to definetly post a lot! I got a new photo editing system on my computer, Adobe lightroom photoshop, so expect some strange playing around of photos to come. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a dishwasher to unload.

Olivia :)

When muffins attack

Muffins have attacked our kitchen! Okay, well not really. It was my choice to make them after all. And seriousley, muffins are the easiest thing to bake in the whole wide world. Not a lot of complex ingredients, easy to modify, dont take too long to bake or cool, and they dont involve kneading or setting in the fridge. And they are soo yummy!! Heres some that I made last night before watching John mayer's live concert on ustream:


MMM! Carrot raisin muffins with cream cheese icing. (VEGAN!) From vegan with a vengeance. I think muffins are great fall treats because of all the yummy spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.


WAIT: PAUSE.


I absolutely despise ginger. The texture just bugs me, (its stringy!) the taste is super strong, and I cant bring myself to like it. Even when its candied and drenched in sugar, I still hate it! I hate ginger ale too, and that freaking stupid chocolate covered ginger from whole foods. (TRIED SOME: VERDICT-BLEGH)

So why is it that my favorite kind of tofu dish in the entire world is ginger baked tofu? The world will never know...Maybe because its just marinated in ginger and I dont actually have to chew on slimy stringy knobs of weirdness. I added like 1/4 tsp powdered ginger to the muffins, and its not a big taste, I thought it would just be a good flavor enhancer; and I dont mind it. I guess ginger and I have to take our relationship slowly...baking it into yummy comforting dishes (LIKE MUFFINS AND STUFF) and marinating it. Maybe our relationship will never be healed. I guess I can't be best friends with every food. :D (Also included: papayas, wasabi, fresh apricots.)

Moving on to the muffin recipe.


1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup nondairy milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups grated carrot


Preheat oven to 400'F. Line a muffin tin with cups and spray with cooking spray.

Soak the raisins in a bowl of boiled water and begin prepping the batter. Sift the flour, baking soda and powder, salt, spices, and sugar in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix the milk, oil, and vanilla, and add it to the dry ingredients. (I added a little molasses to the wet and decreased the amount of sugar a bit in the dry...very yummy.) Mix until just combined. Fold in the grated carrots. Remove raisins from the water and add those too.

Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full, and bake 18-22 minutes. Let cool on a rack, serve with vegan cream cheese frosting!


8 oz tofutti cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup vegan margarine
pinch salt
dash vanilla


Cream together, get all the clumps of sugar out, and spread on the muffins! Yum.

These were some banana nut flax ones that I made tonight. Minis! I love mini muffins. So cute. Didn't use a recipe, but roughly the same dry ingredients from the previous recipe above, plus 1 1/2 mashed bananas, 2 handfuls walnuts, and 2 T flax. I think! But it wasn't exact.

Gotta clean a little, get ready for school (5 days!?!?!) and whatnot. I have some cooking coming up after labor day weekend, so stay tuned :D

Back from the windy city

Hi there! Did I mention my birthday was last week? August 26th to be exact. I was very happy with the turnout of the day :D

I made the one thing in my Vegan with a Vengeance Book that I've always been intimidated by: The actual cupcake

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup plus 3 T cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup rice/soy milk

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350'F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners, spray the liners with oil.

In a medium sized bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and powder, cocoa powder, and salt. In a larger mixing bowl combine the milk, oil, sugar, maple syrup, vinegar, and vanilla. Beat at a medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes, add the dry ingredients into the wet in batches, mixing as you go. Beat for a minute longer.

Use wet ice cream scoops to fill the liners 3/4 full. Bake for about 25-28 minutes, Until a toothpick comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack, and make sure they are COMPLETELY cooled before applying any icing.

Fluffy White Icing

1/4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening

3/4 cup superfine (or caster) sugar

2 T plain soymilk powder

pinch salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (get the highest quality you can, the kind that’s thick and syrupy tastes best)

In a medium mixing bowl, beat together margarine and shortening with an electric beater on medium speed until well combined. Add the sugar and soy milk powder and beat for a good 10 minutes until very fluffy. Add vanilla extract and a pinch of salt, beat for another minute. You may want to do a little taste test and add a little more sugar if needed.

Chocolate Ganache Icing

1/3 cup soymilk

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

In a small sauce pan, scorch the milk (bring it to a boil) then lower the heat to a simmer and add the chocolate and syrup. Mix with a rubber spatula for about 30 seconds. Turn heat off, continue stirring until the chocolate is fully melted and the icing is smooth.

Royal Icing for the squiggle

2 cups powdered (icing, confectioners) sugar

2 tablespoons soy milk powder

2 tablespoons water

Sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the soymilk powder. Add one tablespoon of the water and stir, then add the other tablespoon of water, a little bit at a time until you reach a consistency slightly more solid than toothpaste. The icing should not be drippy at all, if it is at a little more sugar.

You will need two cake decorators bags. One fitted with a small hole tip (the kind you use for writing) and one fitted with a large star or circle shaped tip. Fill the large tip one with fluffy white icing, fill the writing one with royal icing. Poke a hole in the center of each cupcake using your pinky. Cram the fluffy white icing in the hole and squeeze to get as much into the center as you can, slowly lifting the bag, until the icing fills to the top. Wipe the excess icing off of the top of the cupcake with a napkin or (if your me) your finger.

Dip the top of each cupcake into the chocolate ganache icing. Tilt the pan to add more depth to the icing for easier cupcake coating. Place all the cupcake on a cutting board, make some room in your fridge and put the cupcakes in there to set the ganache, about 10 minutes.Use these 10 minutes to practice your squigglies for the tops. I use one my left hand to steady my writing hand by holding onto my right wrist. Practice a bit and see what works for you.Remove the cupcakes from the fridge and make your squiggles on the top. Return to the fridge to set, I like to keep them in there till I'm ready to serve them.

They were so freaking delicious. The creamy buttery frosting in the middle made it, and they were so realistic. They werent really THAT hard in my opinion.

We went out to one of my favorite restraunts, Jerusalem Garden, for my birthday dinner. I ordered the hummus appetizer with pita and veggies, plus the tabbouleh. I had a grape leaf, A falafel (!) and plenty of this tahini dressing on veggies and everything else I could get my hands on . We were outside so the lighting was hit or miss, unfortunatley. :(

A little while ago I made a "taco" with an ezekiel tortilla with hummus and veggies on the inside. I folded it over and toasted it, it (unexpetedly) created a shell!


Oh yeah! You're probably wondering about the title. Well, I went to chicago with my friend Daphne and my parents as a spontaneous birthday trip. YAY!

One hour into chicago, I found a grocery store.

Thanks Mom & Dad for taking us to Chicago! I had such a great time with Daphne, shout out to you if your reading. She got me rare John Mayer recordings that are uber-hard to find, and I feel soo special! We are die hard fans, if you didn't know/have already figured it out...Anyways. Thats all for now guys :D Hope you enjoyed this really long post...I wanted to blog in Chicago but I had forgotten my camera cord :/ Oh well!