20 Days and Counting

Well whether we are ready for it or not Christmas will be here in 20 days, for those who celebrate Hanukkah you only have 11 days.

Not that I am trying to induce any stress.

This year we've taken a pretty laid back approach to Christmas and the shopping that goes with it.  Having three kids we decided there are a plethora of toys in our house already so we should come up with about 3 meaningful gifts for each of them and then focus the remainder of the day on hanging out with family and enjoying a meal together...OF course there will be focus on food (I love the stuff).

So let me share with you a delicious treat and something that might distract you from any stress you might be under.

• 1 1/2 C all purpose unbleached flour
• 1 C spelt flour
• 1 1/3 C sugar
• 3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 Earth Balance, melted
• 3 ener-G egg replacers
• 3 Tbsp almond milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• Place flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix together with a fork and set aside.
• In a separate bowl mix together your Earth Balance, vanilla, almond milk, and egg replacers.
• Gradually add in your dry mixture and beat until fully incorporated.
• With damp hands form two loaves (12" x 3") from the dough and place on a greased baking sheet.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.
• Allow the loaves to cool for 10-15 minutes on the baking sheet.
• Remove from the sheet and slice the loaves (you should get at least 12 slices from each loaf).
• Place the sliced cookies back on the baking sheet, cut side up, and bake at 325 degrees for an additional 20 minutes.
• Allow them to cool before dipping (or eat them as is...I promise they are delicious just like this).

These might not make you all zen

But hopefully they will give you a nice little break.  Pair these (yes you should have at least two) with a cup of hot tea, chocolate, or coffee (whatever your please is).

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Enjoy Life....Indeed

There has been a huge lifestyle change at my house.

We've gone from lazy days of summer to the more regimented days of school.

They all went off to their first day with a smile on their face and so many stories to tell when they returned home.

Along with the joy of school comes the task of lunches.  My kids don't have a cafeteria and thus have to brown bag their lunches...which I love but then I also have to constantly be thinking of nutritious and delicious foods.

I was given a wonderful surprise when Enjoy Life Foods contacted me and asked if I would like a sampling of their crunchy cookies.

I gladly accepted their offer and was so stunned when I opened up their package to reveal this

We received all four varieties:

Sugar Crisp
Vanilla Honey Graham
Double Chocolate
Chocolate Chip

The great thing about Enjoy Life is that their cookies are gluten free, nut free, and soy free.

Did you know that not only can you enjoy the cookies straight out of the package but there have been numerous recipes developed USING the cookies in them.  To see some of the delights please click here (my favorite is the double stuffed sugar cookies).

When my kids hear "gluten free" they often think the product will be lacking flavor...but I assure you they had no idea that the gluten was lacking in these products.

They happily gobbled up the samples and gave 6 thumbs up (2 for each child of course).

They are now begging me to break into the bigger boxes of cookies.  Won't they be so excited when they find a cookie in their lunches!  They will indeed be going back to school in style.

Thank you Enjoy Life for giving me the opportunity to sample and review your cookies...they are a treat above the rest.

Have you tried any gluten free foods?  Did you enjoy them?

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BACON!

I know that when I was an omnivore one of the meals I enjoyed was pancakes (topped with maple syrup) and bacon.

Since assuming a plant based diet, meals like that are a thing of the past...or are they????

I thought they were gone and dead until I found Wayfare's "Pig Out"

These taste just like I remember bacon tasting.  

They are crunchy bits which are good on salads and by the handful for snack...but put them IN my pancakes and it is just like having one of my favorite meals back.

They are hard to see but the confetti you see in the pancakes are the "bacon" bits.

The batter was just a simple pancake batter:

1 C all purpose unbleached flour (I prefer King Arthur)

1 C almond milk (regular or vanilla will work in this)

2 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp oil (I use grapeseed or olive)

1 ener-G egg 

1-2 Tbsp Wayfare bacony bits

Cook them up in a skillet and enjoy!

I highly recommend these for a nice leisurely weekend breakfast so you can sit back and enjoy the delicious flavors.

Do you have any combinations that you really enjoy pairing?

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Weekend Wrap Up

This post is a day late, I apologize...I like to get the Wrap Up's up on Monday.

Anyway this past weekend was a long one (I love a 3 day weekend) and it included some fun activities.

On Saturday I ran in the Color Me Rad 5k.



There were about 8000 runners, which I thought was a lot of people, taking part in this fun run (it was not timed).

It was so much fun to run through the cornstarch paint and to come home looking like a tye-dyed shirt.

My oldest didn't mind giving me a hug

But my daughter didn't even want me to give her a kiss.

In fact this was as close as she was willing to get to me:

They have already announced that the race is coming back to town next year...so I will be ready when it is time to sign up.  Hopefully I can convince some friends to join me.

Sunday was Easter.  

We have started to not give gifts to the kids.

By that I mean they have no need of toys (we have way more than 3 children can play with). 

So they woke up on Sunday to no Easter baskets but they did have some cards from family members and they each got a small bag of jelly beans.

You know what?  

They were perfectly happy.

People get caught up in consume, consume, consume, and in the end you don't need everything your purchased.

Now I don't mean to go far off track here, but the reason we don't want them to be gifted with tons of stuff is so they realize they can enjoy what they have and we can make sure quality items are purchased (quite often you end up with chintzy plastic stuff that breaks so quickly).

I'll get off my soap box and show you what I did make for the kids:

These are chocolate Easter eggs filled with vegan buttercream.

My paternal grandmother made these every year and they were the highlight of the holiday (now mind you she also put a little bit of money wrapped in plastic in the middle) but they were oh so delicious.

I have such fond memories of these that I wanted to pass this love on to my kids.

Hopefully they will appreciate them.

So that was my weekend in a nutshell, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend what sort of things did you get into?

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Fabulous Friday

Yes it is a wee bit chilly here in Carolina, but I consider myself lucky that I don't have any snow or power outages like they do in neighboring Virginia.

I have been completely failing when it comes to providing recipes here, and I apologize for that.

To be fair though I have been eating some delicious stuff...it just happens to be OTHER bloggers recipes.

I will start with breakfast that I made for my kids this week.  I say for the kids because the jackals didn't leave any for me.

Apple and Cinnamon Monkey bread from Sharon at Bit of the Good Stuff:

                                                       Source: bitofthegoodstuff.com via My Naturally Frugal Family on Pinterest

Peanut Butter Fudge that I discovered over at Spabettie: 

                                                       Source: spabettie.com via My Naturally Frugal Family on Pinterest

This is some of the most addictive fudge I've ever had.  The delicious peanut butter, chocolate, and saltines all mixed together are just YUM!

As Kristina said "You Lucky Duck" if you have everything on hand to make this goodness.

Vegan Sweet Potato and Ginger soup from Grubarazzi (I am eating this tonight):

                                                         Source: grubarazzi.com via My Naturally Frugal Family on Pinterest

I love these two main ingredients and I can only imagine how delicious they will be together.

The strange, but weird, dessert that I am making tonight, comes from Leanne of Healthful Pursuit.

Vegan Lemon Pudding (as featured on SkinnyTaste):

                                                                        Source: skinnytaste.com via My Naturally Frugal Family on Pinterest

At first blush this doesn't sound too weird...except the secret ingredient is TOTALLY unexpected (I won't tell I want you to check out the recipe).

So that wraps up the delicious finds for this week.

Do you have anything that you eat that was particularly  noteworthy?

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

And I want to say congratulations to Ju for winning my 3 month Conscious Box subscription that I gave away on Thursday.

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January Vegan Food Swap

Well due to a few technical difficulties (mostly operator error) I am a day late in posting what I received as part of the Vegan Food Swap.

First things first though.  The swap is coordinated by Cat over at The Verdant Life.  You are asked to spend up to $20 on your recipient and include a hand written note (a lost art for sure).

This month I was paired up with Shannon of Gingery Snips and Snaps.

I opened my box and was stunned.  Look at all the goodies:

Journey Bars

vegan candy bars

Vega and chocolate chip cookies

Primal strips

Vega is my go to protein powder, so I am always glad to get some of that.  As for the rest of the items I have never tried them before.

I was very excited to get the Primal strips.  I look at them every time I am in Whole Foods, but just haven't brought myself to try them.  Shannon gifted me with teriyaki and hot & spicy.

The chocolate chip cookies were made from Mama Pea's recipe in Peas and Thank You.

I have never heard of Journey bars but I am excited to try them...just not sure if I should go with barbeque or   pizza.  What are your thoughts on it?

The 3 that I will save till the end are the candy bars (Jokerz, Mahalo, and Angell).  When I feel like I need a treat I will break into one of these.

Shannon thank you so very much for an awesome box, it was jam packed with things I have really been wanting to try.

So after seeing this awesome box do you want to be part of the action?

There is still time to sign up for February's swap (deadline is Tuesday the 5th).

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Happy Friday!

Hello everyone!

I hope that you are staying warm.  Here in North Carolina it is 27 degrees and it is supposed to start snowing by noon.

The accumulation isn't supposed to be more than an inch...but I don't know how much you can really trust the weather people around here.

Today, because it is so cold, I wanted to share a few warm thoughts from Pinterest:

                                       Source: destination360.com via Ashlyn on Pinterest

                                                                 Source: facebook.com via Lesley on Pinterest

                                                                    Source: search.pricebuster-travel.com via Michele on Pinterest

                                                           Source: keeps-me-crying-carolina.tumblr.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

I am very ready for summer to get here...or at least warmer weather.

Before I sign off for this balmy Friday I wanted to share something I stumbled upon.

On Etsy there is a group of vegan artisans who have come together and produce vegan items...should that be of interest to you.

You can find them here or by going to www.Etsy.com and searching veganetsy (yes all one word).

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Brownie Biscotti with Peppermint

Hopefully none of my kids teachers are reading this post...but I will just take the risk.

For teachers gifts this year I made brownie biscotti dipped in chocolate and peppermint, they were accompanied by a jar of homemade hot cocoa mix.

I know teacher's get tons of gifts and I always try to make the gifts something they will enjoy and something that will not clutter their houses.

The biscotti themselves are vegan, but I dipped half in white chocolate (which does contain milk) and then the other half in semi-sweet chocolate, which was free of dairy...so it was vegan.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C all purpose unbleached flour
1 C spelt flour
1 1/3 C sugar
3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 Earth Balance, melted
3 ener-G egg replacers
3 Tbsp almond milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Place flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix together with a fork and set aside.

In a separate bowl mix together your Earth Balance, vanilla, almond milk, and egg replacers.

Gradually add in your dry mixture and beat until fully incorporated.

With damp hands form two loaves (12" x 3") from the dough and place on a greased baking sheet.

Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

Allow the loaves to cool for 10-15 minutes on the baking sheet.

Remove from the sheet and slice the loaves (you should get at least 12 slices from each loaf).

Place the sliced cookies back on the baking sheet, cut side up, and bake at 325 degrees for an additional 20 minutes.

Allow them to cool before dipping (or eat them as is...I promise they are delicious just like this).

The ones dipped in semi-sweet chocolate and candy cane tasted just like a thin mint cookie from the Girl Scouts.  I happen to like those cookies A LOT so it is fortunate I've given these away and they don't have to add any inches to my waist line.

I hope you all are ready for Christmas...it is only 7 days away (not that I want that to frighten you).

What sort of gifts do you give your children's teachers?

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Taste of Europe cookbook review

I was given the chance to review and write a post about Mark Reinfeld's new cookbook The 30 Minute Vegan's Taste of Europe.

I was pretty excited to take a peek at this.

I love European food but since giving up on meat and almost all dairy I wasn't sure what delicacies I would be able to eat.

Mark's book though is chock full of choices separated out by various countries, instead of chapters.

I went straight to France first, as I have been to Paris a few times and have always thought their food was amazing.

He has recipes for:

French Onion Soup
Kermit's Relief (faux frog's legs)
Seitan Bourguignon
Quiche Monet

However to please my family I went with Italy and Greece for our first recipes to try.

I chose a spanikopita filling and instead put it in ravioli (I used wonton wrappers as a short cut) and topped it with Mark's Italian sun dried tomato sauce.

The picture isn't very good as the pasta was warm, and steaming, but I did the best I could with my amateur skills.

Oh my goodness the filling was wonderful.

It had tofu in it and my kids ate it right up...no idea that it was in there (to them that is a little bit of a "funny" ingredient).

The recipe was simple to follow and I never had a moment where I had to second guess the directions.

Mark puts variations for each recipe as well as a tips and trick section to make things a bit easier.

I found these sections answered any questions I had about the recipes I was reading.

This is a great cookbook for vegans, wannabe vegans, or vegan curious.

You will find tons of variety in the food choices and will surely find a meal that omnivores to vegans alike will enjoy.

Do you have any new cookbook that you have found?  Do you have any one your Christmas wish list?

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How do you spelt goodness?

My title is my attempt at being funny...

How it is working?

When purchasing ingredients sometimes companies are kind enough to put recipes on the packaging to give you some ideas.

For example we are all probably VERY familiar with Toll House and their cookie recipe.

Today I want to share something that I found on the back of my Arrowhead Mills Spelt flour bag (hence the spelt joke).

Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 C Earth Balance, softened
3/4 C turbinado sugar
1 Ener-g "egg"
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 C spelt flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 C vegan chocolate chips

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.

Take a tablespoon scoop and place about 2 in. apart on a greased cookie sheet.  They will need to be patted down if you want a flatter cookie (I found that these didn't spread as they cooked like a traditional all purpose flour cookie will).

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

This recipe made 30 cookies.

They were completely delicious, of course you can't really go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie.

I really enjoy the "nuttier" flavor of the spelt flour and I think it gives it another layer of taste which just ramps up the yum factor for the cookie.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  I have decorating and cookie baking to do?  What is on your to do list?

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Peanut Butter Shortbread

I was given an opportunity by Mom Central and Food Lion to participate in a bake off blog tour.

I thought about what I wanted to present and instead of going with a family favorite I went with something new:

Peanut Butter Shortbread

The recipe is easy but delicious!

You can put these together in about 20 minutes.  Which makes them perfect for throwing together for a teacher's gift, or maybe for a holiday pot luck.

Ingredients

6 oz unbleached all purpose flour
2 oz sugar
4 oz smooth peanut butter
2 oz Earth Balance (or butter if you prefer)

Soften the peanut butter and Earth Balance in a bowl and add in your flour and sugar.

Stir until combined and then press into an 8x8 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

Allow them to cool completely and then top with melted semi-sweet chocolate.

I used 2 semi sweet baking squares melted in the microwave to top these treats.

Allow the chocolate to cool before cutting into squares.

Do you have a recipe that your family loves?

Food Lion is hosting a baking contest through November 28th.  Entries can be submitted here.

You can enter recipes into four categories:  Appetizer, Main Dish, Side item, and Dessert.  Twelve lucky grand prize winners will receive a $500 Food Lion gift card....that is a lot of food for the holiday time!

So get baking and submit your entries today!!!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour for Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Food Lion. I received a promotional item to facilitate my shopping experience and review

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Vegan Palm Sugar Cupcakes

On Friday I had a bit of a panic when I realized I was supposed to bring in 4 dozen cupcakes for a quarterly birthday celebration in my 10 year old's classroom.

Have no fear!

With a copious amount of baking ingredients on hand I was very pleasantly surprised to turn out these beauties:

Palm Sugar Cupcakes (vegan)

2 1/2 C all purpose unbleached flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

2/3 C Earth Balance (softened)

1 3/4 C palm sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 egg substitutes (I used ener-G egg replacers)

1 1/4 C almond milk

Combine everything in a bowl and mix until combined.

Pour into cupcake liners and bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center).

This should make about 30 cupcakes (just make sure you use about a tablespoon of batter per liner).

Now these are delicious on their own but they taste EVEN better when topped with vegan chocolate buttercream.

The cake is moist and light.  

The palm sugar gives the cake a toasted flavor to it which really gives it another layer to put it a step ABOVE just a regular cupcake.

I had to have a bite....I just couldn't help myself.

How palm sugar is made is pretty cool.  Take a moment and head over to Wholesome Sweeteners and check out their process.

What flavors of cupcakes do you enjoy?

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Vegan MoFo #6 Cheese

I had two friends contact me wanting more information on cheese.

Not just any cheese...vegan options for cheese.

I was happy to oblige them with the little bit of knowledge that I have and a sprinkling of personal experience on top.

For me the jump to vegan was always held up by cheese. 

It was a food that I enjoyed, at least I thought I did.

Going vegan has meant experimenting and find new ways to enjoy old favorites.

So please allow me to present you my favorite cheeses on the market today, and these opinions are solely my own (I was not compensated in any way for this).

For starters, and my recommendation to my friends, was that it depends on what type of cheese you want to determine what company I would go with.

For example my favorite Parmesan substitute is:

 It has the consistency and similar flavor to that of regular parm.

Sometimes with a sandwich I like to have a melted slice of cheese, my preference is for (by Galaxy Nutritional Foods, same makers of the parm): 

The cheese melts nicely on a bun.  It has the same consistency of conventional cheese slices (I think you would be hard pressed to know the difference in a taste test).

One of my favorite foods to eat is pizza.  Where as I was not a huge mozzarella fan I think people look at you a little weird if you eat naked pizza...enter Daiya:

When melted it is gooey and stretchy.  If I don't feel like making pizza at home I have found that Brixx and Mellow Mushroom both offer daiya as an alternative (without any extra charge).

Lastly cream cheese.

I have a tie here for favorite:

Tofutti and Follow Your Heart both have a smooth and spreadable product.  Neither has an odd flavor to it, in fact the flavor is more more mild than traditional cream cheese.

In additional to spreading easily on bagels they also perform admirably in baking projects (and have made it possible to still enjoy cheesecake).

This by no means an exhaustive list, as there are products out there that I have seen in my local stores (like Daiya sliced cheese).

Additionally I have done very very minimal experimentation in the making of my own cheeses...although I did make this cheese spread from Dianne over at Veggie Girl.

Do you eat vegan cheeses?  If so which ones?

Have you tried making your own?  If so link up a recipe?

Sharing is caring :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday and I will be mofoing it again tomorrow!

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WIAW Birthday Edition

Another Wednesday

Another What I Ate Wednesday (aka WIAW) post

This Wednesday's post is a little different.

Not only is it WIAW it is also my birthday.

Yeah October 3rd is pretty much the best day of the year and this year I have the distinction of turning 35.

Holy Crap!

It kind of sounds old when I type it...I don't feel it, more like 25 (at least in my mind).

This post will be doing double duty as it will also be another notch in my Vegan MoFo belt (at least 20 posts during the month of October).

Let me say "Thank You" to Jenn from Peas and Crayons for hosting this for the past 89 weeks (yeah I know that is a long time).


However enough babbling let's get to the eats:

I have been severely addicted to Sharon's Raw Chocolate Banana Energy Shake...seriously it is like having dessert for breakfast.

I only made one substitution and that was adding Artisana's raw cacao bliss because I don't have any cacao nibs. 

This added a nice light coconut flavor and just makes the shake that much more decadent.

For lunch it is kind of meager, but in my defense the shake was super filling, I have 3 stalks of celery, 3 carrot sticks, and a tablespoon of peanut butter.  It was delicious and completely what I wanted.

For dinner I had vegan chili cornbread slaw mess. 

It doesn't have a better name because truly it just looks like a mess, but one that was delicious!!!

I did finish the day off with a slice of cake...it is my birthday after all.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Wednesday. 

Be sure to head over to Jenn's and see what other fantastic foods my fellow bloggers were having this week.

Recipe for slaw:  here
Recipe for cornbread: here
Recipe for cake: here

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It's Big, It's Huge, It's Vegan MoFo

This year I have decided to join up with tons of other bloggers and participate in the Vegan MoFo.

MoFo you ask?

Vegan Month of Food...get your mind out of the gutter I wasn't talking about THAT kind of mofo.

I am very excited and a little nervous as most bloggers will post every day of the month...YIKES!

To make things more complex I am also doing the October Unprocessed 2012 challege (where I eat food that I either make myself or COULD make myself using whole foods NO processed foods).

I know I can do this.

I know I can talk about all things vegan and unprocessed for one month.

So to start things off I have Hershey's chocolate cake veganized.

It had to be a dessert because the chocolate will calm my nerves as I prep for what lies ahead.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Cake

2 C sugar
1 3/4 C all purpose unbleached flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 C almond milk (I chose unflavored)
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 C cocoa powder (I used Ghiradelli)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 ener-G egg replacer eggs
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 C boiling water

Grease two 9-inch round cake pans.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put all of your dry ingredients in a bowl and mix with a fork.

Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla (beat for about 2 minutes).

Add in your boiling water.  This will make your batter very thin...but trust me the result is AWESOME!

Bake the cakes for 30-35 minutes

"Perfectly Chocolate" chocolate frosting

1 stick Earth Balance
2/3 C cocoa
3 C powdered sugar
1/3 C almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt your Earth Balance and then stir in your cocoa. 

Alternate adding powdered sugar and milk.  If you think the frosting is too thick add just  bit more milk.  For mine the 1/3 C milk was perfect.

Add in your vanilla (you should have about 2 cups of frosting) and then spread on your cooled cake.

I added some candles because tomorrow is my birthday.

I encourage you to check out the other bloggers participating in Vegan MoFo maybe it will inspire you to replace some of your conventional foods with vegan friendly options.

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Bean - Restaurant Review

Last week I went to Charlotte, NC for a 3 day class in Uptown Charlotte (I think they call it that to be pretentious).

Anyway downtown was lovely and had some vegan options for me...however I do like to branch out when I am in a different city and sample from local restaurants.

While in town I tried Bean Vegan Cuisine.

If you happen to go please do not be discouraged by the outside (it looks a bit like an 80's pizza joint), it could use a little renovation to bring it a fresh new look.

However the outside aside the food was delicious.

I tried their BBQ tofu sandwich with sides of potato salad and fruit salad.

I didn't actually get to eat the fruit salad with dinner (no worries I saved it for breakfast) because I wanted to save room for the carrot cake cupcake.

The sandwich was perfect.  The tofu strips were crunchy and I actually thought for half a second that they might actually be chicken (upon further inspection I realized they were not).

The BBQ sauce was a little sweet and wasn't added in such copious amounts that all you tasted was sauce.

The veggies to go on top were fresh and crisp making for a delicious sandwich.

The potato salad though left something to be desired.

It was a bit watery and lacked flavor (a pinch of salt may have helped). 

I didn't enjoy it so I didn't bother to finish it.

The perfect end to the meal though was the cupcake.

A perfectly spiced cake with delicious buttercream on top...mmm scrumptious.

When you are someplace new do you go to a local restaurant or do you stick to your favorite chains?

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