The Christmas Line Up

To be honest when I started this post I got the 12 days of Christmas song stuck in my head. And on a completely not food related rant....I see so many people use the 12 days song as a count down of sorts. A cutsie to do list Christmas count down.... I'm not religious AT ALL but the 12 days of Christmas are the days AFTER Christmas. Everyone GOT it.

Moving on. I am going in reverse order here starting from today and working my way back. Today was cookie baking day. I always bake cookies with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law for Christmas. Sister-in-law, Jenny, has a 1 year old who would be taking a nap during the time I wanted to bake. So mother-in-law, Judy, decided to do split shifts.

I got the morning shift and she let us bake all Vegan cookies! We knew for sure that we would do Mexican Wedding Cakes because they are my favorite. I used the recipe from The Joy Of Vegan Baking. This recipe calls for a lot more nuts then other recipes I've used. We didn't mind one bit. They turned out wonderful. A buttery, crumbly cookie with the crunchy nuts and sweet powdered sugar. Yum!

The second batch of cookies we made were Chocolate Chunk Spice Cookies from edbv. I made these for the first time earlier in the week to bring to our Christmas lights sight seeing. After having a sample, Judy requested that we make these on baking day. I'm not usually a big fan of chocolate cookies but these will be a favorite. They taste like a chocolate version of ginger bread. I love the spice of them. They are chewy with a nice edge.

We had planned to make three different batches of cookies. For our third batch we were trying to decide between the Chocolate Peanut butter Shells from Damn Tasty or the Pfeffernusse from My Sweet Vegan. I didn't really care and Judy's vote was the chocolate peanut butter. First we ran out of cocoa powder and forced Joe to the store. Then we were out of molasses and made him go again. Only when he was back did we realise that we didn't need molasses if we weren't making the pfeffernusse. We decided to just make both.

I was afraid the Chocolate Peanutbutter Shells would be very labor intensive and delicate. They were neither. Isaac helped me form these cookies with no problems. He flattened out the chocolate dough and put in the peanut butter. Then he curled the chocolate all around and rolled them into balls. He did an excellent job. The cookies baked up really well and tasted pretty good. Not my favorite. I would like the peanut butter in the middle less goopy and more doughish. I'm not sure if that makes sense. There is a very similar recipe in another of my books that I will try next time.

The Pfeffernusse look and feel really delicate but handle very easily. With the amount spice included and the smells while baking, we thought these cookies would be very spicy. Instead they have lightness to them. The spice isn't strong and the cookie crumb is slightly fluffy.

These cookies will be the ones gracing the table during tomorrow nights party.
Isaac's birthday is fast approaching, Jan.8, and I plan on making him a volcano cake that erupts. (There will be tons of pictures, don't worry) I needed a bundt pan for this and Judy came to the rescue. Vegan cakes can be touchy at times so I thought it might be a good idea to test out the recipe I was hoping to use. I chose the Chocolate Cake recipe from Joy of Vegan Baking.

I should have lowered my rack down one. With the cracks on the cakes surface I could tell that the top had cooked solid to soon and cracked when the middle tried to rise more. Obviously from the pictures it was still edible. This is a delicious cake recipe. There is a strong chocolate flavor and great texture.

Also from JVB was the Chocolate Frosting. I added a tablespoon of instant coffee granules for a mocha flavor. This frosting is creamy and rich. I think I like it even better then the chocolate buttercream in VCTOTW. There was enough to frost the entire cake but if it were a layer cake I'm not sure if it could have filled the middle.
Doesn't this picture look dirty? This is Fuyeah's Baked Seitan "Toi-key" SEITAN. At our Christmas eve party we usually have a sandwich bar. I've seen good reviews for using this seitan on a vegan reuben and thought I'd take some along. So, we haven't had our sandwiches yet, but I'll keep post about the results.

I also plan on making the Bean & Corn Tortilla Lasagna with Avocado from edbv to take. I think it'll be omni friendly. I'm also not a giant mock meat fan and won't be so worried if the seitan is a flop with this along.

Mac and Cheeze is one of Ramsey's favorites. I've yet to hit on one that everyone likes though. This version is from Cozy Inside. The texture was wonderful and it smelled divine. But for some reason it was pretty sweet. I'm thinking that maybe if I used a different miso, but I'm not sure. Ramsey liked it well enough. Joe and I finished our servings with help. Joe with Mexican spice and me with salt. This is worth adjusting though, the creaminess is great.

Ramsey had an awful cold this week. She's not a giant soup fan, hates it, but it sounded like a good thing to make. Just in time Julee posted about Cindy O's "Chicken" & Rice Soup for the Soul from La Dolce Vegan. Well Ramsey still didn't like this but the rest of us did! I used powdered bouillon and it was still wonderful. Most of my soups usually have barley and the rice was a nice change. There are plenty of herbs and pepper. Umm, I want some more right now. This would be great with or without the seitan.

And we are back to the beginning of the week. On Monday I broke out the twinkie pan to create the cakes. They had to sit for a day before they were filled with strawberry jam, dipped in chocolate, and rolled in coconut. This completed their transformation into a vegan Lamington .

I brought vegan twinkies to the candyless Easter hunt this last spring. They were gone in minutes. Mary Jo commented that they tasted like junk food and she meant that in the best of ways. I then told her about this version and promised to make some.

Curse my big mouth, she remembered. I'm kidding. But Mary Jo did remind me of what I had said and I thought they'd make a nice Christmas treat at our weekly park day. Well, with Ramsey so sick we couldn't go but Mary Jo kindly came buy to pick up the lamingtons.

What started out as a light fluffy twinkie must have tripled in weight once they were finished. Joe and I each had one and thought they were excellent. Mary Jo said it best, they taste like junk food in the best way.

Happy holidays to everyone. I'll be making a lasagna with garlic bread. You'll be seeing pictures next week. I'm also working on a screen print of Zorac from The Brak Show for Isaac. He's obsessed. Hopefully I'll have pictures of that also.

must.not.buy

For anyone who hasn't been to my house, I have a kitchen appliance obsession. I could list them all but frankly it would be tedious. (Actually, Joe occasionally reads my blog and I don't want to refresh his memory of any purchases that might have 1. escaped his notice or 2. he's managed to forget about) I can't sleep, as usual, and was looking through the favorite blogs of people who are my favorite. I came across a post about someone owning a Mochi Machine! I have never heard of this appliance. Immediately had to look up and see if such a contraption existed. It does!

Now you're thinking, 'Really, who NEEDS a mochi machine.' I'll have you know that we eat mochi at least 5 times a year. Obviously I don't need a mochi machine. Honestly I'm not really that tempted to buy it. Ok, maybe a little, but not really. It's just so cool.

That's it. Wanted to share. Long live mochi.

Edit: I'm happy to say that I've already corrupted Isaac with kitchen appliances. I thought the corruption only ran to Joe with Star Wars, video games, Simpsons....the list keeps going. Check out Isaac's wist and you will see a mini donut maker. He says he wants it for Christmas. Ha.

Breakfast for dinner

Ok, pesto take 2. Even thought last weeks pesto was way to spicy I still wanted more. This time I used the exact same recipe from The Vegan Family Cookbook but I roasted the garlic. What a difference it made. Both children ate this without screaming about burning mouths. It was a much more mild garlic flavor but still a hint of garlic spice. I'll make it this way from now on.
We love having breakfast for dinner. Everything from pancakes and waffles to more labor intensive meals that I have no desire to make upon first waking. These Breakfast Burritos from Hot Damn were excellent. I left out the mushrooms which I'm sure no one is surprised about. The recipe calls for sliced red pepper but I really hate coming across big chunks. I'm pretty sure that's why I don't like fajitas. So anyway, I diced my bell pepper. The leftovers were good even cold. Ramsey snubbed this but Isaac thought that it was ok.

Vcon Red Lentil Cauliflower Curry with rice and homemade roti. This was excellent. It also reheated beautifully. I really thought it would end up much more spicy but it didn't. The kids were just fine with the seasonings. I have never cooked with a parsnip before, I'm actually not sure if I've ever even ate one. I loved it. It was like a more flavorful potato. I loved scooping up big bites with rice on my roti. Yum! This will be made again.

Raspberry Cornmeal Pancakes from edbv. BLAH BLAH BLAH. That's about all I can say. There was no flavor. I really thought that the raspberries would help out a little more. I dumped half of mine into the trash. This was also something we threw together for dinner.

Coconut Curry Tofu On Green Jasmine Rice. Say that three times fast. This is also from Hot Damn. This was not kid friendly at my house but Joe and I loved it. We both ate the leftovers for lunch today. The kids took one look at the green rice and started complaining. I'm not a big fan of tofu that isn't fried or crumbled beyond recognition but I did like this. I'm also not super fond of chunks of cooked tomatoes in my food. The sauce and tofu were wonderful and the bites of tomato added that extra juicy citrus it needed. The green rice was the perfect accompaniment. It almost had a pesto taste to it but the coconut milk gave it a Thai flair.

Next week will have Vegan Lamingtons. It's a twinkie filled with raspberry jam, covered in chocolate and rolled in coconut. I will be bringing them to park day on Wednesday. I'm pretty sure I'll be making some cookies also.

Lazy

This is going to be a lazy post. Those of you closer to me know that I have problems with my stomach and there are good stretches and bad stretches. I've kicked into a down slope that I'm doing my best to avoid or shorten. It does cut back on my experimental cooking and that makes for boring blogging. Hopefully I'll be eating up a storm again soon.

In the theme of laziness I'm not getting up to grab the books these recipes come from. You'll be getting the name of the book and my guess at the title of the recipe. Let's consider it a game.

Below is Thai Curry Potatoes from The Vegan Family Cookbook. We all liked this pretty well. I'm not sure why it's called curry as I tasted NONE. I'll be upping the seasoning in this. Maybe I'll just up the seasoning in half as the kids were pretty happy with the original recipe. I was happy to see the spinach and coconut being sent down their gullets.
Truffles from edbv. These are wonderful! You can see Joe and Ramsey snitching some in the background. The tablespoon of Kahlua and 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract give these truffles a fruity background flavor almost like cherry. The coconut milk does not leave any notes of coconut that I could taste. In the future I'll double this recipe so that I'm using up a whole can of coconut milk and not just half. If I'm already going to all the effort to make truffles I figure the more the merrier.

I rolled my truffles in cocoa powder and stored them in the fridge. They defiantly have a better flavor and texture if allowed to sit out for a bit before eating. These remind me of the truffles that you can get from Henry's. Those were always my favorite. They just melt on your tongue.

Pesto from The Vegan Family Cookbook. With this recipe you can choose to roast the garlic or just use it raw. I chose raw as I'm totally lazy. I will roast in the future. We really liked this pesto and it was very easy but the raw garlic was so spicy! The kids couldn't take the heat and even I was sucking down juice. (That made it worse btw)

Not a food but I still had to post it. This is the other fabric that I ordered from repotdepot. The skirt is two complete layers, not just bottom accents. I did that for warmth and because the pink skeleton fabric is pretty light. This is a circle skirt with an elastic waste band.

I have one more piece of fabric in the wings ready to be transformed into a Christmas skirt for Ramsey. I guess I should get started as the holiday is closing in fast. I have visions of a beaded bubble skirt in my head. This will be a new experiment

We had a last lunch yesterday and so this was our oh so healthy dinner. Apple Crumble from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I put a bit of vanilla Silk yogurt on top of mine. (That is my favorite flavor) This was a good recipe. The only thing I would change would be the way my apples were cut. I think I would prefer them to be chunks instead of sliced like is seen below. I have no idea why it just seems like it would match better.

That's all that's up for this week. On Thursdays me and my friend go to my moms and watch Project Runway. We record it on Wednesday and then can zip through the commercials. Anyway, I have plans to make the filling from the Pumpkin Cheese Pie, edbv, as a dip and a side of the Baked Cinnamon Chips. We have paired these together before and it was sensational. I even bought brown rice tortillas from Trader Joe's (the clerk said they were really good) as my mom is gluten intolerant. Everyone who has tried the cinnamon chips has LOVED them. They are so much better then the fried version. We make them constantly.

Taa.

Penguin Love

This penguin fabric from reprodepot was the fabric I wanted to be sure not to ruin. Everything turned out great if I do say so myself. I know that it's not really clear in the picture but I am particularly proud of the black edging on the skirt. Sewing a hem on a complete circle is NOT easy.

(The Kahlua and Rum in the picture were purchased today for some up coming recipes. I'm not such a horrid lush that I have liquor sitting out at all hours of the day. Though sometimes that sounds like a good idea )

I decided that the bodice was to plain and added an applique. I love the way that hand stitching looks and decided to make it look even more vintage. Uh huh, 2 freaking hours. I'm not a novice at embroidery and TWO hours. Next time I'll use the damn machine.

Ramsey was even more excited when she saw the penguin on top. What a good mommy I am. This is where you all pat me on the back, ignore any mistakes you spot and act amazed at my talent.

It's not good if it's not deep fried

I have to start off with this dress that I made Hammy. She was twirling in the picture. First I made a circle skirt and then attached a bodice. This was my first shot at a circle skirt. Now that I've got a pattern down I have some cuter, more expensive, fabric that can be transformed. The fabric used for this grey dress is nice and thick for winter. I'm not sure if I'll add embellishments.
I've made vegan baked donuts before and yeah they're pretty good. But they're pretty good in a cupcake/muffin kind of way. I would turn my nose up at them but they aren't what I think of when the word donut comes up.

The little donut holes below aren't actually what I think of about the word donut, either. These were very good but they remind me of beignets. They are slightly crispy on the outside and nice and tender inside. The powdered sugar and nutmeg are what scream beignet.

I've never made crepes before but have always liked them. The recipe in edbv seemed simple enough that I was willing to give them a try. I didn't ruin one! They were light and tasty. I put cut up strawberries and defrosted blueberries inside and topped them with Celestial Cream, another edbv recipe.

The Celestial Cream is wonderful. I used the smallest amount of maple syrup and it was plenty sweet for us. I don't think I would ever increase the amount of sweetener. I'll be keeping my eyes open for other recipes that look like they would benefit from a helping of this cream.

I just had to take a picture of this juice because it was so pretty. I was making orange juice when I saw some pomegranates sitting on the counter that needed to be used. I decided to see if they'd juice on a citrus juicer. Well, they juiced just fine. After I did the first half I noticed my wall looking like a murder crime scene. After that I juiced with a towel over the top of my hand. The funny thing is that I juiced the oranges first but it's on top.

Orange Sesame Tofu and Simple Swiss Chard from edbv. This is actually rainbow chard, but whatever. I really don't like chard. Well, ok I don't mind it raw in smoothies. Isaac will only eat greens if there is corn mixed in.

As for the tofu, it really wasn't anything special. Dreena says it's one of her kids favorite recipes and I don't really see why. My kids didn't like it and I don't really have anything good to say about it. I won't make it again. I might make the marinade and then pour that over fried tofu but I didn't like it this way.

And another edbv recipe, Lemon Poppy Seed Crackle Cookies. These were ok, not special. I didn't bother putting away the leftovers and I'm not sure if they were thrown away or were eaten. They remind me of a lemon poppy seed muffin but in the case of these cookies I'd rather have the muffin.

I've always loved shortbread cookies and I had a craving. On vegweb.com Ashley's Amazing Shortbread Cookies have excellent reviews. I rolled out part of my dough and it was very easy to work with. I didn't have to put it in the fridge at all before it was able to roll. The rest of the dough was used to make jam thumb prints.

I might try adding a 1/4 tsp of molasses to get a touch more of a buttery flavor but other then that these cookies are wonderful. I made my thumb print balls a bit to big but that's operator error. I recommend these, they are much better then sugar cookies.

I've tried my hand at making roti/chapatis several times and they've always fallen short. Recently I came across all of these Indian cooking tutorials on youtube. Seeing the roti made gave me a much clearer picture of what to do. The end results were delicious.

The family has decided that the "Spicoli" Burgers from edbv are defiantly our favorite. Before it was between these and Celebrity Adzuki Bean Patties. When I was pouring out my hemp seeds I realized that I only had 3/4 cup. The recipe calls for a full cup. I subbed out for 1/4 cup of cashews and everything came out fine. It's good to know that things don't have to be so exact.

Also pictured are our favorite potato wedges. I never measure or use the same herbs twice and that makes a recipe difficult to give. Basically I cut up the potatoes and shake them in a plastic bag with a bit of oil. I add a few herbs and a few teaspoons of nutritional yeast and that's it. Bake and serve.

Bean & Corn Tortilla Lasagna with Avocado. This is yet another edbv. I can't give enough praise for this recipe. This was so easy to put together and was amazing. Isaac ate all of his and then asked for seconds! A dish with whole black beans and the kid asked for seconds.

Here is the inside. Isaac did pick out his avocado because he said that it shouldn't be cooked. I'm always happy to eat avocado. It's a win win in my book. I already have this meal on my list to make again this week. It really is amazing.

I saw these gems on have cake, will travel! and knew that they were right up my alley. I was certainly right. They remind me of something that I can't put my finger on. They are crispy and peanut buttery and slightly chocolaty. I used a mix of maple syrup and brown rice syrup.

The kids have never had any of those sugary cereals (that I know of) and are over the moon about the leftover cocoa rice crisp cereal. They think it's a wonderful dessert. That's about it for this week. I need to get started testing out Christmas cookie recipes. I have a pretty good plan in my head but I want to make sure it'll be easy to execute.

Thanksgivng = Gambling & Guns???

First let me start by saying, I know I'm probably the last vegan blogger to get up my Thanksgiving post. Let's just move on from there.

From here on is picture evidence of a white trash Thanksgiving. It honestly wasn't but when I finally went through my pictures I just cracked up. It seriously looks like we are freaks.
First up we have Ramsey. When I'm dressed up in nice clothes the first thing that I like to do is sit in the dirt. Yes, I know she's three. All you moms out there have to admit you cringed a little seeing this.

Ah yes, it's not Thanksgiving without guns. Isaac's older cousins have gotten into BB guns. I think they might have called them something else but I can't remember. Everyone gets 1 guess what Isaac wants for Christmas now. Any one have the answer yet? I'll give you a hint. You could probably blind your sister with it.

And let's not forget about gambling. We strive to be good roll models for our children. How do you think we're doing?

On holidays we always play LRC, left right center. Everyone starts out with three 1 dollar bills. You sit in a circle and there are 3 dice. They have L,R, and C on them along with some plain dots. You roll one die for each dollar you have. If you get L you have to pass your bill to the person on the left. I'm assuming everyone understands R. If you get C, center, then you dollar goes in to the center pot. A plain dot means you keep. The last one with a dollar wins.

Isaac won $33 and Joe won $49. We only played two rounds and our family won both.
We actually aren't trashy enough to have our kid running around with no shirt on for dinner. He got a bloody nose, happens a lot, and I rinsed the blood off and Joe's aunt put it in the dryer.
Here's the husband, Joe, playing with our nephew Race. Don't you love his red hair?

Last we have Pumpkin Cheese-Pie from EDBV. The picture isn't that pretty but I took the first piece. The first one never comes out the best. I really enjoyed this pie but I would like it better with a traditional flaky crust over the graham cracker crust that was used. It was a snap to throw together and was plenty tasty. I'll make it again. Oh, and that's soy whip.

For our meal I bought the Tofurky feast. I'm not really a fan of Tofurky or most mock "meats". For future holidays I'll just bring a non-traditional dish that I know I like. Still the feast was good enough. Put enough cranberries on anything and it'll cover back ground flavors. Joe and I both really liked the potato cranberry dumplings that came with the meal. I will have to try and recreate that recipe.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Quick note...

I plan on posting tomorrow with food stuff but I had to write about a few things tonight.

1. Because of Lorien I signed up for Google's feed reader. I can't sing it's praises enough. I feel so much more in touch with the blogs I want to keep up with. It's so much faster!

2. life among the trees is my new favorite blog. So many things are posted that look good to eat and that I think my kids actually might like. Yea!

3. Nothing to do with food, I spent the day getting puked on. Ramsey has a stomach bug and it's not fun. On the bright side she is a pro vomiter. She takes it all in stride. I wish I was more that way. I get freaked out.

That's it. I should be posting tomorrow if I'm not over run in vomit.

Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck

In a previous post I had a picture of baked squash with garlic but mentioned that it wasn't baked as long as we normally like. This picture below is much more is to our taste. Nice and golden. I'm actually baking some more squash right now, grown by my friend Erica. We are having that along side of some Celebrity Adzuki Bean Patties.
From Veganomicon, Spaghetti and BeanBalls. These beanballs aren't something that I'll likely make again. They weren't awful but they were a bit mealy. I ended up shoving mine to the side. The kids liked them well enough and Joe said that they were ok. Can't win them all.

Next up, Blueberry Muffins from The Vegan Family Cookbook. I was really craving some blueberry muffins and every recipe that I looked at called for soy yogurt. I didn't have any yogurt. After flipping through all of my cookbooks, I came across this recipe.

They were very nice, tender inside and slightly crispy outside. The recipe calls for olive oil but I think that would be better replaced with coconut or canola. Olive oil lends to strong of a flavor. Other then that I would leave things alone.

This weekend we went to a vegan Thanksgiving potluck. We met Sara from veganmomma there along with her family. I made some Triple Ginger Cookies and some Pecan Tartlets. I adapted the Tartlet recipe from a magazine, I think Healthy Living.

Pecan Tartlets

Dough

3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup Earth Balance

4 oz Better-Then-Cream cheese

1/4 cup canola oil

Filling

Egg replacer for 1 large egg, beaten

1 cup chopped pecans

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tlb. Earth Balance, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix the dough ingredients together with a wooden spoon, until all incorporated in a large bowl. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes to reduce its stickiness.

Position rack in the lower third of the oven; preheat to 350'.

Divide dough into 24 balls, roughly a tablespoon amount. Press each piece of dough into a mini muffin cup, making a well in the center and pressing the dough up the sides of the tin to form a tartlet shell.

Mix the filling ingredients together in a large bowl. Divide the filling evenly among the 24 tartlet shells.

Bake the tartlets for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325' and bake until the filling is puffed and the crust is lightly golden, 10 to 12 minutes more. Let the tartlets cool COMPLETELY in the pans on a wire rack. Then remove from pan.

Above is a picture of my plate at the potluck. My favorite dishes were those spirally noodles. They had a little something extra then all of the other mac & cheeze's I've had. I also loved Sara's scalloped potatoes. They were great. For dessert I had a someone greasy but tasty brownie and some really great pumpkin pie. I think it might have been more a pumpkin cheese pie because it had a slight cream cheese flavor.

Ramsey and Athena were sitting right in the path of the door and the wind was blowing on them. Ramsey ended borrowing Rowans sweat shirt. It was a little short in the arms but still fit pretty well.

Isn't Rowan's hat cute? I'm guessing Sara made it, but I forgot to ask. She's multi-talented.

Isaac can't pose for a normal picture. That lesson was reinforced yesterday when we were at The Picture People.

I forgot to take a picture of the Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions from Veganomicon. The dish was slightly bland. The onions were great but I think there would be more flavor if the rice was cooked with broth instead of water. I'll try the dish again. Anything with 3 onions in it is worth trying again.

With Thanksgiving two days away my next post should have some good stuff in it.

I'm It.

Thanks for tagging me veganmomma.

Rules:
1- Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2- Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.
3- Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4- Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 random or weird things

1. I love to check out ethnic and natural food grocery stores. But if I'm doing my regular grocery shopping and am at a store I don't normally go to it completely stresses me out. I get very tetchy and have to go in a certain order when shopping and to be in a store that I'm not super familiar with pushes me over the edge. I've been near tears before.

2. I'm a licensed cosmetologist and really do enjoy cutting hair. I also think it is completely disgusting to have a lose piece of hair on me. I HATE it. I'm almost gagging typing this. Long hair is much worse then short.

3. I have a major obsession with Harry Potter Fanfiction (Snape! yum). Joe, the husband, forced me to get a laptop so that I wouldn't hog the desktop. (this was 2 years ago)

4. I graduated from high school a year early. Then went to community college for a year and took only classes on nutrition, cooking, baking, etc. After that I went to cosmetology school. I still can't figure out why I did that.

5. I know the words to an incredibly large amount of songs dating 20 years and further back but I could hardly tell you any song names, artists, singers.

6. If I'm eating some sort of little snack food, cracker, chocolate chip, etc. I usually need to eat an even number and give each side of my mouth a chance to chew. (a little OCD at work there if the grocery thing didn't give that away)

7. I abhor the sound of porcelain scraping together, & the sound and feel of chalk.

I'm tagging Lorien, Elaine, that's it. I don't want to tag strangers.

Our newest family memeber -part 1

This kid was wandering around out side our house and we thought he looked enough like us that we could take him in and no one would notice. He's pretty rock-n-roll. Or it could just be Isaac wearing my friends wig and being silly.
We did get a new family member, though. And here he is.....Miso. Yes, I did choose the name and in my defense it was 100 times better then what Joe and the kids were coming up with. Mr.Kitty-Puffy-Face. Enough said. Anyway, we had been discussing adopting a cat for awhile and finally came to an agreement. We wanted to find a not kitten and a not fluffy cat that was friendly. We ended up with a four month old kitten that is fluffy. No it's not because we HAD to go home that day with a cat and just settled. We ended up having to wait for Miso to be neutered and Isaac was crying that he couldn't come home. We ended up choosing Miso because he is so incredibly friendly. The kids carry him around, he doesn't care. He loves to play. He is perfect for a house with small children.

Peanut Banana Tortilla Turnovers. That's a mouth full of a name. These are from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. These were ok. I didn't really think that they were extra special and the kids weren't over the moon. I'd make them again if I thought about it and was in the right mood. Maybe if I made the dunking sauce they would have gone over better. Next time.

When I saw these brussel sprouts at the farmers market they called my name. For years I avoided buying them because Joe doesn't like them. Only recently did I remember that I make plenty of things that he doesn't like and I could care less. Go figure. If he's still hungry after I cook, he's welcome to make himself something else.

I prepared the brussel sprouts and the asparagus according to the Roasting Veggies in the Oven section of Veganomicon. I think I have only ever boiled both vegetables and liked them just fine. Roasting them takes them to a whole other level. They were great. I added the optional garlic the last 5 minutes of cooking.

The vegetables timed out just right with another recipe from Veganomicon, Chickpea Cutlets. Joe said that the patties didn't taste like anything. The kids didn't care about flavor as they were used as a vehicle for ketchup. This time around I opted to pan fry the patties. They had a nice texture on the inside, a bit crunchy. The inside was kind of doughy, though. The directions say that they are more toothsome if you bake them so I will try that next time.

Ugghhh. That covers this pretty well. Garlicy Broccoli, Corn & Bean Burritos from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. Isaac, Ramsey and her friend Tera would not eat these burritos. They each took one bite and ran. I couldn't blame them. These have an incredibly strong flavor. There is balsamic vinegar, hosin sauce, tamari, and vegan Worcestershire sauce. I didn't finish mine. Joe was the only one of us who liked them.

I don't know if the reason that these taste so wrong to me is because I live in San Diego with authentic Mexican food every 2 blocks. I love the idea of the recipe. The broccoli added in. The beans blended smooth. All the burritos baked so they hold together.

Bleh. I won't make these again.

Samosa Stuffed Baked Potatoes. I will ALWAYS double this recipe in the future. Yum, yum and YUM. If you don't have a copy of Veganonmicon, buy the book just for this recipe alone. I can't see my self wasting time to make traditional samosas in the future. These are so wonderful. The kids had no complaints and I was nearly in tears when I gave my mom some leftovers. These are AMAZING.

On the side is a heirloom tomato salad. Balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

This had to be split into two posts.