This is what it's doing outside:

granted this picture was taken roughly around 3 a.m.

And, since classes were canceled, I will not be leaving the apartment at all. Really. I'm going to lay on my ass and watch The Office. Probably bake, too. Spicy oatmeal raisin cookies. And, I'll drink some earl gray tea with that.

I've been wanting, no, craving a day like this. So, hooray for snow when I don't have to walk to and from class in it!

Davey gets what Davey wants!

Two of Dah-veed's favorite foods on this planet or any other: bagels and my baked mac 'n cheese. (vegan, duh.) Dave was complaining earlier this week that I cook all of these things, but never anything that he really wants. So, he gave me his input and wanted some homemade bagels. Dave had made them before by himself, however, this was my first experience with it.

This recipe wasn't bad. In my opinion, I should've let them rise a little longer and they should've been cooked at a lower temperature for longer, too. Did I mention that I deviated from the recipe about 100 times? And, that I didn't have a bread machine?

All in all, I think this was a good beginners recipe. Dave and I definitely plan to make more and to incorporate different things, i.e. sesame seeds, raisins, blueberries, herbs, etc.

voi la!

My mac 'n cheese was nothing to wet yourself over this time around. well, actually..
I improved the 'cheese' sauce a bit. I usually just boil soy cheddar and soy milk until it's creamy and slop it on top. I decided to add some Dijon and nutritional yeast, nothing ground-breaking. Definitely an improvement. I also used rotini instead of mac, so I guess this is in all technicality baked rotini 'n cheese.

I like lots of pepper on my mac.. er, rotini 'n cheese.

I also made some bangin' bana nut bread this week, but lost the picture for it. Guess I'll just have to make more, eh?

A little less rant..

.. and a little more post! This weekend has been pretty draining with work and what not. Not to mention I had to be at the mall (even on my day off!) to go birthday shopping for both my mother and youngest nephew. Today is going to be equally as hectic because I have a mountain of laundry to do and then I have to go to work, yet again. Tomorrow, I refuse to move.

Ahem, on with the food! This week, I decided to treat myself and make some creamy curried veggies. I had actually never tried curry until I became vegan. It's one of the easiest things to make, but it has so much flavor. I originally got the idea from Kramer, but you hardly need a recipe for a curry, I mean c'mon!

Another reason I love curries is because I get to incorporate two of my favorite things- onions and garlic. Seriously. One of my favorite scents is whenever I'm sauteing the onions with minced garlic and the garlic starts to brown.. Sheer bliss. My curry consisted of potatoes, onions, carrots, cauliflower, and spinach.

pretty pretty!

Next are these little guys, blueberry muffins. A tad disfigured, albeit, these were yummy little on the go snacks. This was probably the simplest muffin recipe ever. I think next time I'll add some lemon juice and poppy seeds to 'em.

say 'hello' to my little friend!

Yesterday, while out and about, I made a pit stop at our local Healthy Life Market. Here's what I brought home:

Pretty much my main reason for ever going to Drug Emporium- vegan cheese. While Vegan Gourmet is not my favorite vegan cheese, (that would be Teese), this is the only stuff I have access to unless I want to spend twice the money and order online. I know that Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese can be purchased at Kroger, but I wasn't going to Kroger that day and desperately needed some. It wasn't terribly over priced.


Next up, tofu. I needed silken tofu to make a certain dessert Dave and I have been craving. Again, I know I could get it at Kroger, or something, but I wasn't going to fargin' Kroger. I got the firm tofu, though, because I've never tried this kind before. I was feeling ever so adventurous.



Next, frozen treats. I didn't get more of these types of things because I feel guilty getting stuff that I know I could make myself. However, Dave and I really enjoy those veggie rolls and I've never tried the Chicken-free Nuggets before. Wings would've been my first choice but they were like, $3 more!
I now have to resort purchasing Nature Burger mix here because Kroger stopped carrying it! Fascists. (No, I have not been compensated by Kroger to mention them 2198290183 times in my food blog. They just happen to have a large health food section, they're cheap, and they're not Wal Mart.) Moving on.

I got chickpea flour because while creepin' on Isa's page, I saw this rad omelet she made using tofu, asparagus, and this. It looked yum. Also, I've never used chickpea flour.

And finally, why I can't leave glasses laying around my apartment:

Faux Eggz Benny

mmmm. Breakfast for dinner.

Alright, quick post. I got this from Sara Kramer and Tanya Barnard's book, How it All Vegan. Dave said this was his favorite thing I've cooked so far. He liked it even more than Baked Mac 'n Cheez, WHAT! (Dave has quite the ongoing love affair with my baked mac 'n cheez.)

Anyway, this was super easy to make. Prep time totaled maybe about a half hour. I served the tofu on some frozen Ezekiel wheat bread, topped it with a tomato slice, and the awesome sauce given in the recipe.

The sauce seriously ruled. It was composed mainly of nutritional yeast and Dijon mustard. In the past I was pretty hesitant to incorporate mustard in my cheese substitute mixes, but I am now converted.

Dave and I are convinced this sauce would be great poured over some veggie or boca burgers. I even bought some last night to test our theory.

The eggz benny was accompanied by some homemade hash browns. I might add, they came out a tad gooey. I don't know if I used to much oil or what. Suggestions?

Finally- the alfredo I've been craving.

Not much to post today, as I haven't really been cooking that much. First thing- the most awesome vegan Alfredo recipe I've tried since becoming vegan. Back when I was a dairy-eater (eww) Alfredo was my ABSOLUTE favorite food. Since becoming vegan, I had yet to try a vegan Alfredo recipe that tasted even remotely like real Alfredo. I was one sad vegan.

Until this past Wednesday..

I found this, like most recipes, on Vegweb. I did sub vegan Parmesan with nutritional yeast and it still ruled. So hard. I also has a limited amount of broccoli and absolutely no mushrooms. Dave would've been a sad boy had I snuck those in there. I mainly compensated produce with all of these frozen carrots I had that seriously needed to be used up.

This pasta was so good, we had it two nights in a row, the second night with wheat rotini. :)

Then the other night, I had these beauties. Again, more Vegweb. I really need to invest more time in my cooking and come up with some of my own creations. This recipe, though I nearly ruined it about twelve times, is great. It didn't come with an icing recipe, but these are so sweet and doughy and awesome, it really doesn't call for it.

Yummmmmm.

And, now I present:

KITTY CHAAAAAAIR!

CURSE YOU, LOW QUALITY HEWLETT-PACKARD!

Well, it's been fun, but I'm off to watch to watch a Rock of Love Bus episode that my mom recorded for me. Srsly. That show is so skanky, I contracted chlamydia just from watching it.

Lazy Daze

For the past few days, I've been a complete and utter sloth. I have literally nothing to do, what, with Dave being at work until 11 p.m. Not to mention I only get about 9 hours of work a week anymore due to the fact that this particular coffee corporation is going under. Brush it off, I guess.

With that being said, all I've done for the past 2 days is watch The Office on my Netflix-Xbox thing. I've achieved a season and a half so far and there's no real end in sight to this marathon. You would think with my intense boredom that I would try to pass the time by doing my favorite thing: cooking. But, you'd be sadly mistaken. The past couple of nights, Dave and I have had either Chinese takeout or quickie recipes. I'm a little ashamed, so tonight, to make up for it, I'll probably be super domestic, i.e. clean the apartment 'til it sparkles and cook a nice, big, filling meal.

Until then, here are this week's cooking endeavors thus far:

Chickpea Mash

I got this recipe, well both recipes, from Vegweb. The recipe called for mushrooms, but Dave's a picky food snob. Instead of making side dishes for this, I just had 3 decent helpings. Rice<3. This gave me an awesome excuse to eat red bell peppers. Potatoes would've accompanied this wonderfully. Next one, Frugal Black Bean and Polenta. The recipe given on Vegweb called for dry cornmeal, but all I had was the moistened polenta, so I just cut it into coins and fried like there was no tomorrow. For some reason, I can't eat polenta unless it's crispy as hell and salted to death.


This was alright. I just can never seem to really get into polenta. Anyone has any suggestions, let a sista know.

a New Veginning

Alright, so even though it's a new year and all, I still want to take a moment to rant and brag about all the vegan goodies I got for xmas. On top of all the rad cooking supplies my mom got for me, (Pampered Chef, shit yes!), I received a few neat cook books and other smell goods.

First up, was Sarah Kramer's solo recipe book, La Vegan Dolce: Vegan Livin' Made Easy. This book is pretty neat because it's not only a compilation of her own recipes, several of them have been submitted in by other people around the country!

Another cool thing about this book is that she doesn't just stick to recipes, she has a section at the end of the book heavily promoting DiY culture and a lot of 'hot to' projects. much like in her first book, How it All Vegan, simplicity rules, too.

The second cook book I got was this little beauty, The Vegan Gourmet. Heh, I'd never even read the 1st edition, ya'll. This book's great because each recipe lets you know the following: amount of calories, protein, fat, dietary fiber, carbs, sodium, etc.

Not to mention, it's gourmet shit. (Oh, sweet contradiction.)

I haven't cooked anything in this yet, but just you wait.


And, without further ado, the best smelling thing in the Western Hemisphere:

BEANS WAAAAAAX!

I got another candle, too. It was an apple scented one with another clvere title. For serious, it smells like fresh, juicy, apples. I can't get over it. These rule becase they're made from soybean wax instead of beeswax. Cruelty-free and ...smell-tastic?

Newbie.

greetings and salutations, bloggers! along with my New Year's resolutions and what not, I figured I'd start a blog. I'm quite new to the blogging world, but I've been wanting to start one for quite a while, mainly to dedicate to fewd and various vegan recipes that I create, try, cook, etc.

a bit about myself:

I gave up meat August of 2007, but I've been vegan since last April. hey, it's almost been a year. whaddya know?

I live in Huntington with:

my love, Dave:

so camera-shy.

my kitties, Bronson:

and Mistress Ghoulita von Frankencat:

I really didn't care much about cooking until I became vegan. living in a house filled with omnivores, I kind of had to fend for myself, and I wanted it to be damn tasty. I've still got a bit to learn about cooking in general, though. here are a few things I have cooked in the past:

everything-but-the-kitchen-sink veg/noodle extravaganza.

carrob chip cookies ( a little overdone) :(

and way too much more.

I'm currently pursuing a degree in Print Journalism at MU. yeah. go herd, and stuff.

you'll find that I'm a cat freak of epic proportions and that I have a great appreciation for things such as ramen, cheap wine, and Alec Baldwin.

whew. I'm a little tired from all of that posting. how was that for an introduction?