The Grindhouse

What a movie!!!!

2009-08-22T01:12:00.000-07:00

If you have the opportunity this weekend, you should seriously consider seeing Inglorious Basterds!!!!! I highly recommend this movie, if you do not like Quentin Tarantino flicks, don't bother. However, if you're a huge Tarantino fan, such as I myself, run as fast as you can to see this movie. It has it all!!!!!!!!!!

Wow!!

2009-08-21T01:00:00.000-07:00

I have been so excited all week because I had the opportunity to meet one of my favorite authors!!!!!! Sherrilyn Kenyon was at the Barnes &Noble in Collierville last Saturday. Joey was kind enough to take off from work the evening before to ensure that we arrived early enough to get our tickets when the store opened. There were so many people outside waiting, and we managed to be number two and three in line. Meeting her has brought me more enjoyment from her books than before. I was almost frightened to meet her, thinking that maybe appearances were deceiving. I was never so happy to be wrong in my life!!!!!!!

She is so down to earth, kind, and incredibly passionate about her books. She actually answered a question of mine, and then while autographing the books I had brought my camera died, and she was sweet enough to take a picture with me with her camera and post it on her myspace

Now, I despise romance books with a passion, however I have found myself delving deeper and deeper into the "Paranormal" romance section for a while now. Sherrilyn Kenyon is by far one of the best authors I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Her characters are so compelling, that you find yourself drawn into every book. And ready to begin another book as soon as you finish one.

This is so funny!!!

2009-08-13T02:20:00.000-07:00

I completely forgot about this picture until I was cleaning house and found it the other day, I really shouldn't be sharing this because it is embarrassing.......LOL

True, I was only 8 or 9, and I had no clue I would become a vegetarian...

WOW

2009-08-09T23:55:00.000-07:00

It has been a chaotic couple of months, and I have found myself either not in the mood to write due to strange circumstances or running around like a crazy person. We had a death in the family(one of Joey's uncles.RIP), a sick dog, and all sorts of other drama which I will not go into. Be looking for new posts soon!!

Will it ever stop raining?

2009-05-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

It feels as if it has been raining forever!!! I am going to go insane if it doesn't let up soon. So the strawberry pie did not work out at all. In fact all of the cornstarch that was used to thicken the mixture settled to the bottom of the Graham cracker pie crust. UGH!! I will definitely be tinkering with that recipe.

So last Tuesday in the midst of a slight reprieve from the rain, joey and I went to the zoo. He had free passes and we thought what the hell??? Now I know as a vegetarian I should be opposed to animals in captivity. But I do love going to the Memphis zoo. Compared to how bad the living conditions used to be-they have come a long way. When I was a child all of the animals lived surrounded by concrete walls and looked absolutely miserable. And some of them still do not have the best living arrangements, but they are slowly redoing the entire place. And I have to confess that I find something so calming in watching the Polar bears since they have updated their living conditions. Something about being able to stand so close as they swim by is very soothing to the soul. They are so beautiful. However I would recommend that you don't go on Tennessee day, where all Tennessee residents get in for free after one in the afternoon. The place was packed!!

I have pictures, but left my camera at my mother in laws w when I was showing her the pictures of the grandogs(lol). I hope all of the mothers out there had a great day today

With a sigh of relief.......

2009-05-02T22:43:00.000-07:00

Hopefully things can slowly start to return to normal, oh, wait! I'm not normal, so how can things ever be normal? Anyhow. She returned home late Thursday afternoon, amidst much drama and small panic attack(she does suffer from those rather frequently these days.)

I have several pictures to post later this week, having been unable to get in the kitchen for several days I was going crazy! So when the opportunity arose I kinda went crazy playing around with some recipes.

I have had a lifelong affinity for muffaletta sandwiches mainly due to the olive salad. And have been trying to find a good recipe to make my own with Portobello mushrooms rather than the meat that normally graces these delectable delicatessen delights. I found a recipe that I like, but it's a little too soupy for my taste. Once I get to a good texture I will share pictures and the recipe.

I'm also working on a strawberry pie recipe that closely resembles Shoney's strawberry pie but without the gelatin. Several recipes have called for seven-up, so I might try that. I also have to substitute something for the red food coloring. I am thinking maybe a couple of drops of beet juice might do the trick. And, I have a cookie recipe that were supposed to be key lime cookies, but I changed mine to lemon, and they will be so easy to veganize! ! The only non-vegan ingredient is butter, if I had had some earth balance in the refrigerator I would've made it completely vegan.

Sorry

2009-04-30T00:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys, I did not fall off of the earth. My mother in law has been in the hospital since last Thursday and I have not had the time to write at all. I should however have some new posts soon as it appears she will hopefully be released tomorrow hopefully.

Pics

2009-04-19T23:02:00.001-07:00

Pictured above is the strawberry cake that I prepared, and yes I am quite aware that looks as if some of the icing swirls are sliding off, but I assure you that my icing was really thick, creamy, and damn tasty.

The other picture in the lemon ice box pie that I mentioned earlier in the week. To tell the truth I actually have another one of these sitting in my refrigerator right now, I wanted to tweak the

recipe and see if I couldn't make it a little tangier. It was just a little too sweet for my personal preference. You can find the original recipe at the following link http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Lemon-Pie/Detail.aspx

I highly recommend this recipe if you're looking for good lemon pie, and I do apologize for the horrible crumbling of the Graham cracker pie crust. L O L

Easter

2009-04-17T23:48:00.000-07:00

So for this Easter holiday, I was in charge of cooking a meal for the family. I decided upon Turkey, dressing, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, green beans, black-eyed peas, homemade yeast rolls, strawberry cake, and lemon ice box pie.

Ambitious, yes!!!! Doable, yes!! Successful, yes!!!! I know that this sounds more like a thanksgiving menu but due to dietary restrictions I had to switch things up. I am all about making everything from scratch until it comes to my mother-in-law, and with all the medications she is currently taking, I have to be extremely careful with what I fix.

Everything on my menu was completely homemade save for the strawberry cake. I really despised having to use a cake mix, however she was concerned that a homemade cake might upset her stomach due to the seeds from strawberries. If it was a cake mix, I was informed that the seeds would not affect her. So as much as I despised having red food coloring and bleached enriched flour in a box mix, I've made it as requested. I made the icing from scratch, a yummy butter cream.

I have to post the pictures and the recipe link for the lemon ice box pie. This was the best recipe I have ever used in my life. I followed the recipe without the meringue(I hate that stuff), and instead made a homemade whipped cream with the addition of lemon zest for that extra tang. I should have made more than one considering how quickly this went. I am looking forward to trying this recipe with a key lime juice instead of lemon.

I also found a really good yeast roll recipe that I will pass along later this week along with the photos.

Ughhhhhh.

2009-04-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not having any of the Easter pics up yet. My camera is in the process of recharging and I cannot access my photos right now. Needless to say I worried over nothing in regards to my own cooking skills. Besides having to reheat everything it was a good meal. And my desserts kicked ass!!!

Now on to the ughhh! Having fan of special K cereals, I was searching everywhere for special K chocolaty delight. Boy, was I ever disappointed. The cereal itself is just special K cereal with nasty, waxy, gummy tasting chocolate. All of the chocolate sinks to the bottom of the bowl, and to be quite honest just tasted like shit. It was the type of chocolate I think. I do not recommend this at all.

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-12T00:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter Everyone!!! While I do not buy in to the commercialism of baskets filled with goodies, I do remember and appreciate the true reason for Easter, and thank God daily for the gift of salvation.

I will be preparing the meal for the first time(why did I suddenly hear alarms in my head??) and will attempt to get some decent pics.

My Clock Must Be Broken

2009-04-10T01:50:00.000-07:00

The biological one I mean. I have grown weary of people asking when I am going to have kids or even how old my kids are(I hate assumptions). Not everyone was put on this earth to procreate. Joey and I have never wanted kids, ever. I don't want to have to find a babysitter anytime I want to go out, I don't want to hear kids screaming, I want to eat where I want too, not where the kids do, and I know that I can't handle a kid due to my own physical limitations, so why should society pressure me to have a child? So I can be like everyone else? Not me!!!

In the old days, a woman's worth was seemingly measured by how good of a mother and wife she was. Fully devoting her life to her husband and children, keeping her desires to herself to instead fulfill what society told her she had to do. Women were raised to believe this was the only life she could lead. True, some women truly enjoyed their roles as wife and mother, but others didn't.

Thank God for Women's lib!! I would have gladly burned my bra! We have come so far in so many ways as women, achieving equality among a society that prior to the Women's lib movement was based solely upon men being the providers. Not saying that things are completely even now.

My point is that I understand that as women we have the right to bear children(and arms....lol), and more power to you if you are a mother and enjoy it. But must I be hassled about not wanting them for myself? If one more person tells me I don't understand because I don't have kids, I might scream!!! I don't want to hear about how bad your kid is, because honestly I don't care. And by the way, if you cannot control your kids in public, please leave them at home.

I'm not trying to come off as a bitch, and kudos to all of you wonderful women who have kids and love them!! But if I don't harass you about having children, must you harass me about not having any?

And to be honest, I would be scared shitless of having a child in today's society. Everyday on the news it's another child missing, and it breaks my heart to think of the pain that these families are suffering. I couldn't endure that. So I think I will stick with my adorable fur babies and enjoy the fact that they actually listen when I say sit down and be quiet.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

What To Do?

2009-03-29T23:48:00.000-07:00

I have an extreme case of Arachnophobia, stemming from a frightening overnight trip to the ER at the tender young age of sixteen. I awoke around two AM with a horrible stomach ache, decided to take a bath and blacked out. Thankfully the noise had awoken my mother, who pulled me up out of the tub and brought me too.

To make a long story short, I had to have a shot of epinephrine, because I couldn't breathe and was just ill and out of it. We tried to figure out what had caused the episode, until later that week I discovered a large spot on my leg. Turned out to be a brown recluse bite that had caused all of the drama. Ever since then I see a spider and freak out.

The weather was really warm this weekend and then dropped a good fifteen degrees. Which of course made the spiders want to fuck with me!! No kidding, I was cleaning the bathroom to look up and see a good sized brown spider right in front of my face, I run to wake Joey up to come save me, he came in, took care of it and returned to bed. I go about cleaning again, and screamed so loud my neighbors banged on the wall!! It was back!! The dogs are barking, i'm screaming, and the neighbors are knocking on the wall, and Joey sleeps right through this! I rouse him again to finish the job. Then............

I move on to the kitchen to find another one on my ceiling! I left this one alone till it was actually time for Joey to get up. Now, I know not all spiders are bad, and I know that they do a lot of good. And being a vegetarian I really feel bad killing bugs, but I just cannot see a spider without freaking out! Any suggestions?

Thanks for the suggestions and understanding!! I don't think I have the balls for the catch and release method, but I am going to try to not scream anymore!! And hope for no more spiders!

2009-03-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

I must say that due to all of my MIL's health conditions, that it is nice how far medical technology has come. Back when she was a young woman, wife and mother they were not aware of how dangerous some of their daily habits were for their health. I feel so bad that she has to suffer the way she is, but she is one tough lady.

Back in the day people smoked on a daily basis going through God knows how many packs of cigarettes a week(or day in some cases), vitamin supplements were heard of but not recommended, the food was cooked with real lard and real butter, and nobody knew about the damage that your kidney can receive due to excessive drinking. It is quite frightening to think about everything that we know now that they didn't.

I mean, after having five kids with no calcium her bones are completely decalcified, she has suffered numerous fractures and breaks, survived skin cancer and numerous heart attacks. I feel saddened that her generation didn't know what we do now.

It begs the question of what will they know by the time our generation is in our seventies that they don't know yet?

Do You Ever Stop and Think?

2009-03-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

About how much has changed in technological advances since you were a child? was a kid I remember having a Commodore 64(No, I am not that old, it was mid to late 80's) and I just remember playing some video game that was addictive. Cell phones were the size of footballs and were for the extremely well to do. You had your choice of either cassettes or cd's to listen to, and vcr's were "the thing to have". There was a short craze of laser disc's, which I know hardly anything about. And cameras, oh my God were they huge, I doubt that few people under the young age of 2o even know how to load film.

We actually had to entertain ourselves rather than technology entertaining us. I was and still am a huge reader, looking forward to weekly trips to the library. I was also in the kitchen alot. I should have known that I would always enjoy cooking and baking. I was ambitious enough to be making cream puffs and fried apple pies by 11 or 12 years of age. (Hey I had a thing for sweets!) And I never left home without my portable cd player.

Hell, eleven years ago when I was first married, we had to go to my brother in law's to use the computer, I didn't have an e-mail account, and blogs where unheard of!

Now however I would lose my mind without my MP3 player, internet access and digital camera. Cell phonee, I don't live for, in fact mine is only for emergencies. DVD's are so much better than video tapes.

So while I am enjoying some of the advances, doesn't it seem as if due to some of them we have opened ourselves to a whole new set of problems? With sexting(hate that term), and obssesive texting, okay so maybe it's just cell phones I have a problem with. There is nothing quite like having the guy standing next to you telling whomever he's on the phone with that he just came from the doctor's office with a bad case of strep throat, or the lady bitching at her husband for being drunk so early in the afternoon, or the people who are not paying attention while driving and cause numerous wrecks.

I wouldn't trade the good just to be rid of the bad, just ask for peoplee to be more responsible for their own actions, instead of living in a society that passes the blame to anyone but themselves.

Anything anyone else remembers that have changed drastically?

Foods I used to Hate!!!

2009-03-14T23:58:00.000-07:00

I was pondering the other day foods I refused to eat before becoming a vegetarian, and was surprised at how much my tastes have changed.

1.Black Beans: Hated the smell, taste and texture! Though some of that hatred could stem from having dumped a whole cambro upon myself when I was serving at Chili's. You think? Now however I adore them and eat them frequently.

2. Hummus: I just thought it looked and smelled funny, till I tasted it and then it was another story.

3. Bell Peppers:This I cannot fathom!! I still don't know where I began that hatred. Now I have them on hand at all times.

4.Soy Milk: Let me explain that when I was a child, my mother had us using soy milk and I hated it. Then again this was during the late 80's early 90's before soy milk had been nearly perfected.

Now I have realized the error of my ways and enjoy all of the above foods on a regular basis. And continue too experiment. I think becoming vegetarian expands your mind and taste buds as well. Anyone else have foods they hated and now love?

B+++

2009-03-04T23:05:00.000-08:00

That would be my score for the scones. While being tasty, I know I could do a better job from scratch. Not very much kick at all. I wanted more of the spices to shine through the pumpkin taste. Great on texture though.

Scrumptious Scones

2009-02-28T23:41:00.000-08:00

I had finally began to quit the left-over from the cold coughing, while the weather was nice and warm, just to be surrounded by a thick blanket of snow. Though I am not complaining, it is so beautiful! And something we don't see so deep that often.

I had purchased a bag of pumpkin scone mix at an extremely great price at World Market, during their going out of business sale. (Sniff-sniff, I LOVE that place)And thought that hot coffee and a scone sounded really good to awaken to tomorrow. I prefer everything from scratch, but still recovering, I didn't mind a mix so much.

I absolutely adore crystallized ginger and add it to almost anything dessert wise, or those in which ginger is a great complement. And yes I confess, I hate to just make a dull mix. I always have to add my own touches. So I diced up about 3 TBS. and threw it in along with some fresh nutmeg.

Though it's not the neatest looking picture, below is the dough pre-cutting.

Post-cutting and pre-baking.

Finished product, on the upper portion, you can actually see the chunks of the diced ginger. I just sprinkled a little confectioners sugar for tonight, and had to sample one just to make sure it didn't taste shit. And it didn't. I might glaze them later, but have not decided yet. I like the texture and I love the kick to the taste buds from the ginger, but I will know if I like them if it blends well with the coffee. =)

I'm Still Here

2009-02-25T22:59:00.000-08:00

I have been suffering from the cold that never ends! Every time I thought I was over it, I would wake up sicker. I guess that's what happens when the weather goes from really cold to really warm overnight!

Nice Surprise

2009-02-15T15:30:00.000-08:00

Since Joey and I eloped so close to Valentine's day, we don't generally buy in to all of the hype. I mean, do people actually know the real story behind the holiday? It has basically become a commercial extravaganza. I mean depending on which history story you rest your opinions upon, it's not all romantic. I am of the opinion that it is rather lame if you need one day of the year to show people how much you care for them.

Since we have been married for eleven years now, I figured I would surprise Joey with a nice Valentine's dinner to change things up. He asked me to wait, because he wanted to cook for me. I was a little put off, since I had picked up the ingredients already, but agreed so as not to be rude.

Boy, did he ever surprise me!! He sleeps during the day since he has an overnight shift. I woke up, fixed some coffee and looked up to find a box of candy and a card. I may be a nonconformist, but I am a sucker for cards!!! I pick the card up to discover a jewelry box hidden beneath the card.

Now he knows that I dislike typical jewelry and pendants, so he got me a black diamond heart pendant!! I have never been a big gem person, but black diamonds are gorgeous. And then he prepared me some great grilled portabellas and a baked potato. I'm cooking his valentine's dinner later this week, and not complaining about not preparing it on Valentine's day!!

All Dressed Up

2009-02-06T23:09:00.000-08:00

I actually meant to post this last month, but didn't have the chance to upload the photo until now.

It was time for the yearly vet visit, which of course fell on the day when it was thirty-two degrees outside. So I had to bundle her up. They were laughing so much at how cute she looked in this outfit that it took us forever to get through the paperwork. I didn't mind, at least she stayed warm!!

Notable Changes

2009-02-05T23:33:00.000-08:00

I am sorry to suddenly change my format, it is just that I find myself enjoying blogging extremely, just not always about food. I find myself interested in so many other topics that I have such strong opinions on, that I no longer wanted to limit myself to just blogging about food.

I enjoy recipes and cooking, but I also love dogs, books, music, exercise, movies, etc. So stop by, you never know what you might find!!

Why Is It So Difficult?

2009-02-04T23:29:00.000-08:00

To order vegan/vegetarian food out? My mother-in-law came through her surgery(Thank God.), and is recovering at home. I honestly wish I could say she is in good spirits, but she isn't. Way, way, way too much drama. So much in fact, it would make a five or six hundred page novel =)

Needless to say, cafeteria food and lots of Subway veggie sandwiches have filled my life the past week or so. This is what I cannot figure out, when kids order special menu items it's brushed off. When omni's order meals and make special requests(no butter, no salt, etc.) it's not a big deal, but when you are a vegan/vegetarian, it's like you just stepped out of a UFO. I cannot count how many times someone has had to ask a manager, "what comes on a veggie?" and my favorite, "We don't have a veggie sub." To which I politely point to the menu board above their heads. Nine out of ten times I get "the" look.

I did find one extremely nice cafeteria worker, who was kind enough to call her superiors to find out which veggies were cooked with meat as flavorings. Which, of course, were all but the squash and tomatoes and mac & cheese.

Is it really so hard to wash the knife that's been cutting lunch meat(UGH) all day off for a veggie lover?

Would Not Have Believed If.....

2009-01-31T22:53:00.000-08:00

I would not have believed this had I not heard this for myself. I was in a used book store browsing when this young girl, probably about 9 or 10 years old, passed by me carrying a large load of books. Now I should explain that this bookstore is about half the size of a Starbucks, so you can hear any conversation going on. Her mother and older brother were in the store as well, her mother browsing the romance section and her brother playing a video game rather than looking through the books. Which is fine with me, to each their own.

The girl went up to her mother and started talking about a medical encyclopedia she had found and really wanted. The mother worried that she would not be able to read the book, to which the child disagreed and said if nothing else she would look at the pictures. I was standing there thinking how smart this child was, being so young and having such an eagerness to learn about the medical field.

Her mother finally agreed, then told this child that "I better not catch you reading all the time." Joey had to come and pick my jaw up off of the floor. And she was serious!!! To this day I hope I misheard something in this sad conversation. I am not usually an eavesdropper, but this blew me away. How sad is it when a parent doesn't even encourage a child to read?

Portabella Burgers(Heavenly)

2009-01-25T23:39:00.001-08:00

There are no words in any language to describe how incredible this meal was!!!!! Joey was wanting to experiment with portabellas more often, and this was his first attempt. If this is the beginning, I can't wait to see what follows. He grilled them with salt and pepper, put some feta cheese and onions on top(I forgot to tell him to stuff the bottom, not the top) and put it all on a bun. I made some potato salad the night before to eat with this delightful delicacy. The portabellas grilled tasted so...........I can't think of the right word!!! Anyway, this was a great meal that I would highly recommend.

On a side note, I may not be posting much this week. My Mother-in-law somehow broke her back from one side of her pelvis to the other(OUCH) and is having a three hour long surgery Tuesday.

Portabella Fajitas

2009-01-21T23:37:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I crave something hot and spicy, (like me!!!!) and these portabella fajitas did the trick. I chopped up lots of bell peppers, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms(I like mixing different types.) and some tomato, added some Mexican seasoning in a big skillet and let them saute while I prepared the portabellas. I drizzled olive oil and some taco seasoning on both sides and broiled them for a few minutes on each side. I spiced up a can of a vegetarian refried beans to eat on the side. Slathered some sour cream on flour tortillas, added some shredded cheese and chowed down. I am going to have to make these more often!

"N" Dumplings

2009-01-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

Down here in the South, one of our winter staples is Chicken "N" Dumplings. I always say "and" over "n", but thought "N" would appear more humorous in writing. Now my omni husband prefers his with chicken, so I generally fix him a can(UGH) to go with, fixed up to fit my dumpling flavors. I love the "Not-Chick'n" bouillon cubes by Edward & Sons that you can purchase at Whole Foods. It's the closest I have found to the real thing.

There is something so comforting about a hot bowl of dumplings in extremely cold weather. Here's my recipe:

Broth:
7 cups cold water
3 1/2 Not-Chick'n boulloion cubes
1 1/2 Tbs. of dried parsley
1 Tbs. Garlic powder
1 Tbs. Onion Powder
Salt to taste
Black Pepper to taste(I use a lot)
3 Tbs. flour mixed with half a cup of water(to thicken broth)

I use a basic biscuit dough for the dumplings, you can use your own recipe or even canned biscuits cut in fours. For the broth, just boil the water, add the seasonings and simmer for about fifteen minutes. Bring to a boil then add the flour/water mixture and allow to thicken. Continue with the rolling boil and drop biscuits into broth, once all your biscuit dough is added, lower heat, cover and cook about ten minutes to ensure dough is cooked thoroughly. Cool slightly and enjoy!

Pita Pizza Craving Satisfied

2009-01-16T22:14:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a recent posting over at Vegan Crunk I had to have a pita pizza!! I loaded the whole wheat pita up with a little marinara sauce I had on hand. Loads of fresh mushrooms and onions, then finished it off with Italian cheese mix. Then a made a small salad to go with the pizza and enjoyed every single bite.

I plan on having some new recipes and pics posted this week. It's been chaotic around here!

No Buns

2009-01-14T23:33:00.000-08:00

On me yes, in the house, no!!! LOL I had some veggie dogs that I really, really wanted, but no hot dog buns in the house. So, I just made hot dogwiches. Subbing out hamburger buns and cutting the veggie dogs in half. Then I loaded them up with onions and hot dog relish and chowed down. So quick and tasty. And reminiscent of childhood!

Completely Off Subject.

2009-01-13T00:29:00.000-08:00

If I was a parent of a child, not adorable furry kids, I would not know whether to laugh or be offended. Seeing as how I am the parent of adorable furry kids, I took no offense and laughed my ass off to find this in a Christmas treat pack. I know what it was supposed to be, but I think they missed something. =)

P.S. I neglected to mention that this was supposed to be a candle in a mixed dog treat bag, someone had some fun.

Not Impressed

2009-01-12T00:11:00.000-08:00

Okay, so when we had a cold snap this weekend, I decided it was time for some hot soup. I found a recipe in a magazine from 2006 called:Curried Tomato & White Bean soup. Being in an adventurous mood, I tried it out. It sounded quick and easy and yummy. Boy was I mislead!!! The recipe goes as follows:

1 cup of diced onion

1 Tbs. of vegetable oil

1 Tbs. of curry powder

3/4 tsp. of ginger

2 cans of white beans (drained and rinsed)

1 can undrained diced tomatoes

Croutons for garnish

I followed the recipe of sauteing the onions in the oil(though I used olive rather than veggie) for five minutes, than you add the seasonings, cook for a minute more, than the veggies and let it simmer for fifteen minutes. This soup was AWFUL. Way too much ginger, and very dull. I tried to save it with some salt, garlic and pepper. But could not make it past one bowl. It will be a long time before I even attempt this one(if ever) again.

P.S. Does anyone else have this recipe? My copy has been chewed on and I wanted to know if anyone else knows anything I missed?

Why???

2009-01-09T23:07:00.000-08:00

Within the past week, I have watched several TV chefs cook fish for vegetarians. Since when is fish on the vegetarian menu? One chef added fish sauce to a dipping sauce for vegetarian spring rolls!!!! What's going on? This is driving me crazy. I love to watch cooking shows, generally recording them and fast forwarding through the "gross" parts. But I may soon have to take a break if they continue with this.

What Are Your Favorite?

2009-01-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

What did you add to your kitchen supplies last year, and what were the favorites?

Over the past year I added: Ove Glove, Pastry Cutter(the fork method grew old), Microplane Grater, Silicone Bake Ware, Dutch Oven, Food Processor, Rice Cooker and a Wok.

My top four are:

1. Ove' Glove:This great item actually lived up to it's reputation. Because of my tremors this is now an invaluable tool. I have less burn marks marring my hands now. Yay!!

2. Microplane Grater: Fresh nutmeg is the shit!! Not to mention the ease of zesting and the flavor of fresh Parmesan.

3. Dutch Oven: I love the ease of stove top to oven, and I have only had it a week.

4. Silicone Bake Ware:I am not sure how they will endure the test of time, but these make baking so much easier and cleaner. Popping right out, baking evenly and easier storage are just a few reasons of why these are so marvelous.

So what are yours?

My New Toy!!!

2008-12-29T23:54:00.000-08:00

When I was handed this incredibly heavy wrapped package on Christmas day, I thought maybe Joey had wrapped up some bricks =) I was thrilled to discover it was a dutch oven!!! I have been wanting one of these forever,now i just have to decide what to prepare first. He also gave me the entire Charmed collection too!! As well as a PSP modified to work with my tremors! It was so nice with it just being us and our kids. I'll have a pic and details on Christmas dinner soon.

I Have To Show Off My Kids

2008-12-28T05:01:00.000-08:00

Jungle is still trying to grasp the idea of opening gifts here.

I'm sure he hates me for this, but I couldn't resist.

She wasn't biting him, he was begging and fell on her while I was snapping this pic.

How could Santa not want her as a reindeer?

He really, really posed for this perfectly didn't he?

They are just too cute to not show off!!!

Christmas!!!

2008-12-26T23:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas Goodies Galore!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't have the chance t9o snap pics of everything, which included: 2 batches of fudge(vegetarian of course!!), 4 batches of shortbread, 2 batches of ginger bread and sugar cutouts, Oreo truffles, chocolate cake, white/coconut cake, rum cake, chocolate chip cookies, 4 different batches of muffins, and all of this was just for goodie baskets!!!! I also had to prepare snacks and then Christmas dinner. While trying to survive the drama of a pissed-off due to lack of information sister-in-law, overly anxious mother-in-law and cooking in between almost made me insane(or more so than i am already)

Anyway, pictured below is one of my goodie plates with shortbread, fudge, and muffins.

Below that is a tray that Joey put together with celery and pimento cheese and carrots with ranch.

Then the spicy tortilla roll-ups in the Christmas tree platter.

And last is the super moist chocolate cake. I will post a couple of recipes from the above mentioned treats soon!

Almost Ready for Christmas?

2008-12-20T00:12:00.000-08:00

Here we have a leaf, which fits perfectly with the bell pepper below, I paid one dollar for the both of them, and I love the fact that they are oven safe!!!!!

Here is a plaque that is adorning my wall in the kitchen, to tie in all the elements of the kitchen(or attempt too).

These are my favorite!!!! Found at the same thrift store at varying times, I love these shrooms!! Perfect for canisters, if I find a few more I would have a complete set!!

With the Christmas season comes lots of planning!! I have to plan a schedule for what to cook when and "all that jazz". I am sure that I will have lots of pics over the next few days, along with dealing with the family drama that comes with family gatherings. Is anyone completely ready for Christmas yet??? Anyhow, I had to show off my newly acquired kitchen accessories.

I Think This Is The Last Of The Thanksgiving Pics!!

2008-12-13T00:08:00.000-08:00

Finally the last of Thanksgiving meal pics(I think). The top photo is the finished product, while the bottom is the halfway pic. I decided to play it a little fancier than just a plain chocolate cake with the white butter cream filling, but I find that rich foods no longer appeal to my palate. While it was tasty, after one bite I was calling it quits!! No special recipe, just a devil's food with chocolate and white butter cream icings.

So what all does everyone have planned for Christmas cooking? My list keeps growing!!

A Couple of Sides I Made For Thanksgiving

2008-12-11T23:38:00.000-08:00

Still updating from Thanksgiving, and pictured above are the roasted carrots and cranberry sauce. I prefer making my own cranberry sauce over listening to the squish and plunk of the canned version making it's way to the plate. Not that I don't eat the canned stuff on occasion, but for the special days I prefer my own. I used Alton's recipe this year with a few small adjustments. Am I the only person who cannot leave a recipe exactly as it is?

1 pound frozen cranberries

2 cups orange juice (I added some orange extract to give it a little more oomph)

3 cups ginger ale

2 tablespoons maple syrup (Used less)

2 tablespoons light brown sugar (used about a 1/2 cup)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 orange, zested

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive saucepan (stainless steel), and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 to 45 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half.
Carefully puree with stick blender or blender until smooth. Check for seasoning and serve in small ramekins.

I Don't Know Why I Waited!!!!

2008-12-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

I finally jumped on the Tofurkey band wagon!!!!!!! And I feel like an idiot for not trying them sooner. I purchased some of the Italian flavored sausages and fried them with onions and peppers on a hot dog bun and slathered it with mustard after the photo was taken. I baked some tater tots to go with it, and I was in Heaven!!!!!!!!!! So much nicer than the ones before vegetarianism, I never did enjoy the real ones that much.

So Much To Catch Up On!!!!

2008-12-06T23:49:00.001-08:00

A taste of things to come(rather be posted!). Pictured below is my new favorite dessert. Pumpkin bars that I watched Paula Deen create, after I fast forwarded past all of the nasty meat parts. These were indescribably good!! I tweaked it just slightly, and I know that it will be so easy to veganize. I am planning on trying it very soon. Joey, who despises pumpkin, ate almost half of the batch and has asked me to make It as a two layer cake. Almost eleven years now that I have been trying to encourage more pumpkin in his diet, and finally success!!!

Bars:

4 eggs

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil (I subbed 1/2 applesauce 1/2 canola oil.)

15-ounce can pumpkin

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (1/2 tsp extra)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda
(1 tsp. of vanilla extract)

(I am thinking nuts, and maybe some rum soaked raisins in a future batch)

Icing:8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

This Bean Curd soup has become my favorite cheap take-out meal!! I am trying to duplicate the recipe, it's just water flavored with the vegetables and tofu according to the chef. So tasty with the crispy noodles!!

I have plenty of things to post so keep reading.

No goodies

2008-11-06T23:06:00.000-08:00

Hope to have pics and recipes soon. Joey has had a really long week at work and I have been fixing some comfort foods that I have already posted. I will remedy soon though!

WHHHOOOOOOOOOOO THANK GOD!!!!

2008-11-04T22:27:00.000-08:00

THANK GOD OBAMA WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All sorts of odds and ends

2008-11-02T22:58:00.000-08:00

All sorts of stuff to post since it has been awhile!! It would have been sooner, If we had not gone to the STP concert last week, and all sorts of other things which life surprises you with. Anyhow on to the good stuff!!! Pictured below are my kids, I had to post their Halloween costume pics, because I'm sorry but they are just so damn cute. On top is Percy the naked Pomeranian, I should mention that HE actually enjoyed being in the dress and pranced around like it was a show. Below is bad-ass Jungle Julia, whom is a jack Russel-daschund-feist mix in her Harley jacket. We have been trying to figure out how the gender role reversal occurred. =) Not that I mind!

Now that I am done talking about the kids for the moment, I will move on to the wonderful meal I made this weekend. I picked up some new vegan non-chicken chicken broth, and wanted to try it out before Thanksgiving to make sure it didn't suck. And let me tell you, It DID NOT suck!! My favorite part of Thanksgiving has always been the dressing. I have not been able to duplicate the exact taste of my MIL's (which is the old-fashioned southern recipe that is like tasting Heaven!) until this meal. She taught me this recipe about 4 years

ago and I have been craving it since going veggie. I am definitely going to post this recipe.

Southern Cornbread Dressing

1 Batch of cornbread

5 cups of veg chicken broth

3-4 slices of stale bread

2 eggs or egg substitute

3 1/2 tsp. of Poultry seasoning( I made my own since I don' t keep it in the house.)

2 1/2 tsp. of ground sage

2 tsp. of rubbed sage

3 tsp. of black pepper

Preheat oven 30 400 degrees. Allow the cornbread to cool, then crumble with the bread slices. It really depends on how much bread you like in it. Once the bread is crumbled, grease a 9x13 pan liberally. To the cornbread mixture add all of the seasonings and pour in pan. Mix the egg or substitute in a small bowl and mix well with the cornbread mixture, generously pour the broth over the mixture and mix well. Bake for about 20 -25 minutes till the top is slightly golden. Cool slightly and enjoy! I served mine with some mashed potatoes, sweet peas and pickled beets.

So Joey is experimenting with stir-fry sauces and won't give me the exact recipe, but this was so good I had to show it off. I know it had tamari, ginger, garlic and toasted sesame oil. But that's about it.

And last but not least at all, is a pic of my newest tat!! Promise to have a better pic soon, but I couldn't wait to show it off!! I really wanted a Peace symbol, but being a vampire loving kind of dark personality, I also wanted something to suit me. The really cool thing is that the artist didn't even talk to me more than a minute, I didn't tell him anything other than I wanted a unique Peace symbol and he completely free handed this one!! I have found my regular tat artist I think(at least in this area.)

2008-10-26T23:13:00.000-07:00

I will have some new posts shortly! My birthday was last Wednesday(the 22) and I have been having too much fun, not to mention working out more than usual to compensate for the celebrating!! Can't wait to post a pic of my new tat, so it won't be long.

A Few New Pics

2008-10-16T23:38:00.000-07:00

So upon cleaning my memory out of my camera I came upon a photo of a wonderful vegan cupcake pic I made and forgot to post. It was the chocolate cupcake recipe from VCTOTW with a buttermilk icing on top. This was so much like a Hostess cupcake, it threw me off!!
I have been busy this week and just did not feel like a lot of cooking and a huge mess to clean up, so I found out that Campbell's has a tasty minestrone with no beef or chicken broth in it. I picked up a can, found a small sourdough loaf, and you can see the results. Sprinkled with a little Italian cheese and I had a tasty meal(though with a lot of leftovers.)

We went out exploring some of the thrift stores in Memphis and found some really nice stuff!! These were the best of the lot!! I am done with plates now!! But I hope to keep on finding cool retro stuff. I already have a lime green salt and pepper shaker set.
I LOVE, LOVE these little gems!! How can you beat blue shrooms on coffee/tea cups? Plus I love the little B-shaped handles.
I have to touch up this lovely little napkin holder slightly, but how cute is this?

Cheesy Rice Bake

2008-10-14T00:26:00.000-07:00

This is one of the best recipes that I have made in a while. I know everybody under the3 sun has a rice casserole recipe, however I have also noticed that most of them also contain some kind of meat or meat product. They don't usually have garlic or flavorings and they have been really dull tasting to me. So I created my own. The one I made today is vegetarian but this could easily be made vegan as well.

Cheesy Rice Bake

3 cups of cooked rice

1 tsp. of extra virgin olive oil

1/2 an onion diced finely

1 1/2 tsp of celery leaf(you can use real celery, Joey cannot digest it so I left it out.)

2 tsp. of garlic(either powder or 1 minced clove)

1 can of vegetarian cream of chicken soup

3/4 cup of milk

1 1/2 cups of cheddar

Pepper to taste

This was so easy, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil till translucent, then add the soup and milk and celery leaf and let simmer. Once simmering lower the heat and add one cup of the cheddar cheese and pepper as desired. Transfer to a 2 quart casserole dish, sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes till golden around the edges. Remove, sprinkle with additional pepper and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.(Unless you want a burnt tongue like I know have.)

Pics of Pumpkin Muffins

2008-10-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

Now my mouth is watering again! This is my usual muffin recipe that is posted in an earlier blog. With a couple of additions. I have made this both vegan and vegetarian, and both turned out really tasty and moist. The only things I added are below:

1 can of pumpkin

2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice( I like a little more!!)

1/2 to 1 tsp of Cinnamon(I like extra here too)

add that to the muffin recipe and enjoy!!

Pumpkin Muffin recipe Coming Soon

2008-10-10T00:56:00.000-07:00

Alright, I made another batch(I made sure to only make a small batch to retry the recipe) and will be posting the recipe and pics soon!!

(Sorry B!! They were all eaten before I read your comment. Hey, yet another excuse to make some more!)

Is Anyone Else Scatterbrained?

2008-10-08T23:33:00.000-07:00

I find myself rather scatterbrained these days, and I don't know why! Okay, maybe I am just like this all the time but I don't like to admit it. Anyhow.

One of my favorite Fall treats has always been pumpkin muffins!! To me it's just not fall without pumpkin goodies in the house. Sadly, I am the only one who enjoys pumpkin in this household. I wish I was really sad about that......lol Just means more goodies for me!

Pumpkin muffins are probably one of my favorite ways to eat pumpkin. So I made a huge batch of them, and I wrote down the recipe-lost it. AND forgot to snap a pic. Hey, wait! What a good excuse to make some more, don't you think? =)

Stir-Fry Yumminess

2008-10-06T01:23:00.000-07:00

Upon cleaning the freezer out earlier this week, I discovered some veggies I did not even know I had and created a stir-fry. It has a ginger sauce to it, but I found it rather bland upon eating, so I think I will experiment with a better sauce. It has a nice mound of rice beneath it(yes I know, I prefer brown but Joey won't eat it like I do!! I sneak it in occasionally.) Anyone know of any really good sauces?

Vegetarian Chicken Parmesan

2008-10-04T00:34:00.000-07:00

My husband was so happy to hear about the vegetarian diet returning to our household, that he made one of my all-time favorite dishes. While he supported me fully during my stint into veganism, he was extremely exuberant about being able to prepare his cuisine of choice: Italian. While Italian is good anyway you fix it, vegan or non, he prefers loads of unhealthy options when he's cooking. =)

He is an amazing chef any day of the week, but he is a master when it comes to Italian. I will never be able to pry the recipe from him(though I have tried in numerous ways.), so I just conceded and let him keep his secrets so long as he cooks them with some frequency.

It consists of vegetarian chicken patties, cooked to perfection, sauce which he adds all sorts of stuff too, provolone, mozzarella, Parmesan and of course pasta. He layers all of this in his own order and bakes it till we can no longer bear the smell, and a taste of heaven is within my grasp!!

P.S. The cookies below are the Snickerdoodles, and Joey snapped the pic of the chicken parm and apologizes about the picture.

Snickers.....& Doodles!!!

2008-09-26T00:23:00.002-07:00

Thanks for the understanding peeps!!

In appreciation for how wonderful several of my neighbors are, I made a huge batch of Snicker doodles to share!! These are such a classic cookie that I have yet to meet a person who does not enjoy them.

One of my neighbors is kind enough to take our garbage to the dumpster(we call her the garbage fairy), and the other older couple who lives across the hall never cease to make us laugh about something. The couple across the hall have medical issues, so I can't bake too many goodies to take to them.

It is just the classic recipe with no new twists.....as of yet! I have pics, but the batteries died in my camera so I will post soon.

Announcement

2008-09-25T00:25:00.000-07:00

Upon a very lengthy soul-searching journey, I have come to the conclusion that I will no longer be able to be a part of the Vegan society. My apologies to the lovely Vegans that have read my blog and the wonderful comments that you have all been leaving. I will still be making lots of Vegan recipes as well as vegetarian now. Which I will clearly label as vegan or vegetarian.

I will NEVER return to a life of meat eating. That is one thing I will never, ever encourage in anyone that crosses my path. However, the way that things are right now in my life, I am unable to to get the proper nutrients or grocery supplies needed to make a full Vegan commitment.

I am not one for making excuses, so I won't. There are very good reasons for which I have made my choice, and most people who know me will know why I cannot make a full commitment right now. I have enjoyed veganism and I enjoy challenges, but there are just some things health related(which are personnel to me) which I am unable to change. Which is what I am having to learn.

Coming Soon!!! Changes

2008-09-25T00:24:00.000-07:00

I am in the process of changing some things, which I will post soon.

I Like to 'Y'am it Up!

2008-09-18T22:58:00.003-07:00

Of course being from the south, I do enjoy my yams/sweet potatoes. I like them baked, broiled, mashed, roasted. Pretty much anyway I can get them. Joey is not enamored of these delicious darlings at all, so I am on my own when I prepare them.

Most people use nasty marshmallows, but I have NEVER liked marshmallows at all. My favorite way is pictured below: Pineapple-baked sweet potatoes. There is really no point in writing the recipe, seeing as it's only the potatoes mashed with brown sugar, pineapple, cinnamon and margarine. But so yummy!!

After all the Chaos

2008-09-18T22:58:00.002-07:00

We finally managed to get away from everything for a thrift store break the other day, and as all of my dinner plates have either been chipped, scratched or stained, I am trying to refill the cabinet with pre-owned dishes.

I am sorry, but I am not of the school that all of your dishes must match. I say screw that, and be yourself! So I was delighted to find this blue sunflower(I think...lol) plate that is nice and heavy and is so cute.

Pictured below it is a little dessert plate, which is very familiar to the multicolored flower plate which I posted several weeks ago. Same company just a different design.

Apple Pie

2008-09-18T22:58:00.001-07:00

As a child of 3-4 I absolutely adored my Papa's homemade apple pie. To this day I still remember the incredible way his house would smell after a day of baking. And I cannot find a taste to rival his. Not that I honestly think I ever will. But I figured I would try to come as close as possible. I felt like a kid playing with the pie dough, and had so much fun making this.

Now I know it is not a picture perfect pie, especially since I had to pull a Frankenstein on part of the upper crust, but it was still tasty. Though not Papa's!! Pictured is the pie, then below it is the inside. It was just your basic southern apple pie recipe, just with vegan margarine.

Absence Apology

2008-09-17T23:31:00.000-07:00

So sorry for the absence, though I really have not had the time to even remember what day it is for the past two weeks now. I have some photos and recipes to post, when I can find my camera....lol My sister-in-law's(who is one of my best friends) father went in the hospital two weeks ago, he had progressed cancer and passed away Sunday a week and a half ago. Her family resides in Greenwood, MS and our little Saturn just would not make the trip so we had to rent a car. As soon as Joey walked in the door with the keys his mom called to tell us she was on the way to her doctor with chest pains. We get ready and are walking out the door to head to Greenwood to tell us that she was being put in the hospital.

This was at 3:00 pm. We flew down to the viewing to support my in-laws, and arrived back at the house at 10:30 pm the same night, Joey called to check on her as soon as we walked in the door. She was panicking and could not calm down, I ended turning around and going to the hospital withe her all night long. Arrived at 11:00 pm and left at 11:00 am. What a night!! They released her that afternoon with the diagnosis been a minor heart attack, but unfortunately the nurse on duty that evening had a horrid cold and passed it to me. She was doing okay until this Monday night when we thought she was having another heart attack but thankfully was just anxiety. I am not bitching, just wanted to explain where I have been. Anyway, I will be posting this week so please check back.

Finally, Successful Lemon Tea Cookies

2008-08-31T23:42:00.000-07:00

So after three tries, I finally found found success with the Lemon Tea Cookies. I know you would not believe it with all the chocolate that I bake, but I much prefer citrus desserts over chocolate in the summer. These are a little thicker than a traditional cookie, but still yummy. I think I would also recommend baking a little longer than the recipe says, depending on your oven. Pictured with the cookies is a scone, I did not like the scones, so I will have to keep on baking.

Lemon Tea Cookies

1/2 cup of vegan margarine or butter

3/4 cups of sugar

1 1/2 tsp. of lemon zest

1 tsp. of baking powder

1/4 tsp. of baking soda

1/4 cup of silken tofu, soft, whizzed with 1/2 tsp. of cornstarch

1/3 cup of soy milk

1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup of AP flour

2 tsp. of lemon juice

1/4 cup of sugar

2 Tbs. of lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar for about 1 minute. Add the next four ingredients and mix well. Add the milk and vanilla and mix, then slowly add the flour about a 1/4 of a cup at a time. Mix well, on a greased cookie sheet, place cookies by teaspoonful about 2 inches apart and bake for 8-10 minutes or til edges are slightly brown. Move to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. Once the cookies are cooled, mix the remaining sugar and lemon juice together an brush on cookies. The original recipe is from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook with several mods to make it Vegan.

(Above) Yes I have been thrift shopping again. This is the exact identical twin of my favorite plate to eat off of at my Mother-in-Law's house. I love the completely 70's design.
(Above) I found the lovely strawberry plant on this one, and couldn't resist.
(Above) This lovely little dish has a nice pattern to it, but the main reason I purchased it was because I have been needing a little serving dish for small side items.(And I liked it a lot)

My prayers and thoughts are with anyone in the line of hurricane Gustav. God Bless!!!!!!!!!!

Shake Your Bon-Bon

2008-08-28T23:57:00.000-07:00

The other day I had made a batch of Golden cupcake from Vctotw, just to find them not that golden or tasty. I hate to waste food, which had me thinking how I could salvage those cupcakes. I don't remember where I saw this from, but I think it was the Barefoot Contessa one afternoon. I made some cake bon-bons. And Damn!!! Where these tasty.

1 batch of screwed up cupcakes

1 1/2 cups of water

1 1/2 cups of sugar

18 oz of semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or I used chips

4 1/2 tbs of earth balance

rum, whiskey, or assorted extracts and nuts

toasted nuts of your choice

lots of time

Crumble the cupcakes up in one large bowl. Mix the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat till sugar is melted and you have created a simple syrup. Have several smaller bowls, or I just rinsed an reused mine, ready to go. Have one large cookie sheet with parchment paper right beside you. Pour about 1/2 cup of simple syrup in your small bowl(s), add about 1 tsp of your extract/liquors or both. I used lemon extract with rum/Jack Daniels/Chocolate chips. The lemon/rum ones were my favorite, followed by the Jack. Once you have the syrup and flavoring added, add about a cup to a cup and a half of your cake crumbs and mix till cake is almost soggy but holds a ball shape when you form it with your fingers. Place on cookie sheet. Continue with whatever flavors you have chosen till you are out of cake. Place in refrigerator to set. While the cake balls are setting up, melt the earth balance in a medium size saucepan on low-medium heat. Once melted add the chocolate and melt it as well. Pull cake balls out of fridge and using a spoon and fork begin dipping the balls in chocolate and replacing on sheet. Continue this process till all balls are covered, garnish as desired.

The ones I snapped a shot of are rum-lemon balls with lemon zest, Bourbon, chocolate chip with toasted almonds. These are incredibly rich!!! But so good.........
No I didn't make these in the same day! These are lemon tea cookies which I still did not like so I am trying again.

Taco Salad Anyone?

2008-08-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

Growing up around the Memphis area, I always was crazy about Pancho's restaurants. My obsession began with the cheese dip and chips and moved on to the famous Pancho's dressing. A tangy and flavorful mix of mustard, olive oil, vinegar and oregano. Sounds so simple yet I have not been able to duplicate the taste though I have tried numerous times. I found that I could still enjoy Pancho's since going vegan, the salsa and dressing are so much better than the cheese dip ever was. We had planned on going to the downtown location, just to discover that it had closed down. We ended up at Huey's which was still good, but just did not conquer the craving. I ended up picking up some of the dressing and making a huge taco salad with beans, lettuce, tomato, onions, black olives, tofutti sour cream, tortilla chips and lots of Pancho's dressing. WOW!!!!!!! Was this good!!!!!!!!!!! Settled my craving and was so yummy!! Now I just have to get some of the salsa and some chips..........................

No More Custard for Awhile

2008-08-23T22:26:00.001-07:00

So the first attempt was a failure, but like all good cooks I will persevere!! The texture was almost right it just needs a little less tofu, my oven needs to quit heating up hotter on one side then the other, and I need to use something to add a little of a creamier color to the custard itself. I am thinking of using that little trick that is in Vwav with the turmeric for really golden cupcakes.

I think I might lose my sanity once the farmer's market is over. I loaded up on some goodies, some that are pictured some are not. Sorry about the crap in back, ah, the joys of a tiny kitchen. Pictured are mustard greens, red bell pepper, sweet potatoes, peaches, apples and over on the far left at the bottom is some organic basil and sage.

I also almost shouted for joy at finding some more muscadines!! I love these tiny bits of heaven. I found myself eating a lot of fresh fruit bowls last week, with these beauties fitting in nicely.

Custar'd's Last Stand? Maybe Not Ha-Ha

2008-08-22T00:08:00.001-07:00

Yeah, I know, REALLY bad play on words this time. So when I was a lot younger I used to enjoy custard pie. I have not consumed one in probably fourteen years or so...........and decided to experiment with a peach custard pie. I am waiting for it to cool, anxiously I might add. I swapped tofu for the eggs and several changes in the recipe I have. The pic above is pre-custard of course. But I thought I would show how pretty the it MIGHT look. I also have another experimental bread in the oven. I will post the results hopefully tomorrow.
And yes you are seeing double. I was wandering through the same thrift store which I had found the two larger plates of this pattern at and happened upon this two desert/tea plates!! Two whole weeks after I found their parents. I was so excited, I think it was even more thrilling to find that it only cost me sixty cents for the both of them.

New Material Coming Soon!!

2008-08-20T22:33:00.000-07:00

I am in the process of cooking up some more baked goodies and as I have a passion for anything that involves being in the kitchen, a ton of other stuff. I found some beautiful peppers at the farmer's market which I need to post a pic of...and I would have liked to have taken some snapshots of the lovely muscadine's that I happened upon, however they are sadly in the process of being digested. So please check back over the next few days!!!

I Found my Thrill on Blueberry Hill, Okay not Yet!

2008-08-16T01:52:00.000-07:00

So here is the aforementioned blueberry muffin/coffee cake. With a few ingredient changes, it should be good to go. The muffin part itself has a slightly bitter aftertaste to it, I think maybe a little more sweetener and a little less baking powder. The topping is really good but I think that it needs to be thicker. I love the combination of the crunchy topping, which is just brown sugar, a little bit of oil, flour and toasted almonds. All vegan of course.

On a separate note, I had a special request for my nephews 28th birthday for the non-vegan supposedly "better than sex" cake that I used to make all of the time. Now my in-laws are a trip so they renamed the cake "close to a hand job". Either name is fine with me.(Hey!! At least I didn't have to make up a name for the in-laws like I did with my mom. Chocolate sundae cake, yeah right) But this was the first really non-vegan cake I have made since going vegan, and I thought it would be tempting because I really did used to like it. When I started putting it together and saw everything that was going into, it made me physically ill to think of how many horrid things I used to consume! Anyway, I know it sounds lame but it was almost like an epiphany. Nice to know though that I no longer taste the things that used to tempt me!!

Soup's on

2008-08-14T23:49:00.000-07:00

For reasons unknown to me, my stomach has been on a turbulent twisting roller coaster ride this past week. Due to that wonderful ride I have been unable to tolerate much of anything in the way of food. Having grown weary of store-bought vegan soups, I decided to make my own. It began as a Minestrone and turned into a macaroni-minestrone-vegetable soup. It is loaded with carrots, potatoes, sweet peas, green beans, diced tomatoes, garbanzo beans, and macaroni. It is seasoned with oregano, parsley, basil, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. I was really aiming for a minestrone, but quickly discovered I was missing the correct pasta and the needed beans. I was also completely out of corn. This turned out so incredibly good, that I will definitely be making this quite often over the coming winter. Though I do think I should invite everyone I know over when I do recreate this meal, this made so much soup. I froze most of it so I no longer have to rely on nasty canned vegan soups.

Feeling slightly better after consuming some hot soup, I decided to experiment with some of the blueberries that were left from last weeks farmer's market. I have been playing around with a muffin/coffee cake recipe, very similar to the banana chocolate chip muffins that I posted last week. It is a basic muffin recipe with a coffee cake topping and some toasted slivered almonds to add some depth to the flavor. I will post an inside soon.

M-I-C-K-E-Y

2008-08-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

So I did not realize until I began editing this picture, that I had a Mickey mouse with an acorn squash head and baby watermelon ears! My mother-in-law has been wanting a watermelon so bad, however no one in my family eats as much as we used too so we ended up purchasing several little "sweet-babies". They were actually pretty tasty. I haven't been doing a lot of cooking this week, rather enjoying some stuff I had fixed up Saturday. Potato salad, smothered okra with rice, no bake peanut butter-chocolate-oatmeal cookies, etc. I plan on attempting some cooking/baking over the next few days.

Yummy Muffins

2008-08-09T02:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the wrapper in the background, but I had to show the consistency of this yummy treat.

I had some bananas that were ready to be consumed, yet not enough people at home to consume them. I meandered into the kitchen, mashed the bananas and went from there. Okay, no offense to anyone but what is the deal with cookbooks putting cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in every single banana recipe? I am all about spices but not in my banana muffins. So being tired of the same problem, I said screw it and made my own. Not a big deal I know, but still more fun than following a recipe.

Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins:

1 1/4 cup of flour(I used half whole-wheat pastry and half AP flour)

3/4 cup of sugar

1 1/4 tsp of baking soda

1/4 tsp. of salt

1 cup of mashed bananas

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 cup of oil

2 tsp of vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease/line a 12 dozen muffin pan. Then simply sift the dry ingredients together, making sure to leave a well in the center. Than mix all of the wet ingredients together, pour the wet into the dry, mixing just till thoroughly combined, being sure not to over mix. Add the chocolate chips and mix gently. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean(just try and avoid the chocolate chips.). Enjoy.

Now as promised, the tasty dressing I used on my pasta salad:

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup of red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. of parsley flakes(dried or fresh)

1/2 tsp. of oregano(dried)

1/2 tsp. of basil(dried)

1/2 tsp. of onion powder(or diced up onions are really good in the salad)

1 clove of garlic minced(less if you are not a huge garlic fan, but I like to be sure the vampires don't get close unless invited.)

1/4 tsp. of salt

1/4 tsp. of sugar

Mix all ingredients together in a shallow bowl, being sure to make sure that it is fully combined. I am so bad about adding other stuff every time I make dressing, so these measurements may not be exact and I always add extra garlic.

Tofu Fries!!!

2008-08-08T00:59:00.001-07:00

So I try to eat healthy everyday and before you think about all the baking I do and chuckle, I make all of my baked goodies as healthy as possible. Back to the meal below. I think I have found my favorite unhealthy but extremely tasty tofu recipe!! Tofu Fries!! I discovered the recipe on VegWeb, yet made several modifications to the recipe. I made this Monday, one of the few days I was home the entire day. I served them with turnip greens, black-eyed peas, cornbread and rice(with plenty of vegan butter on top). Joey also decided to make his yummy fried green tomatoes which we almost always eat with ranch dressing. The tofu fries are at the top of the plate underneath the cornbread. I am now going to have to prepare these a couple of times a month.

Tofu Fries

1 package of extra firm tofu(drained and pressed)

3 -4 TBS. of vegan butter

Seasonings of your choice

Once the tofu is drained, simply melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cut the tofu in eight strips across the block, then simply cut these to look as fries. Coat the fries generously with seasonings. I loved the Cajun blend I did mine in. Then just add the strips to the hot butter, cooking each side for about 3-4 minutes till crispy. Drip/drain on paper towels and enjoy!

P.S. I forgot to mention that the recipe calls for the butter, I used a smaller amount of canola oil and it tasted great.

Blinded By The Light

2008-08-08T00:09:00.000-07:00

Of my refrigerator that is!! Okay, so a bad play on words. Anyhow. After a fairly busy and long week, I was greatly looking forward to the monthly Food Awareness meeting tonight. However, it was not meant to be. Sadly my husband received a phone call about a half an hour before we were due to leave, one of his fellow employees had a bad car accident earlier this week(Thank God he was not injured worse than he was), and had been expected to return this eve. To make a long story short, he wasn't recovered enough to come in tonight.

So instead of going to the meeting, I ended up spending the evening cleaning and baking. Which my refrigerator thanks me for now. My house is almost done, the laundry is caught up and I have a batch of muffins cooling in the kitchen! Whew!

I had my heart set on a falaffel from Pita Wraps in Memphis tonight, and didn't get to fulfill that need. And really had not planned on cooking tonight, so I found myself, literally, standing in the kitchen looking for something to throw together. Now in the past, I have had the worst experiences with pasta salads. I completely swore them off about 9 years ago, when I had one that was drowned in mayonnaise. Something had me wanting some tonight though. So I dug around and came up with concoction above. It was really simple, and once I put it on paper, I will post it here. It consisted of whole wheat pasta, tomatoes and black olives. With a really simple vinaigrette.

A Few Goodies

2008-08-02T22:50:00.001-07:00

Do you ever find yourself doing stuff around the house, when you know you should be sleeping/resting? This happens to me so often, I no longer keep count. We made a quick run to the Memphis Farmer's Market today, to stock up and to hold on to what is left of our sanity. So I thought I would show some of the great things I found today. Pictured directly below are green tomatoes, okra, bell peppers, Ripley tomatoes, and hiding to the far left are some peaches, the leeks I was surprised to discover, and a couple of medium sized Heirloom tomatoes.(The plum colored one on the right.) I also picked up another quart of the organic blueberries that I so enjoy.

Here we have some Chinese long beans, as well as something I have never seen in my life! Chinese squash! If anyone has any recipe ideals for this, please let me know. I have a few thoughts, but would love some suggestions.
We stopped by Kroger's to pick up a few things, and I discovered the organic Tahini was on sale for four dollars rather than the six that it normally is. And beside that is the Kroger brand dressing that I have become addicted to. Now, I love making homemade salad dressings, but some days you just don't feel like it. I have to say, this is one of the best bottled dressings I have ever tasted. If you sprinkle a little vegan Parmesan on the salad and then the dressing, it tastes dangerously close to Olive Garden's signature dressing.(Or as close as I can remember.)
And because sometimes you just need some chocolate, and also because I realized the banana brownies where all given away. I whipped these up late Thursday night, when yet again I should have been sleeping. (Damn insomnia is a bitch!!!!!!) I found the recipe on http://vegweb.com/ and switched a couple of things. I used soy yogurt rather than the flax seed, since I was out, and threw some chocolate chips in the batter. I can honestly say that these are the best Vegan brownies that I have ever had, and it was really shocking when Joey agreed with me. He enjoys experimenting with Vegan food, but just isn't completely there yet, so when I discover something I like, he generally has a pickier palate than I. I wish it was a better picture, but these went really quickly. I came back with the camera, and it looked like someone had attacked the plate. Though it was agreed that these taste even better once they have cooled and settled.

I'm Working on Blogging More!! Promise

2008-07-31T23:21:00.000-07:00

I need to be posting more of the stuff I am cooking these days!! I will attempt to keep up with it better in the future. I can't promise anything for the next few days, because my Mother in law is in the hospital for the fourth time in four weeks, so I will try to get back to our regularly scheduled programming as soon as possible.

I have a confession to make to the world!!! I am a second hand and thrift store junkie!! There, I said it. Wow, what a relief to finally let that out of the closet. Pictured below are the most recent, incredibly unique(I think), newest editions to my little kitchen. I love the design in the middle, and how it almost looks like an eye is looking out, and at one dollar a piece, they were a great bargain!!

I am testing some recipes for a magazine, and this was one of my first picks. It is a Zucchini bread, I found it has a little too much sugar for my taste, but other than that it was very moist and flavorful.
I made the Banana Split brownies from Vwav, this week and pictured below is how they turned out. I find them very moist and rich, and they really taste like a banana split. Joey offered the suggestion of some sort of strawberry topping to really make it taste like the banana splits he enjoyed in his earlier years. I was concerned because the batter did not fill the pan very much, and I was concerned about flat brownies. However, it seems that my fears were unnecessary as you can see from the picture on the bottom. My neighbors are going to enjoy some of these I hope.

Finally, No Sweets Tonight!!

2008-07-27T23:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I thought I would give everyone a break from the sweets. Not that I didn't make any, I'll just wait till another day to show the pictures. Pictured to the left is something that I played around with. But it is so.............GOOD!! I know, I know, you look at the picture and go "ugh", Okra, I hate okra!!! I am here to tell you okra can be good when prepared right!! And it doesn't always have to be fried!!

This recipe is from the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, I just added some of my own flair. It's called Smothered Okra. Though as you can see, I actually smothered rice in okra :)

Smothered Okra Recipe:

1/2 cup of diced onion

1/2 cup of diced bell pepper

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 cups of okra, cut in 1/2 inch pieces

2 cups of diced, peeled tomatoes(I cheated and used 2 cans)

2 TBS. of margarine

Salt & pepper to taste

1/2 tsp. of ground red pepper(if you don't want it real spicy, use less)

3-4 dashes of hot sauce(or not if you prefer)

Saute the garlic in the margarine for about a minute of medium heat, then add the pepper and onions and cook for about 4-5 minutes or till translucent. Add the okra, tomatoes, and spices, bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and cook for about 20-25 minutes, till okra has become tender. You can serve plain or I prefer mine over rice with some extra hot sauce.

I am sure I will have more recipes with rice in the future, I purchased a rice cooker last week and have already used it three times. But at least it's healthy for you. Until I whip up a batch of rice pudding that is.

Promised Photo's and Recipe

2008-07-26T01:11:00.000-07:00

My sincerest apologies for being a bad blogger this week!! It's just been one of "those weeks". Though I do have a few pics and a recipe today. My old muffin pan finally fell apart, which is why it is not a very pretty picture of them, the inside turned out beautifully and tasted so good though!! The recipe is as follows: for the muffins

1 3/4 cups of flour

3/4 + 2 TBS. of sugar

2 1/4 tsp. of baking soda

1/4 tsp. of salt

3/4 cup of soy milk

1/3 cup of canola oil

2 tsp. of soy yogurt

1 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups of fresh blueberries

For the crumb topping:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup of sugar

2 TBS. of canola oil

zest and juice of one lemon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 muffin tins/cups. Begin by making the crumb topping, start with the oil, flour and sugar in a small bowl. Mix with either a fork, or if you don't care about getting a little messy, use your fingers. Add in the zest with the juice and mix till crumbly texture forms, preferably small bits of crumbs. Next sift the dry ingredients together in a medium sized mixing bowl, then in a smaller bowl combine the wet ingredients. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet mix to the dry mix. Mix just enough to combine, being sure not to over mix. Add the blueberries to mix, and gently fold in to batter. Fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full, then go back and crumble some of the lemon mixture on all muffins. Cook for 18 to 22 minutes, depending on your oven. Muffins are done when toothpick is inserted and comes out clean. Allow to cool. The crumb topping will be crunchy the first day and them moist the following day.

I will be posting more pics, probably tomorrow. I have made some Chocolate Chip muffins with the above recipe, just subbing chocolate chips for blueberries and lemon. As well as some new experimental recipes I am trying to veganize. Thanks again to Bianca and Jessy for the web award!!!!!!!!

Thanks Guys

2008-07-26T00:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much!! Thanks to Jessy at http://happyveganface.blogspot.com/ and Bianca http://vegancrunk.blogspot.com/. You have no ideal how much this means to me, still being so new to the blogging community. If it hadn't been for great encouragement, I would never have even started a blog. I have learned so much from so many people.

I am passing this along to the following people, though it is a hard choice, because I love reading so many fellow vegan blogs.

http://thevoraciousvegan.blogspot.com/

http://vegancowgirl.blogspot.com/

http://havecakewilltravel.com/

http://veganvisitor.wordpress.com/

http://sillyvegans.blogspot.com/

http://aliceinveganland.blogspot.com/

http://vegan-fare.blogspot.com/

~ put the logo on your blog.~ add a link to the person who awarded you.~ nominate seven other blogs.~ add links to those blogs on your blog.~ leave a message for your nominee on their blogs.

Don't Drink & Drive! Drink & Bake!!!!

2008-07-20T00:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry that there will be no posting of the incredible lemon-blueberry muffins that I created tonight. It had been a really long night, and after having several stiff gin and tonics, I meandered into the kitchen with a creative recipe forming in my head. Back in my younger and heavier days, I used to love stopping by the store and picking up one of the Hostess blueberry muffins, I loved the crumb topping on top. I would never eat one of those again, so I tried to recreate the recipe from memory and I think I came pretty damn close!! And yes, I did have the presence of mind to write the recipe down, and I will post the recipe and pic later.

We made a trip to the Memphis Farmer's Market downtown, and cleaned up on a surplus of tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, okra, red bell peppers, peaches, and my favorite thing this week: Organic blueberries!!! I was eating them as I was making the muffins.

Okay, so maybe I shouldn't have made all of this

2008-07-19T00:28:00.000-07:00

So pictured on the right are the promised(though shitty) pics of the citrus bars. Which I will post a modified recipe for soon, they were not quite perfect and I want to tweak them just a little. And I didn't think that the baking bug would bite me for a little while, but for reasons unknown, I awoke wanting to experiment with some chocolate chip cookies, I tried the recipe from vegan-recipes-alive.com. I changed the 1 cup of vegan margarine to 1/2 cup of margarine and 1/2 cup of Earth Balance shortening sticks. They may not be the best looking, but, DAMN!!! They tasted like the real thing. I probably should have remembered my promise to myself, that I would never again make chocolate chip cookies when I am home alone, and I am not even going to confess how many ate. (Not as many as I thought though!!) These are definitely going in my "keeper", recipes.

Lowfat Banana Bread from Vcon

2008-07-18T00:18:00.001-07:00

So upon visiting tons of vegan blogs, and seeing how many people were making the low fat banana bread from Vcon, I had to try it out for myself. As you can see, that one spot in the middle is slightly overdone. But I can honestly say that this is the best tasting and moistest banana bread I have ever tasted!! And it's hard to believe that it's low fat! I spent many years on a low fat diet(which never really worked well for me.), and none of the food ever tasted this good. I also veganized a citrus bar recipe which was not quite ready yet. I will have pics tomorrow.

Been under the weather lately.....

2008-07-16T23:33:00.000-07:00

So having been under the weather for the past several days, I was unable to eat hardly anything, let alone cook. Once I began to feel better, we decided to get chinese take-out from our favorite little place, Golden Dragon, which happens to be right across the street. It's a really neat little place, there was recently an article in the DeSoto appeal about the fact that neither of the owners speak very good english, so they have gotten their 9 year old son to start taking orders and running the register. All of which he enjoys doing. And it works out well for vegans, because he can translate what is in the entree's. I opted for my favorite: Broccoli and carrots with garlic sauce and an order of spring rolls, which is filled with cabbage and shitake mushrooms. I mix up the soy sauce, hot sauce and spicy mustard for my own twist on a dipping sauce.
Once I recovered enough to feel like cooking, I was extremely excited to try out a "Teese" pizza. And.................WOW. It really tasted like the pizzas I used to make all the time. I did cheat and opted for a premade crust, but it was still good. I just purchased a rice cooker, so I will be posting some entree and baked goods pics soon.

This was SO Good

2008-07-11T22:58:00.001-07:00

This turned out so much yummier than I thought! I love the thick layer of icing in the middle. Sorry about the messy picture. Joey liked it, but did not like the molasses that the icing recipe suggests using, to his palate the molasses added a slightly burnt taste? Tasted great to me though! His taste has been slightly off recently anyway.

Warning about the cookies and cream cupcakes: The cookies all came to the top of the cakes and made them crispy the day after baking. I am yet to discover why? But when I do, I will let everyone know.

See what happens when I stress out?

2008-07-11T00:09:00.001-07:00

To me, there is just something about baking/cooking which helps alleviate stress. Although I usually end up spending more time working out, just to burn the calories from all the goodies! My oven was repaired today, thank God above!! And just in the nick of time. It's been a long week, and I am hoping with the arrival of the weekend, things will look up.

Pictured below are what I decided to bake tonight. I began with the cake, it is the Banana Split cupcake recipe from VctotW, with the Elvis variation. One of the yummiest things I baked recently were those Elvis cupcakes, and I have been craving them again, but not as cupcakes. So I just did one and a half recipes of the banana cupcakes, baked them in cake pans and made a double batch of peanut butter icing. I wish I had something to decorate the top with, like some chocolate pieces or some banana chips. I will post a photo of the inside when I cut it.

Once I had that in the oven and the icing made, I still wasn't ready to leave the kitchen quite yet. So I decided to whip up a half batch of the Cookies and Cream cupcakes, also from VctotW. They turned out pretty, but once again, my photography could use steadier hands for a better picture. They are really good, but I still think my favorite are the Elvis cupcakes.

Due to a Series of Unfortunate Events....

2008-07-10T00:09:00.000-07:00

Due to a series of unfortunate, though not completely unfunny, set of events. My oven has seen fit to up and die on me. I never have understood the "up and died", saying from the south, but since I still live here I might as well use it. How do you up and die? Anyway, since cooking is my main therapy for stress, I have been going insane. So I decided tonight to use my little tiny toaster oven to make some Blackberry Muffins. I followed the recipe from the VeganCrunk blog, whom had the link on her blog for the recipe. Really, really good muffins, though I would recommend tasting your blackberries first for the level of tartness. Mine were a little too tart and could have used some extra sugar to balance it out. But still really goood.
And, after hearing and reading so many positive reviews on Teese, I ordered some and just when I thought I could wait no longer, it arrived. There should have been a royal procession musical intro when it arrived and I first bit into a piece of..................how do you describe something that tastes and feels and looks so close to real cheese that it could be? Oh, yeah, TEESE!!! If you have not tried this yet, why are you waiting???? I waited so long and now am kicking myself in the ass for not buying it earlier. The real test was going to be how it melted, Joey, not wanting to wait till the oven was working again, decided to surprise me with bread, pizza sauce, fresh tomato's and the awe-inspiring Teese. It MELTS!! Truly melts. Now for some real pizza.............as soon as the oven's working that is.

Peach Cobbler and Incredible Salad

2008-07-07T00:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, so pictured above is the peach cobbler that I made for the 5th of July(ha-ha). I originally made the recipe from VwaV, but neither Joey nor I liked the topping very much. So I decided to redo it with some extra peaches and put my own recipe for a crust on top, and it was so good!!! I would recommend if you are from the south, trying a different top crust. Mine is as follows:

1 cup of flour(I used unbleached white)

1 1/2 tsp. of baking soda

1/4 + 1 Tbs. sugar (I used natural cane sugar)

1/4 cup of vegetable or canola oil

2/3 cup of almond milk

1 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract

This is just the crust recipe. Mix the dry ingredients together and in a seperate bowl mix the wet. Add the wet to the dry, mixing the ingredients. Be sure not to over mix or batter will be heavier.

And I know everyone has a salad picture on their blog, but my friend introduced me to the incredible soy feta and I had to have it on a salad. It tastes so close to real feta, I could eat it every day. It's just a salad mix with fresh bell peppers, tomatoes, black olives and tons of soy feta crumbled on top. With the ranch dressing listed below, I was making such noises, I was almost concerned with what the neighbors thought.

Such a non-conformist am I

2008-07-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

Being the non-conformist that I am, I opted to fix 4th of July goodies on the 5th instead. Partially due to some humorously embarrassing antics, which I will never let on too. (Unless you are around me when I am really trashed, and then you might get to hear about it.) Pictured below is your basic southern potato salad and bbq beans. The messy sandwich in the back is a bbq tempeh with homemade coleslaw. It has been so long since I have had any type of bbq, I almost squealed in delight upon the first bite! Also prepared but not pictured yet is bbq tofu, and peach cobbler for dessert.

Breakfast for dinner

2008-07-03T23:21:00.000-07:00

I do not see a reason for the heavy meal that people seem to enjoy so early in the morning: Breakfast. I sometimes wonder if people around here even know the meaning of that word. It's not that hard if you think about it. Seems like every time I turn around, you see a huge plate, piled up high with eggs, pancakes, etc. Way too early in the morning a stomach to handle that much food. Just give me a piece of fruit that early and I am good to go. Now breakfast for dinner, that's another story. A nice filling, but not to greasy meal. Pictured below are my versions of vegan breakfast for dinner.

The meal consisted of homemade baking powder biscuits, white country gravy(which took me awhile to perfect the vegan version.), Lightlife sausage, and tofu scramble. I prepared all but the tofu scramble which was a collaboration between Joey and I. I wasn't too fond of the scramble the first time I tried it, I think I was heavy handed on the spices. This time I lessened the spices, and added bell peppers, onions, jalepeno's and tomatoes all purchased from the local farmer's market. You may call me crazy(which I proudly embrace!!), but yes, that is Tofutti on top of the scramble.

The next day, being the only one in the house which enjoys the tofu scramble, I made some breakfast burritos and put sour cream, salsa, an black olives all over it. It was so good, I am making another batch of scramble just for the burritos again.

I do live around Memphis so.........

2008-07-02T22:40:00.000-07:00

Seeing as how I do live in the Memphis area, and have never been to Graceland, I thought I would make up for it by baking up a batch of the "Elvis" peanut butter and banana cupcakes from VctotW. And can I just say, Damn!! I like sweets but not ones that are overly sweet. So this was perfect. They would have been a lot prettier had my pastry bag not been a bitch and burst open on me yet again. But they taste better than they look.

Then, still having overripe bananas and not wanting to waste them, I decided to whip up a pan of banana bread. I don't use the nuts, because I know to many people that are allergic or intolerant of them. I don't like my banana bread like the typical recipes. I prefer a little more kick and flavor. So i'll post mine with the modifications in it. I have for years used the older recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, and veganized and added on. So here goes:

1 1/2 cups of flour

1 1/2 tsp. of baking powder

1/4 tsp. of baking soda

1/2 tsp. of ground cinnamon

1/2 to 1 tsp of ginger(depending on how much kick you like)

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup of plain soy yogurt

1 cup of mashed (very ripe) bananas

3/4 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of oil

1 tsp. of vanilla extract

1-2 Tbs. of soy milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease bottom and up sides of an 8x4x2 inch loaf pan. In mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Make a well in the center of dry mixture and set aside. In another bowl, combine the bananas, yogurt, sugar, oil, and vanilla and milk. Add the wet mixture into the well you made earlier in the dry ingredients, just until moistened. Be careful not to overmix. Bake for anywhere from 40 to 50 minutes depending on your oven.

Hope this is a likeable recipe and you enjoy.

Odds and Crazy Ends

2008-06-28T00:38:00.000-07:00

So me and my wonderful friend decided we were going to have a night to chill out, enjoy a few drinks, and laugh our selves to tears. We had a great night relaxing and talking, then decided to crash. Which actually turned into more giggling and laughing more than I have in I don't know how long. We dozed off and I awoke with the sudden urge to bake. I know, I am insane. Five O'clock in the morning, haven't had but about twenty minutes of sleep and i'm ready to bake? WTF? When the mood strikes, it strikes. So I made the Sunny Blueberry Corn muffins from the V'con. The next time I make these, I think I will add slightly more sugar than this time. But they were still really good. The book reccomended serving warm, but I enjoyed them much more when they had cooled off.
Before we decided to crash, we had the best time hanging out and chilling, and eating. I looked around my kitchen and started laughing, seeing that somehow we had ended up with a mixed nationality snack menu. We had Asian, Mexican, and Italian. I had my first taste of incredibly tasty sushi, which she supplied. And I had made queso, stuffed olives, and the black bean dip which is pictured above. I kind of threw things in the dip that I knew go well with black beans, mixed them in the food processor and topped them with jalapeno's, fresh bell pepper, red onion, and tomatoes. Turned out pretty well I thought.

V.L.T's and Fried Green Tomatoes

2008-06-27T03:51:00.000-07:00

So my non-vegan(as of now) husband, has fallen head over heels in love with the Lightlife Smart Bacon, which works for me as the product is vegan friendly. He booted me out of the kitchen for the evening and fixed me V.L.T's. Along with one of my all-time favorite fried foods, fried green tomatoes. YUM!! I was in heaven with the vegan ranch to dip the tomatoes in. He decided to try the tomatoes in melted butter rather than the usual eggs. Next time he's going to try soy milk, for a slight variation.

Cici's

2008-06-25T22:52:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I had one of those lazy days, where I just didn't feel like cooking then cleaning up. Upon researching and asking management, I found that Cici's pizza crust is vegan. So we took a trip to try it out. I began with a salad, which I topped with the incredible Organic Ville non-dairy, vegan ranch. Now, having once been a HUGE ranch addict, I was incredibly skeptical of trying this product. My taste buds screamed at me for not trying this sooner. It needs a little extra pepper in my opinion, but it was so nice to have ranch back in my life.

I always love the lengthy drama that ensues upon informing someone that you want all veggies no cheese. Twice he asked me "Just cheese no veggies?", and twice I had to correct him. Once it finally arrived it was worth the wait, by no means not the best pizza I have ever had. But it was good. It was also rather entertaining trying to explain to the non-vegan family members what I could order at Cici's. Finally I just told them to screw the explanation and see what I ordered. All in all it was a quick meal and not bad on the checkbook.

Fried Tofu, Surprisingly Delicious

2008-06-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

So I know the plate presentation looks like shit, but this meal was really good. I have been trying forever to find a way to cook tofu that non-vegans would eat. I followed the recipe posted on VegWeb.com and would definately reccomend kicking up the spice and flavoring. But it was still really good, I think what made it really great texture wise was freezing the tofu pre-using it. It had a really chicken like texture to it. Pictured next to the tofu on the bottom of the plate is the mustard sauce from V'con, which is incredibly tasty. I simply roasted the veggies(potatoes, squash, onions, eggplant and tomatoes.) and steamed some Bok Choy with a ginger/sesame/mustard sauce. That's it for today. My husband fixed me a dinner of vegan BLT's and fried green tomatoes. Maybe if I can hold my hunger off for a few seconds, I will post pics of this delightfulness.

2008-06-22T22:59:00.000-07:00

Hello all, I thought I would post several of my past vegan goodies at one time, so that I can start to get caught up with my newer recipes.

Pictured directly above are several variations on recipes from VctotW. The ones pictured with the white icing are the basic golden cupcakes with some slight variations. Upon some advice from the friend mentioned in the earlier post, who makes some of the best mouthgasms you can ever have with her decadent cakes and cookies, I tried some experimentation. Rather than souring the milk with apple cider vingera, I used lemon juice, as well as adding some more lemon juice to the mix. I also added some fresh lemon zest into the batter itself. Once they baked, there still was not enough zing to the cakes for my taste, so I brushed some lemon extract across the top as they were cooling. I myself am not a fan of overly sweet desserts, so I opted to follow the Lime Buttercream Icing recipe as opposed to icing with lemon. I added more juice and zest than the recipe called for and they turned out incredibly delicious. The second batch were the Chocolate Agave sweetened cupcakes from VctotW, with the Peanut Buttercream Icing. My only complaint was that my damn icing bag broke in the midst of icing and I had to resort to a spatula. I tested both of these recipes on non-vegans, who could not believe that they were vegan. Yay!!!

The second meal pictured was easy to prepare, so long as you don't mind chopping veggies. It was Dreena's lemon pepper tofu recipe from her blog. And while it was good, I think I will try freezing the tofu before preparing to have a chewier texture to it. I served it with fresh sliced tomatoes, cooked squash, baked eggplant and a baked potato decked out with Tofutti sour cream and vegan margarine. I know it's not exactly the most elegantly laid out or planned menu, but it was good.

And finally, last but not least, are the oh-so-good Tofu Pups made by Lightlife foods. I was never a big hot dog eater before I went vegan, because I knew what they were made of. But every now and then I would have a craving for one. These taste so good. They have the true taste of hot dogs, but without all the nasty ingredients. I was craving one so bad that I did not realize I had run out of onions and had no dill relish in the house until after I had already cooked these bad boys. So I opted for diced jalepenos and tons of mustard. I HIGHLY recommend these to anyone. My non-vegan husband tried them the following night and enjoyed them as well. I will try to keep updating my pre-blogging meals so that I can catch up and show my recent meals.

Yummy Vegan Taco Night!!

2008-06-21T22:25:00.001-07:00

I promise I am working on the pics!! On to the yumminess. Mexican food is, quite literally my favorite food. Since going Vegan I have been missing Rotel dip desperately. I really never thought I would have anything that tasty and creamy and spicy again.

I begin searching Vegan websites to find recipes and read reviews. On VegWeb.com I discovered a nutritional yeast queso sauce. I decided to experiment when my good friend Steph(Who is an extrodinary cake maker and a fellow Vegan. Hey! Us Vegans must stick together.) so when we decided to chill out one night I thought what a great chance to try this recipe. Both of us agreed it was really good, and quite close to Rotel, though not exactly the same. The recipe is posted on VegWeb.com but I reccomend adding some extra paprika and chili powder to give it an extra kick.

The following day, having so much queso left over. I decided to experiment with some tempeh and black bean tacos. WOW!!!! I was in heaven. I have been craving tacos for almost as long as Rotel, and these satisfied my craving so much more than anything Taco Bell could ever make. I don't remeber where I found the recipe, but I changed up most of it. The tacos consisted of:

1 package of Tempeh

1 can of black beans with 1/4 cup of liquid reserved

1 bell pepper

1 onion

1 clove of minced garlic

1 1/2 Tsp of Cumin

Pinch of salt

Chili powder to taste

2 TBS. of olive oil

Begin by dicing the onion and garlic and sauteeing on medium heat for about 3-4 minutes to flavor the oil. Depending on how crispy you like your peppers, you can add them now or later. Crumble the tempeh in with the onions and garlic and add your seasonings. Cook until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 12-15 minutes depending on your stove. Once the tempeh is done, drain the black beans, and add the black beans with reserved 1/4 cup of liquid and cook till beans are heated and serve. I served mine with the remaining queso dip, Tofutti sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, and black olives. I like this recipe for the easiness, quickness and the ability to alter the spices to specific tastes.

2008-06-20T23:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, so before I start posting pics and recipes, I thought I should explain a couple of things. I am not the best photographer at some times, due to shaky hands. So I apologize for not so great photos.

I generally prepare meals for a sufferer of Crohn's Disease, and it is a rare and great day when I discover a Vegan recipe or pre-purchased food item that he not only can digest, but actually likes! He still enjoys his seafood, which makes life incredibly interesting, most especially when it comes to cooking. That being said I am going to start with some things that pickier eaters MIGHT enjoy. (I get tired of finding recipes implying that they would fool meat-eaters, and doing no such thing!!!)

So I shall begin with pictured above are: Herb Scalloped Potatoes from Veganomicon(LOVE that cookbook.). This recipe went over really well and tasted incredible due I think to the nooch. I would suggest seasoning the layers as you go, rather than seasoning only the top. I think it would add more flavor. Pictured beside the potatoes is a mix/matched meal that was a last minute, "I have no clue what to cook", evening. It consisted of steamed brussel sprouts with a little vegan margarine and black pepper, black-eyed peas seasoned with Braggs and pepper, and a very easy italian rice recipe that I made up as I went. It basically consisted of: Jasmine rice, crushed tomatoes, onions, minced garlic fresh parsley, basil, and oregano. I will get to specific measurments of recipes, but I literally threw this together. Enjoy

New to Blogging

2008-06-19T00:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Vegan Grindhouse, and be prepared for all sorts of insanity. I have been a vegetarian for a year and a half and a vegan for 5 months and three days, yes I keep count. as of this posting. I like to play with my food, after all those years of my mother telling me not too, as well as blow bubbles in my soy milk. I try to break all the boundries of cooking and I almost always screw up if I follow a recipe to the letter.

I hope to share all of my weird concoctions, and not so weird concotions through photos and occasionally recipes. Though knowing me, it will probably be reversed. I will be posting some food porn shortly. I have a weakness in every food category and am looking forward to the challenge of veganizing recipes.