The Holidays Have Ended

Every year I always feel so relieved when the holidays are over, but this year it never felt like the holidays! Maybe I was just too distracted with some other things to think about the winter holidays- who knows? I did, however, manage to quickly plan and throw together a meal and dessert to bring to my grandparents' house for Xmas.

First, let's start with Christmas Eve. I wasn't planning on making any cookies for Santa, but I decided that I might as well just for the heck of being festive. I tried the Glutton-Be-Gone Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies from ED&BV and did my best to make them completely free of any of my food sensitivities. I used the amaranth flour option, substituted the sugar with agave nectar, and used Enjoy Life brand vegan chocolate chips (which, unfortunately, do contain evaporated cane juice which I am sensitive to but I don't think I'll find any chocolate chips without it, so I went with it and gave myself a break). The cookies turned out really well, but I think subbing agave nectar for the sugar made the cookies a little thinner and caramel-y tasting than they otherwise would be, but it grew on me and I quickly began loving these cookies! I plan on going to the store this week to fine some all natural beet sugar so I can make these cookies again to see if there's a difference.

I didn't really ask for anything year, so I wasn't expecting much come Xmas morning, but I was pleasantly surprised. I got a bunch of small gifts (a t-shirt, some yoga equipment, tea, candles) but two gifts were really special this year. The first was a new cookbook to help a little more with my new diet- Gluten-Free Vegan. A lot of the recipes sound delicious and, while some do use rice or soy, they can easily be adjusted and I can't wait to get cooking! My main gift this year was especially exciting because my dad picked it out himself and has been talking about it for a few weeks now- an AeroGarden indoor herb garden! I set it up immediately and will be growing oregano, basil, mint, thyme, dill, and chives. Expect regular updates throughout the next few months about the growth of my herbs!

Alright, the real highlight of this post- the meal! I had planned making some sort of stuffed squash like many of you had suggested, but when I came across this recipe for a gluten-free, soy-free, vegan nut roast on Diet, Dessert and Dogs, I knew that I had to try it out (don't worry, I have stuffed squash planned as one of meals within the next week or two, so you will read all about that later)! I changed only a few things: I left out the garlic, replaced Brazil nuts with walnuts, omitted the oats, used gluten-free bread from Rose's Wheat-Free Bakery in Evanton for the bread slices (the bread will be featured in another post), used vegetable broth instead of wine, and baked the roast in muffin tins so I could have some individual nut roasts. I don't know how these ingredients came together to be so delicious, but they did! I am in love with this recipe and am so happy I have extra mini roasts to freeze! I can imagine that these would make an awesome "meatloaf" topped with some agave-sweetened ketchup......yum! I topped it with a garlic-free, gluten-free version of the gravy I had at Thanksgiving from the Chicago Diner cookbook. I brought some beets, parsnips, sweet potatoes, and sliced onions roasted with thyme and rosemary for everyone to enjoy along with my own cranberry sauce (using the recipe from ED&BV- this recipe is great! I love how it's sweetened with maple syrup). Everything was so good that I had this exact meal again for dinner tonight (which is actually the picture you see above since I didn't bring my camera to my grandparents' house). I'm also happy to report that this meal contained none of my food sensitivities, so I didn't have to take a digestive enzyme- yay! I purposely did this since I knew I'd have to take a pill before the dessert I had planned (and it was worth it!):


A classic chocolate tofu mousse pie with my own little twist- I added some peppermint extract and topped it with some Soyatoo whipped soy cream and crushed candy canes. My gosh, was this awesome! I was nervous about using the boxed Soyatoo for the first time, but after adding about 1/4 t. xanthan gum to stabilize it along with some confectioner's sugar, vanilla extract, and a splash of peppermint, it tasted great! I put it in the fridge for 24 hrs. before piping it onto the pie to make it a little stiffer and it worked really well. This pie was super rich but really lovely- not overly sweet and neither the chocolate nor peppermint overpowered each other. Only about 3 out of the 12 people at dinner had dessert (what's up with that? It's the holidays, people!), but those who did were sure to try my pie and loved it :) My dad did mention, however, that he would prefer this pie without the peppermint flavor which is fine since that's what the original basic recipe is for, so you can bet I'll be making this again!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and I am wishing you a happy new year- my gosh, it's almost 2009 already! Pretty soon the 90's will be almost 20 years ago- ah!!

My Latest Favorites and Some Obstacles

Lately, breaded tofu has been my new favorite method of cooking tofu. All it takes is a simple dip in a mixture of oil, soy sauce, and maple syrup and a dredge in some breadcrumbs, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, and any other spices and into the oven it goes! I've also tried making these into little tofu nuggets and everytime I make them, my little brother and sister grab them off my plate (I'm so happy that they have all been more open to trying certain vegan proteins- it makes making dinner for them a lot more enjoyable)! Last week I finally got around to trying a dish in VWAV that I overlooked for far too long- the Maple Mustard Glazed Potatoes and String beans (I added some parsnips and carrots as well). YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY! I just made this because I had everything on hand and wanted a warm meal, but this may be my new favorite way to roast vegetables. I think I might even bring this to my grandmother's house for Xmas dinner!

I finally had a free afternoon this past weekend and decided to take advantage of it and bake. But what to make? Hm....I didn't want anything super sweet or decadent because I was going out for dinner with a friend that night and knew there'd be lots of cake involved, so I considered muffins. As I thought of different types of muffins to make, I remember I had this recipe for breakfast cookies saved onto my computer from the Food Network. Perfect! These would be a nice, healthy breakfast and fun to make. The recipe was easy to veganize as I only had to sub EB for butter and a flax "egg" for the egg. I also used maple syrup as the only sweetener, canned pumpkin instead of the carrot baby food and added about 3 T. more, used oat bran instead of bran flakes, and added 1/4 c. nondairy milk. Despite all of these changes, the cookies were a hit and I'm sad that they're all gone. But they're so easy I can always make a bunch more :)

Alright, some news (I seem to have a lot of that lately, don't I?): I have recently found out that I have multiple food allergies including (these are off the top of my head): wheat, gluten, rice, oat, barley, almonds, peanuts, sugar cane, dairy and eggs (not that those matter much to me!) lentils, bananas, pineapple, garlic, soy, lettuce (how does that even happen?), and a few other things that I can't seem to remember right now. While I do not experience any obvious physical symptoms from these foods, these allergies may be causing some problems I've been dealing with for awhile now. So, over the next 2 months I have to weed out all of these foods from my diet, starting with the grains and gluten. Now, I still will be able to eat some of these foods if I take a digestive enzyme before each meal because I am allergic to so many commonly used foods that they will be difficult to avoid. I plan on not worrying about my allergies and just taking the enzyme when I eat out, but I really want to try to avoid these foods at home. So you can expect a lot for creative meals and my own versions of some recipes! Just wanted to let you know why I haven't been doing a whole lot of cooknig recently, but once I get to the store next week I will be cooking and baking up a storm! One of my first missions- gluten-free breakfast cookies :)

Oh, and I have a question for some of you- what are you planning on making for your holiday meal this year? My family and I are going to my grandma's house for Xmas and, while I have dessert already planned, I'm at a loss for what to make for my meal!

No Food, but Some Exciting News!

I promise I'll be back with some actual food in my next post as soon as possible, but I just wanted to let everyone know about the contest being held by Eating Bender. You could win a Vita-mix! Now, if you're anything like me than this seems like the greatest thing ever and I encourage you all to enter this contest if you're as excited as I am!

Oh- if you do mention that I referred you, it would be greatly appreciated :) Good luck to everyone that does decide to enter this contest!

The Feast

Sorry it's a little late, but these last few days after the holiday have been hectic! Anyways, let's rewind to Thursday. For my cousin and I (she's a vegetarian), I made some basic mashed potatoes with Earth Balance, soymilk, salt, and pepper. I also cooked a Field Roast Celebration Roast instead of a Tofurkey which I made last year and wasn't crazy about. I really wanted to make some sort of homemade loaf with some stuffing, but since I had school Wednesday and had to all my cooking that night, I wasn't able to do that. However, the Celebration Roast was actually really good for something packaged and my cousin and I both enjoyed it. To top it all off, I whipped up a half batch of the gravy in the Chicago Diner Cookbook, but added some sliced shallots and miso. The gravy was probably the best part of our dinner- it tasted just like traditional gravy, but the miso gave it a nice twist. Another one of my cousins and my mother tried a bit of the gravy and were incredibly impressed. For everyone to enjoy, I made the Pear and Endive Salad with Maple Pecans from Vcon (I added some dried cranberries) and this was another hit! The big shocker of my night was when my "meat and potatoes" grandpa who has probably never had a meatless meal in his life complimented me several times on the salad and asked to take some home! I definitely did not expect that from him.


For dessert I made Ani Phyo's Raw Apple Pie because I knew how much my cousin loved the raw food we ate at a demo at Whole Foods this summer. I decided not to be concerned with making a dessert I thought everyone in my family would love since my aunt was bringing some pies and hers always get eaten first. Imagine my surprise when my pie was the first one to be cut and one of my aunts even told me that my pie is the best! I guess I really don't need to worry so much about impressing people with healthy, vegan food- it's so good they'll love it no matter what :) Also, this pie is an outstanding breakfast the next day (not that I have been eating it everyday for breakfast for the past three days....)

PS- One year ago today, I started this blog. I am so happy I made this decision because it has connected me to so many other amazing bloggers and I just want to let you know how much I appreciate each and every one of you!

Happy (Save a) Turkey Day!

Even though it is no secret that this is not one of my favorite holidays, I do hope that everyone is enjoying their day whether spending it alone or with their family and friends. In honor of the giving spirit of the holiday season, I have decided to participate in the Pay It Forward Challenge after seeing it on Walking the Vegan Line's blog. Here's how it works:

The rules are simple: I will send the first three people to leave a comment on this post a handmade gift within the next 365 days (that’s my kind of time frame!)

The catch is that you have to have a blog and be willing to do the same thing....

Because Thanksgiving is unfortunately known as a horrible holiday for turkeys, I felt that I should do something extra special and adopted two turkeys from Farm Sanctuary. Please meet Apollo and Faye:


Knowing that I am helping these two turkeys made me feel so amazing and I hope some of you decide to participate in this as well because it is so rewarding.

Once again, enjoy your holiday! (don't worry- I will post about my Thanksgiving dinner later this week)

Soup Season is Upon Us

The Chickpea Noodle Soup from Vcon is something that I have had bookmarked since the summer, but I just couldn't bring myself to make soup in 70 degree weather. However, with the sudden burst of winter weather we have been experiencing, I thought that this soup would make an awesome dinner for my family. When I was making this I was kind of nervous because I kept tasting it and it seemed like there was just something missing, but I knew that Vcon had never steered me wrong so I kept my cool. After I added the miso, this soup suddenly became magical. Whatever I felt like it was missing earlier was there now and it tasted like one of the best "chicken" noodle soups I've ever had!My family loved it too, so much so that there were no leftovers to freeze like I had originally planned! Not that that bothers me too much- this soup is so easy to make that I can make an extra batch to freeze anytime!

The Perfect Way to Celebrate

Many of you guessed correctly that yesterday indeed was World Vegan Day and my (16th) birthday!I was pretty excited when I learned last year that they were on the same day- I suppose veganism is just my destiny :) My birthday was fabulous and I really wasn't expecting very many gifts since I told my parents that there wasn't anything I really wanted, but they were so sweet and went WAY above and beyond my expectations!

I actually was given this the night before my birthday (Halloween) from my family so I would have my own vegan candy to enjoy while they ate their Halloween candy. It's a gift basket from Pangea Vegan Store filled with: VeganSweets Chocolate Spread (tastes like hot fudge), VeganSweets Belgian Chocolates, Whizzers speckled eggs and chocolate soccer balls, a Mint Coconut Crispy Cat candy bar, a fudge brownie, a Tropical Source Mint Crunch bar, an almond chocolate bar, and an almond chocolate truffle bar. Talk about a chocolate overload!!! I told my family that I would be more than okay with it if they helped me out with finishing all of this candy because I know I will never be able to.

On the day of my birthday, it was time for more gifts! I was given two adorable t-shirts, some Alba shampoo, conditioner, body cream, and body wash, a cute striped scarf (not pictured), a turning cake stand (not pictured), a grapefruit-scented candle (not pictured), and a gift card to both Pangea Vegan Store and LUSH. Some friends of mine stopped by later that night and surprised me with a recycled notebook, some pomegranate goji berry red tea (it's a little joke between my friend and I because I always mention how I love tea and she always talks about how she hates it), and a slice of Chocolate peanut Butter Cake from Blind Faith Cafe.

All I wanted to do that day was go out to dinner with my family (and what better way to celebrate World Vegan Day as well?). I originally wanted to go to the Chicago Diner, but instead my Dad suggested we try Lake Side Cafe because it's closer and can seat more people (I had no idea why this was important if it would only be my family....). On our way there, my mom surprised me by telling me that she was going to pick up some other friends of mine to go out to dinner with us (then I understood why we need a place that could easily seat more people)! As always, I didn't bring my camera to dinner because I was so caught up in being around people I care about and having a good time that I didn't even want to bother with that. But I can tell you that I ordered the Vegan Gyros and apple cider to drink, and both were outstanding! I ate the leftovers of my gyro for lunch today and it still tasted amazing. For dessert, there was yet another surprise! The waitress brought out a huge chocolate birthday cake with a candle on it (the candle played the tune of "Happy Birthday" when it was lit, so I heard it before it came to the table and caught on). We were all so stuffed that we only had half slices of cake, but if I hadn't been so full I could have had a few more slices for sure. The cake was moist and the frosting was super chocolatey and fluffy, yet not at all too sweet. We brought the rest of the cake home, so I'm looking forward to a slice of that tonight :) Thankfully, everyone in my family and both of my friends really enjoyed their food and, most importantly, we all enjoyed each other's company and had a fun dinner.

As you can tell, between the two different chocolate cakes and the basket of chocolate candies, I am overwhelmed with the amount of chocolate I have in my house right now and I'm not sure how I'm going to even attempt to finish some of it. Oh well, trying is the fun part :) I really wasn't expecting much in the way of a birthday celebration this year, but it was by far my best birthday ever thanks to my awesome family.

Happy Halloween!

What a better way to celebrate the holiday than with a Jack-O-Lantern! But this isn't just any Jack-O-Lantern, it's one made from the PPK's Pumpkin Pie Brownies, of course. I hope everyone has a fun (and safe) Halloween!

Oh, I almost forgot! What's Halloween without costumes, right? I think I'm going to dress up in my usual "witch" costume (really just me dressed in jeans, a corset, and wearing a witch hat, but it counts, right?). What is everyone else dressing up as?

P.S.- Tomorrow is also a special day for two reasons. I'm curious to see if any of you can guess both reasons why.....

Only 5 Days to go!

... till Halloween, that is! There's no hiding that it's my favorite holiday, so I'm pretty darn excited. Anyways, onto what I've been eating lately. I've been able to try out a few new recipes from Vcon and VCTOTW and, thankfully, they've all been outstanding. I tried out the Spicy Tempeh and Broccoli Rabe Rotelle (subbing broccoli for the broccoli rabe since I love broccoli so much) for dinner one night and I'm in love with it! The best part of this dish without a doubt was the spicy tempeh. It was so juicy and flavorful and if you haven't already, you have to make it! I will for sure make this dish again but, since it did take quite a bit of time, I know I will at least be making the tempeh on its own very regularly.

I was also able to make the Tofu Florentine from Vcon and it's another winner! The broiled tofu itself didn't quite "wow" me, but set atop a crispy english muffin, sauteed spinach, and smothered in Cheezy Sauce, it all tasted delicious. I have some Cheezy Sauce left over so I can't wait to see what else I can do with it (I'm thinking in a tofu scramble burrito, maybe? yum.....)


My mom had some women over from her work Friday night for a party and I was on cupcake duty. My mom chose the Chai Latte cupcakes and the Maple Cupcakes with Sugared Walnuts from VCTOTW to fit in with the autumn theme of her party. She even went out and bought a cupcake stand to display them all (and you can see in the picture that some were already taken off and eaten before I was able to get a picture!). Everyone loved both varieties, but I think the Chai Latte cupcakes needed either a glaze or frosting on top because most people chose the Maple ones because of the frosting. Either way, everything was a hit! Also, as a side note- the sugared walnuts that go along with the Maple cupcakes are the best things ever. I had about half of them left over after making the cupcakes and my sister and I ate all of them because we just couldn't stop snacking on them.

The Fruits of My Labor

Here it is: my home-grown butternut squash! While I only got two squashes from my plant (I suspect some critters were snacking on the blossoms...), it was worth it because I was so proud of the little guys! I went back and forth decided what to make with my two precious squashes until I finally came to a conclusion:

I, of course, had to try the Butternut Squash Soup from VWAV! I will admit that I would have been perfectly happy ending the recipe after the squash was roasted and found myself snacking on it as it cooled far too much, but I was sooo happy with the final product and remembered how much I love squash-based soups. My family loved it as well and so did many of my dad's coworkers who were lucky enough to have this for lunch the next day (I sent off the leftovers with my dad to work). I can't wait to make this soup again and maybe some sort of variation? I'm sad that I will have to used store bought squash, but I have a feeling it will still be amazing.