Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

I made these for the first time in May and took them to a potluck at work. Ever since then Chelsea has been harassing me to make them again. Since it was her birthday, I made them special for her.

Kumla

Kumla is hands down my favorite food in the entire world. It is a Norwegian dish of potato dumpling boiled in ham broth. My mom was able to adapt the broth to make ham seitan from La Dolce Vegan. I cannot find the cookbook with the kumla in it so I will need to post it later but here is my Mom’s recipe for ham broth.

8 cups water
¾-cup tamari
3 tsp liquid smoke
2 tbsp Braggs

Mix in a stockpot and bring to a boil.

The leftover are great the next day chopped up and fried.

Dessert?

Today I made Banana Walnut Bars from Garden of Eden. The only reason I chose to make this is because I felt like baking and I had all of the ingredients. I did need to change the walnuts to pecans. This was listed under the dessert section but it is really more of a breakfast item. It tastes great; I loved the cinnamon sugar on top.

Thanksgiving Books

I am sorry to say I have nothing to post food wise. I do however have a few thanksgiving book recommendations. The first is T’was the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey. This is a story about a group of students who take a fieldtrip to a turkey farm. The all fall in love with the turkeys and save them from becoming a thanksgiving meal. The second book is A Turkey For Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting. This is a book about Mr. Moose searching for a turkey for thanksgiving. However, the turkey was the guest of honor not the meal.

Star Fruit

I was grocery shopping the other day and I thought I would try something new, a star fruit. I was really exited. Since I never had one before I was not sure how to pick a ripe one. Today I decided to try it. I was surprised that it crunched like an apple. Is it supposed to be like that? I thought the taste was okay but I did not like the texture. I was sitting here and I could smell the star fruit and it reminded me of something from childhood. Then it just hit me it smells like pumpkins when you carve them.

Veganomicon Recipe # 4

I love brownies. I have only made them once since becoming a vegan and I did not like them. Therefore, with great hope I made the Blueberry Brownies form Veganomicon. I had some problems though I ran out of vanilla and had to run and get more. Blueberries are out of season so I left them out. I took them to work because I felt guilty for not sharing my cookies (did not have enough). Everybody who tried the brownies liked them unless they were lying to me.

Sorry about the picture, brownies are really boring to photograph.

Mexican Lasagna

I needed to use up the left over cheese sauce from the tater tot hot dish so I made Mexican Lasagna. It was really a mix of a recipe from peta2 and the bean ball recipe.

Instead of the fake ground beef in the peta2 recipe, I made the bean balls. I replaced the kidney beans with black beans and replaced the oregano and thyme with a teaspoon of taco seasoning. I made them according to directions but after they had browned, I broke them up, add about ¾ of a jar of salsa, and cooked for a few more minutes. Then I assembled the lasagna and baked it according to the peta2 recipe. It turned out very good.

Oatmeal Cookies

I made some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from The Garden of Vegan. They were nice and chewy. Plus, using a banana instead of an egg gives it a nice taste. I took some to work and I have gotten requests for the recipe.

Not Your Grandma’s Hot Dish

Today I veganized my Grandma’s Tater Tots Hot Dish (she is from Minnesota, which is why it is a hot dish, not a casserole). With her recipe, you mix browed ground beef with cream of mushroom soup and a can of vegetables. Then you put a layer of tater tots on top.

In my version, I used fake ground beef and cheese sauce. I left out the can vegetables because I think their gross. Then I put a layer of tater tots on top and baked it for 25 minutes in a 450-degree oven. It smelled good but it did not taste good. I have not used fake ground beef since February and I think I have lost the taste for it. I think next time I might use mashed up beans instead of the fake ground beef.

Veganomicon Recipe #3

Today I made Spaghetti and Beanballs. They were fantastic! I loved them. I always hate trying new recipes because, I am never sure if everything is turning out right. Most of the balls fell apart when I was frying them. All the broken up pieces in the sauce were delicious.

Sorry for the bad picture.

Leaf Burning Day

Today is leaf burning day, my allergies are bothering me. It feels like someone has punched me in the face. I feel bad, on my first day of VeganMoFo I have failed. All I did was sit around, eat leftovers and avoid the outdoors. I did feel like a hot drink however, so I made Not For The Faint Of Heart Hot Chocolate from La Dolce Vegan! I would have never put cayenne pepper into hot chocolate. I liked it though it leaves a nice little tingle on my tongue.

On another topic, I think that Isa and Terry are marketing Veganomicon all wrong. They should be marketing as a cat bed. I know my cat loves it.

Veganomicon Recipe #2

Today I made Chewy Chocolate-Raspberry Cookies from Veganomicon. While mixing them I was not sure if I was doing it right, because the dough was dry. They were very easy to make. I was done with clean up before they even came out of the oven. My Mom thought they tasted like brownies. I liked them a lot.

Zeke go a bath today. Look how unhappy he is.




This is my Mom’s dog, Shelby. Look at her demon eyes.