Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Halloween last night! We never get any trick or treaters, and that always makes me sad.

I did paint some pumpkins anyway (I paint instead of carve so they don't rot so fast) and made the rats costumes. They were capes with their initial on the back so they could be super rats. They told me I was really stupid to think that they'd actually wear them. They turned into wiggle worms and wouldn't let me put them on. I did my best to get a picture of Nicodemus. Constantine ran under his blanket and pouted.

Florida

Rob and I went to Florida last week. We covered a lot of ground as we went to Dade City, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Key West. We had a great time, but I didn't get to see any alligators. Rob said that was just as well because I probably would have tried to pet one if I had.

New cookbook

I went to a garage sale yesterday, which I am not sure I had ever done before. I decided to look through a box of books and managed to find, for one dollar, this cookbook:

It's a macrobiotic cookbook, so it's all vegan except for a few fish recipes. It looks very simple and nothing takes too many ingredients, perfect for me. I hope to try something out of it soon.

Bran muffins

I made bran muffins last night, but unfortunately didn't get any pictures. I was impressed by how well they came out. Unlike most of the stuff I try to make, they actually tasted like what they were supposed to be. Rob was proud of me.

1 1/2 cups unprocessed wheat bran
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons margarine
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg worth of egg replacer
1 cup milk substitute (I used almond milk)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix 1/2 cup of the bran with the boiling water water and let it sit until it has absorbed. Blend sugar and margarine in a separate bowl. In yet another bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Combine the moistened bran and the "egg", then add the rest of the bran, "milk", the sugar-margarine mixture, and the flour-soda-salt mixture. Stir until well blended.

Spoon into 12 lightly greased muffin cups. Bake for 15 minutes.

All done

I finally finished community college and I will be starting at a regular old university in the fall. That makes me happy. In order to celebrate finishing school for the semester, Rob and I went to one of our favorite places, Real Food Daily. It was great as usual. They always have really delicious desserts, like chocolate hazelnut cake.

Here are some of the places we like to go here in LA:

Real Food Daily
Flore
Veggie Grill
Pure Luck
Scoops
The Vegan Spot

Also the Hollywood Farmer's Market is a lot of fun, they have vegan soul food there, not to mentions all sorts of fruits and vegetables. That happens at Ivar and Selma Avenues on Sundays from 8am-1pm.

An embarassing story

I didn't realize until today how clumsy I really am.

So it was almost 100 degrees here today at home, and in order to keep cool last night, I slept in very minimal clothing (sorry). I always make oatmeal for breakfast, and upon grabbing the scalding bowl of oaten goodness this morning, I managed to spill a good portion of its contents on my right leg. It's almost impossible to get that sticky stuff off in a hurry. Anyway, my leg is all red and it blistered. I think I have lost oatmeal privileges for awhile.

And sadly, the only burn ointment at the store, A&D ointment, contains both lanolin and COD LIVER OIL! Eww.

Applesauce brownies and an easy bean salad

Today I felt like making brownies but I didn't want anything with oil in it. Luckily, applesauce can stand in for oil and does a pretty good job.

Applesauce Brownies
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup sugar (or sugar-like substance)
3/4 cup flour (I used 1/4 cup all-purpose and 1/2 cup whole wheat)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix applesauce and sugar together, then add the rest of the ingredients. Spread into a greased 8x8 pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. I made mine into brownie cupcakes and they didn't take as long. Unfortunately, I didn't divvy up the batter well enough and they are all different sizes, so I didn't take any pictures of their ugly little selves. They taste good, though.


I also wanted to make some sort of salad with the black beans I had in the cupboard because I am tired of having peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. This is really easy:

Easy Bean Salad
1 can black beans (rinse them to cut out some of the sodium)
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 diced carrot
1/2 cup total of any veggies you like (I did peas, corn, onion, green beans, and chopped broccoli)

Toss them all in a bowl and put them in the fridge, it doesn't even need any dressing, but you can use some if you like. This would be good on some whole wheat pita I think.

On another note, I finally found a pair of jeans that fit me. I have been searching forever. I have lost about 20 pounds since I graduated a few years ago and haven't found any new jeans since then, so all my clothes are too big and a lot of stores don't sell small enough sizes. So thank you store at the Hollywood Highland Center
whose name I already forget.

Cardamom Biscotti and more

Here are some cardamom biscotti I made tonight. They are fat free and I thought they were really good, especially considering I had never made biscotti before. They had the right amount of sweetness, too, unlike the last thing I made.

Cardamom Biscotti
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 tablespoons Ener-G egg replacer
6 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together egg replacer and water, then mix in dry ingredients. Stir in the maple syrup and vanilla. You will probably need to add more water to get it to dough consistency. Shape dough into two loaves 1" high on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. Let loaves cool for 5 or 10 minutes, then cut into 1/2" slices. Bake for 10 minutes, then flip cookies over and bake for another 10.



In the mail today, I got the Softies book I ordered. It's a book that has patterns for 25 cute little plush creatures. I have always liked crafts but I'm not much of a sewer. Many of the projects look good for beginners. I can't wait to make one of the little guys.


Check out the book here and the blog dedicated to them here.

Chai Muffins

So here is my first recipe post. Unfortunately, what I made didn't come out perfectly, but that's okay. I will try again later. The recipe is for a Chai Muffins, which is an adaptation of Fatfree Vegan Kitchen's Coconut Chai Breakfast Cake.

Chai Muffins
1 cup strong chai tea
1/3 cup quick oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup maple syrup (I used sugar free)

Mix all dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients. Spoon into 12 lightly greased muffin cups. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

The thing that might need changing about these is the sweetener (maple syrup). You might need more than what I listed. When I made them, I only used about a tablespoon of sweetener (for some reason) and they aren't really sweet at all. Sugar or honey would work fine, too.

Made with sugar free syrup these muffins are only about 75 calories each.

Here are some links

These are just a few of the blogs that I have come across that are dedicated to sharing recipes for delicious vegan foods:

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World
just the food.
Jewish Vegan
VeganYumYum
Fatfree Vegan Kitchen
Post Punk Kitchen
To Live and Eat in L.A.
Hugger Food
Your Vegan Mom


These are also a few vegan cookbooks that I either own or have heard really good things about:

Veganomicon
Vegan With a Vengeance
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World
How It All Vegan!
The Garden of Vegan
La Dolce Vegan!
Cozy Inside
The Real Food Daily Cookbook

Some new things

I haven't always been much of a cook. In fact, I didn't even think that I liked to cook. But almost overnight I learned what fun it can be, especially when you're vegan like I am and can try all sorts of new things and adapt existing recipes to get rid of the animal products. I have found all sorts of fun vegan food blogs, and I am planning on using this blog to post some recipes, hopefully I can remember to do it.