socks! and baking

Well, sock and a half... almost. =)

After I posted Sunday, I finally pulled out the sock that's been hibernating for well over a year (since mid-April 2011!) and started working on it! 2 days and I'm to the heel. =) Should have that finished tonight and then it's the home stretch! Woo! Still a super easy pattern to memorize (Ravelry link) so it's pretty brainless which is good since it's still pushing 100 degrees here every day.

What else have I been up to in this unwanted heat? Baking. No, not me thankfully. My new-to-me a/c is keeping me almost comfortable, but weirdly I've been itching to bake. Could be the three eps of Cupcake Wars I watched yesterday. lol Anyhoo, as long as I bake early in the morning, it's not a big deal. So, this morning, I made up some bread dough and while that was rising, I made up a batch of cupcakes!

These are the "Chlostess" Creme-Filled Cupcakes from Chloe's Kitchen:

Next time, I'll thin my creme filling out a bit more, but these are yummy as is!

That bread dough?

That became cinnamon swirl bread! This one's a bit more wonky than usual, but tastes just as good. =)

mmmm, peanut butter

Since work is slim today, I decided to try out a new recipe for dog biscuits. Reilly's always a willing taste-tester though he's probably not really the best judge since he'll eat just about anything. lol

I used the peanut butter dog treat recipe from Chloe's Kitchen. With only four ingredients (whole wheat flour, water, molasses and peanut butter), it couldn't be quicker or easier. The most time-consuming part is cutting them out.

They are definitely Reilly-approved!

"Stay" only last so long when homemade peanut butter biscuits are involved!

This has quickly become one of my favorite cookbooks and I'm so glad I splurged on it!

meet my new roommate

Annie was born in a humble home - can it get more humble than a reused applesauce jar? No one expected much of Annie. Though she had simple beginnings, but she had high hopes for herself. She knew if she worked hard, she could accomplish great things and be more than just "Applesauce Annie." So, she began to grow and grow, until one day, she was ready to bake her first loaf of bread. No, it wasn't perfect, but it showed promise and hints of the flavor she knew she could someday produce. She was still rather young after all. Annie knew she needed a new home, a larger home where she could grow bigger and live up to her potential.

So Annie got a new home:

and decided to reinvent herself. This was no applesauce jar. This was the home of a lady. Annie decided she would now be called Arianna. She was quite "airy" at this point. =) She now has high hopes for her future, imagining many wonderful loaves of bread, stacks of pancakes, batches of muffins... the possibilities are now endless!

(For those curious or maybe wanting their own Annie, I used the sourdough starter recipe here though there are  of course other ways to start. My Alaskan sourdough cookbook's starter uses thick potato water. It also says to not use a metal spoon, go with wood.)

trying new recipes =P

About a month ago, I used part of an Amazon gift card and bought a new vegan cookbook, Chloe's Kitchen (kindle). I went through and highlighted all the recipes I want to try. Um, yeah, maybe I should have highlighted the few I don't intend to try. heh This is one thing I really prefer about the digital format (other than saving tons of space, of course). I highlight what I want to try, then delete the highlight and add notes after I've tried it. Makes it easy to find recipes quickly. I need to do this with some of my older digital cookbooks.

So, want to know what I've tried?

Doughnuts!

These were ridiculously good, glazed or unglazed. There's nutmeg in the batter - yum!

Teriyaki Sauce

Came together quickly and it's SO good! I'm a huge teriyaki fan so I'm thrilled I can now have it anytime I want. =)

Fettuccine Alfredo

The sauce uses raw cashews ground in the blender with water and a few other ingredients. This really could not have been simpler and it's amazingly good.

Chocolate Walnut Fudge

Minus the walnuts. lol Uses coconut milk and comes out nice and creamy and the perfect fudgey consistency after a chill overnight. Next time, I'll try adding some peppermint extract. Adding ribbons of peanut butter would also be yummy.

The only disappointment so far was the macaroni and cheese.

Her recipe uses nutritional yeast as the base of the cheesy sauce. Yeah, not such a fan apparently. It was okay, but not something I'll be making again. It comes together quickly though so if you like nutritional yeast, give it a try. I've heard many really like it. As for me, I'll be sticking to the mac & cheese recipe from Vegan Comfort Food. Now, what to do with a canister of nutritional yeast...

All in a day's work

I'm now back to one job... and I have to say, this has been an awesome weekend!

The difference between working a 75-hr week and a 40-hr week? Time.

Time to cook:

(vegan mac & cheez from scratch - the ultimate comfort food! cookbook)

Time to bake:

(vegan chocolate mint brownies - YUM! cookbook)

Time to snuggle with my favorite furry kids:

Time to even play with a bit of string:

Yes, my friends, that is a sleeve. =) Okay, half a sleeve. Anyway, awhile back, Virginia posted this sweater on her blog and it quickly made it's way into my queue. This sleeve will become part of this sweater:

(image from the book)

but, of course, in this from my stash:

(much closer to the true color - the sleeve was a quick cell phone shot)

My local library doesn't have the greatest selection, but they seem very open to suggestions... So I suggested these:

(New England Knits and Brave New Knits - Thanks again, Virginia, for the recs on both.)

You're welcome, Crawfordsville knitters. =) It took awhile, but both are now in my hot little hands... and not a penny out of pocket. Although I will happily say, both may make it into my collection after the move as both contain multiple patterns I adore (and I still have credit on my B&N gift card)! Until then, borrowing will do.

That was just day one of my first weekend off in months. Today, it's bean burgers and... I'm open to suggestions. =)

Extra tofu?

Make mousse pie!

I used only 1/2 cup silken tofu for my lemon bars and since a package is 16 oz, that left me with a whole lot of an open container to use. I wasn't in a smoothie mood so... I pulled out my favorite vegan cookbook of late and searched for recipes calling for silken tofu. Chocolate mousse! Seriously, YUM! I subbed peppermint extract for the vanilla called for and use the chocolate brownie crust recipe from the same cookbook. The crust was only okay. I won't use it again without some serious tweaking, but the idea was good. A simple chocolate graham crust would have worked wonderfully had I doubled the mousse recipe. Next time. =P

Sweet, tart and a little twisted

I finished the bag I'd started in my last post. No finished pics yet though. The bag itself has been done a couple weeks, but I still need to find a strap for it. Just haven't made it to a store that has that sort of thing quite yet.

I also started a scarf.

I'm about halfway done and planning to make a hat and gloves with the same yarn. It'll go well with my chocolate brown wool coat. =)

I also baked just a bit.

A little sweet, a little tart... lemon bars! Haven't had these since I was a kid so when I saw these in The Joy of Vegan Baking, I just had to try 'em out. Seriously, good eats! =)

Vegan comfort food

Why, yes... I did get a new cookbook. heh

I broke down and bought a copy of Vegan Comfort Food when I bought The Kind Diet awhile back. Finally tried a couple of the recipes today. I've been craving mac & cheese for awhile but finding a vegan version pre-made (at least in this part of the country) isn't an easy task. I did finally find Amy's new frozen  rice mac & soy cheese at the store. Nice that they're making an effort, but... it still has dairy in it. *sigh* I'd heard good things about the mac & cheeze in Vegan Comfort Food so... I made my own. =)

At first glance, the recipe doesn't sound incredibly cheesy, but amazingly, the macadamia nuts, raw cashews, carrot and potato (plus seasonings, of course) come together and result in a surprisingly good alternative to dairy-based mac & cheese. Definitely a keeper!

The fillet o'tofish from the same book:

Hmm, I think I may need to try this one again with thinner slices of tofu. The directions weren't incredibly clear how I was to cut the block of tofu so mine were a little thick, I think. They're okay I suppose. I was never a huge fish fan before going veg when I was a kid though, so I may just move on. I think the chik'n seitan is up next... =)

(Forgive the crappy photos. I just took quick ones with my cell before lunch. heh)

Red, White and Blue... and exploding cupcakes

Sharing cars in Buffalo meant some extra time spent in the hotel over last weekend. I filled my time with yarny fun. I finished knitting up the wool I had on hand for my messenger bag and started in on some cotton with my crochet hook.

The water bottle is my own design. The star can be found here (I stopped after a few rounds and added a chain across the back for easier use) and the spiral scrubbie here.

On Thursday, I had the opportunity to browse through The Kind Diet while killing time at Barnes & Noble. This is one I've had my eye on awhile but hadn't yet caved to purchasing. I copied down the recipe for Peanut Butter Cups to try out in the meantime. Um... yum!

 

Seriously good stuff! Though they're incredibly rich! I used smooth pb I had on hand and I didn't want the extra cost of nuts, so I ground up a few extra graham cracker squares for on top. Next time, I'll probably opt for mini cupcake size instead. Being one of  chocolate peanut butter's biggest fans, even I thought one at this size was a bit over the top in richness. Whew! Sugar coma, anyone? You've been warned.

Since I was already melting chocolate (vegan chocolate chips from TJ's) anyway, I pulled out my bag of pb filled pretzels (also TJ's) and drizzled them as well. I used to love the choc pb pretzels from Trader Joe's... but they're milk chocolate covered... so now I make my own. =) And I think they're even better. heh Sprinkled a bit of the leftover graham crumbs on top. Delish! 

This morning, I decided to celebrate the red white and blue with a red, white and blue breakfast! The Joy of Vegan Baking has quickly become one of my go-to cookbooks. I used the Blueberry Cobbler recipe, using raspberries from our yard and frozen, organic blueberries and subbed a bit of whole wheat flour for some of the white flour in the biscuit dough. Yeah, it was yummy!

What about the exploding cupcakes, you ask? Okay, they don't really explode... but there is a surprise inside! I do love a dessert with a good surprise inside! My mom's been talking about the chocolate lava cakes you can get at restaurants for awhile now so I decided to give it a go... in a vegan version. Most recipes are heavily egg-based and undercooked to keep that ooey, gooey center. A quick search turned up a few vegan versions online. I settled on one filling that looked particularly simple and viola!

Vegan chocolate lava cupcakes! I used the Chocolate Cake recipe from the vegan baking cookbook above and the filling from here. Fill the cups about halfway with batter, place a dollop of filling in the center and cover with more batter. They're maybe more pudding-like than lava-like, but they're yummy and the thicker filling definitely makes eating them easier. No mess! Being on a pb/choc kick this weekend, I made half the cupcakes with a hit of pb... in the form of a teensy peanut butter cookie (yep, recipe from the same cookbook). I'd seen this done in another cookbook at B&N. You fill the cupcake liner about 3/4 full and place a small ball of cookie dough in the center and bake - I flattened my mini pb cookie dough balls with a fork first. These rock when warm out of the oven! You could easily use whatever cake/cookie dough combo you prefer. =)

Easter prep

We had a busy day. We started off with growing a field of flowers...

 

And finished with bacon and eggs...

Fun day. =)

Tomorrow, watching little kids hunt for Easter eggs...

Chocolate and Crochet

No, not chocolate-covered crochet!

My latest finished crochet item:

I decided I wanted to use up some of the partial skeins I have sitting around. I don't know why, but the partials kind of bug me Cotton is always so handy but I wasn't in the mood to make another wash/dish cloth so I went with more of a mitt design, intended to be a face mitt. I started with about a 2" chain and worked hdc in the round until I was nearly out (which nicely coincided with how long I wanted it to be - love when that happens!), adding a loop in the last row so it can be hung to dry. The stitch results in a little texture for a good scrub, but no too rough. =) 

And my latest baking project:

One word: YUM! My sister got me this cookbook for Christmas... or my birthday... can't remember which since I got them at the same time. heh (The other was a knitting book!) Anyhoo, I tried out the chocolate brownie recipe last night and was pleasantly surprised! Unlike the last batch I made, this one doesn't use any oil. =) They came out a bit cake-ier, but still dense and yummy. I mixed up a half batch (should have quartered it) of chocolate mint frosting to top them off. Mmmmm, I think I have a new favorite!

We're finally starting to get some Spring weather too! Yay!

The little guy's on solo walks for awhile though. Poor Mugsy has a tender back - x-rays show severe spondylosis and a compressed disc resulting in him walking like a drunken sailor right now - and is on dog-bed rest for a month. Yep, that means no stairs so... guess who's getting a good workout half a dozen times a day? Thank goodness he's only 37-lbs and not a full-size lab!