Another baking project.

This is another product of my winter baking weekend from a couple weeks ago. This one took a bit more time and effort than the cupcakes in the previous post, but they were just as delicious — and they were in honor of a friend’s birthday, so even more worthwhile!

I used the sugar cookie recipe from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s The Joy of Vegan Baking, and a tutorial from Sprinkle Bakes that I found on Pinterest. I did not create such flawless spirals, which I think was mainly because I ended up rolling my dough too loosely. I’ll try to roll them tighter the next time. The thing I really liked about this process was that the cookies were slice and bake. Once the dough is rolled out and layered, you can cut them as thick as you want before you bake. I used AirBake pans, too — I swear by these for making soft, unburnt cookies.

What’s your favorite holiday cookie recipe? Do you have a traditional one you use, or do you change it up every year?

I made cupcakes!

A couple of weekends ago, it was perfect baking weather. The snow was falling, holiday music was playing, and it was so cozy in the kitchen with the oven going.

This was a super easy recipe: Funfetti cake mix + one can of Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash. Mix together, then put in lined muffin pan and bake as directed on the cake mix package.

I used the Funfetti frosting that comes with sprinkles. The Cranberry Splash soda makes the cupcakes a fun pink color, and they total around 100 calories — plus, they couldn’t be easier.

Of course, they look especially impressive topped with drink umbrellas.

Now Ryan is inspired to try this with Mountain Dew; I’d like to try a white cake with Orange Crush. What fun combinations would you make?

I was thankful.

Ah,  Thanksgiving. For some, it’s simply the last barrier before the Christmas season begins (and sometimes Thanksgiving doesn’t even stop them!). For me, it’s a chance to cook and bake (and eat) huge amounts of food, clean my house for hours on end, and enjoy the company of family.

This is the … fourth? time we’ve hosted Thanksgiving at our house and it was wonderful, once again.

Harvest Chili was our main course, as usual. We had cornbread muffins to crumble in, as well as pumpkin-carrot muffins. For this I tried the (apparently well-known) method of using a typical boxed cake mix (I picked carrot cake) and mixing it with a can of pumpkin puree, then baking as directed on the box. That’s it — two ingredients and you get some tasty muffins that are healthy and moist.

Our side dishes were salad, edamame succotash, and fried potatoes and onions. We also had stuffing (I still call it that, even though it didn’t stuff anything), and my mother-in-law brought a relish tray with pickles and olives. Desserts were enjoyed quickly! I made pumpkin pie (from The Joy of Vegan Baking), and my mom made chocolate pudding pie. Everything was so good!

We had a unique centerpiece this year too. I found a sprouted onion when prepping dinner, and it was just to pretty to toss. Pop it in a martini glass with some lentils, and you’ve got an instant centerpiece. I’m considering planting it and seeing what happens …

How were your Thanksgiving festivities?

I’m cooking for Thanksgiving.

While I was growing up, I never really thought of Thanksgiving as one of my favorite holidays. However, the more I think about it now as an adult, the more I love it. I get to cook and share great food with other people, we get to sit and chat and play games, and we get to think about all of the things that make us happy in life. What is there not to love?

A few years back we started hosting Thanksgiving at our house and making an entirely vegan meal. For those of you who have visions of molded-tofu turkeys, that can stop right now. Our main course is always chili — black beans, butternut squash, tomatoes, corn, rice and all delicious. Sides and desserts vary, but my favorites are stuffing, edamame succotash, and pumpkin pie.

This year, as always, I am thankful for so many things. Thankful that Ryan and I are in a position that allows him to start his own business. Thankful that my family is mostly healthy. Thankful that there are things like cellphones and Facebook and postcards that keep me connected with my sister. Thankful that I have a job that I love and enjoy. Thankful for the pup and the cats that keep me company.

What are you thankful for this year?

I made tofu scramble.

Last weekend (I’m feeling a little delayed) I made one of our favorite weekend breakfasts, tofu scramble — but I made it for dinner, which I suppose makes it a favorite dinner too. It changes depending on what veggies we have in the fridge — this one had asparagus, red bell pepper, and green bell pepper, plus the tofu, of course. [Also, I did not edit these photos AT ALL so they suck.]

For this type of dish, it’s best if you freeze the tofu the day before, then thaw it in the fridge (or by setting the package in hot water) before you use it. Once it’s thawed, press as much of the water out of the tofu as you can (we even specifically purchased a press for this but you can use towels and a stack of cookbooks like we used to) — and then it’s ready to be put in the pan!

To make things a little more exciting this time, we used a soy version of chorizo sausage that Ryan had picked up. This added a bit of spice to it, and it turned out really great. [And you can see my amoxicillin bottle on the counter as well.]

Once the veggies were tender and everything was heated through, we wrapped it up in tortillas and it was delicious.

Do you have favorite weekend breakfasts? And do you eat breakfast for dinner too?

I made black bean quinoa.

This was quite a delicious addition to our weekend: black bean quinoa.

Quinoa is a super easy grain to cook with, but one that also makes you look fancy. It doesn’t take as long as regular rice, although it’s not quite as quick as Uncle Ben’s 10-minute rice which we are accustomed to.

We already had the black beans prepared from dry beans, which we had done earlier in the week (and was easier than I expected in the crockpot). We prepped the quinoa, added the beans and a can of corn (and a generous helping of seasonings like cumin and even a little cayenne), and that was it! The meal was delicious and hearty, especially when wrapped with a flour tortilla like we did for our leftovers the next day.

Have you ever used quinoa?

Such a lame-o!

Yep, that’s me – lame.  I haven’t updated either of my blogs in way too long, and I could just blame school and two jobs and keeping up with the house, but I’ll just settle for saying that I am lame.

But HERE is something I have been up to:  filming cooking demonstrations! Actually just one so far, but I think there will be many more to come. As you may know, Ryan and I put on a twice-monthly “meat-free meals” discussion at the library:  people come, we talk about whatever the topic of the moment is, and we eat some really good food.  Well, knowing me, handing out free food and recipes just wasn’t enough:  let’s FILM it in total Food Network style! Granted, I’m not quite to that level yet, but let me get a few more videos under my belt and then we’ll see.

Without further ado … (and no, this is NOT my kitchen! I wish!)

Breakfast Banana Split

073.365 – 2010.03.14
Originally uploaded by marleah

I love when I have weekends off. I get all these ideas for fixing fancy Sunday morning breakfasts, and this was one of the simpler ones. It’s the Not-Just-for-Breakfast Banana Split, from The Vegan Table cookbook. It’s fairly basic, and very customizable – bananas, vanilla nondairy yogurt (I used Silk brand), and fresh fruit. There were no fresh strawberries available at the store, so I got frozen, which were still delicious. We also topped it with blueberries, and instead of using regular granola, I used the Yogi brand strawberry granola crisps. I also modified the recipe by adding a drizzle of melted dark chocolate (Newman’s Own Organics)! It was tasty and filling, even though it was lighter than a lot of fancy breakfasts (think pancakes and syrup).

I’m sure I’m not the only one partial to fancy (yet easy to fix) breakfasts – does anyone have any great ideas they want to share?

Oatmeal Blueberry Cookies

Oatmeal Blueberry Cookies
Originally uploaded by marleah

This was another type of cookie that I made last weekend, and it’s one of my new favorites. Yes, I already took a bite out of the cookie before I thought to take a picture of it, so sorry about that. But that just proves how amazing they are! I figure they are perfect for breakfast, since you know, they do have oatmeal and blueberries in them.

Recipe:

• 1/2 lb (2 sticks) Earth Balance (butter), softened
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (I ran out of brown sugar, so I used 1/2 cup brown and 1/2 cup regular–plus next step)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (so with above notes, I used 1/2 cup brown and 1 cup regular)
• 2 eggs’ worth of Ener-G egg replacer
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups oats (old-fashioned, uncooked)
• 1 cup blueberries (or raisins, or raspberries)
• Optional: 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (I didn’t add these, but then someone asked if I did, and I thought it sounded really good.)

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Beat together Earth Balance and sugars until creamy.
2. Add the prepared Ener-G egg replacer and the vanilla; stir well.
3. In large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add to egg/vanilla mixture. Mix well.
4. Stir in oats and blueberries; mix well.
5. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls (or I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop and drop) onto cookie sheet (I sprayed mine with Pam).
6. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet, then move to wire rack.

The original recipe says it will make 4 dozen, but I make bigger cookies (so I can say I just ate one cookie instead of three, you know), so mine made about 20 cookies. You could probably stretch it to 2 dozen.

ENJOY!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies
Originally uploaded by marleah

I finally got a chance to do a bit of baking this past weekend, and luckily at the store I had found The Peanut Butter Company’s “White Chocolate Wonderful” flavor of peanut butter. This totally inspired me to make some peanut butter cookies! This is the recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking; the only change is using fancy flavored peanut butter. They turned out pretty great, but the recipe already called for vanilla, which was the main flavor of the peanut butter. I didn’t get much of a white chocolate flavor from the cookies, although the vanilla did come through.

The Peanut Butter Company has other delectable flavors, including “Cinnamon Raisin Swirl” and “Dark Chocolate Dreams” (ooh, that would be great in cookies too!), as well as “The Heat is On,” which is a spicy peanut butter that is best used in sauce for stir fry and the like. I haven’t found the latter two locally, but I’m tempted to just order them online.