new cookbook!

As you know, I'm a sucker for a good vegan cookbook. And as you also know, I bake way too much. So of course I was excited to check out Kris' new cookbook, The Damn Tasty Vegan Baking Guide. My copy arrived last week, and I have made three of the recipes so far. I had a difficult time choosing what to make at first, because most of the recipes seemed so basic. Little did I know that "basic" would be the most appealing aspect of the cookbook. First I made the Garlic Rolls. Just a simple, yeast roll recipe, but Damn! Ken and I were practically moaning as we were eating these with our pasta. Kris suggests placing a single garlic clove in the middle of each roll before baking, but I only had a jar of minced on hand. So I just squished a spoonful of minced garlic into the tops of the rolls before baking. After the rolls were baked, I lightly poured some melted Earth Balance on top of them, and sprinkled Parma over the margarine. Just the garlic and yeast smell while they baked was enough to drive us mad! I will definitely be making these again and again.
Check 'em out:



Another winner from the cookbook was the Peanut Butter Cookie recipe. I have about a hundred PB cookie recipes, but I was in the mood and decided to try this one. And I'm glad I did! This is another case of a simple, basic recipe with a "wow!" result. The cookies were super soft and chewy, and just perfect. I drizzled the tops of each one with a chocolate ganache (recipe for that in the same book), to make them look like mini Liz Lovely's. Now, I did use a weird peanut butter in this recipe. I tried it with White Chocolate Peanut Butter. Holy shit, talk about decadent! They were pure heaven! The recipe made a huge amount of cookie dough. I made 16 cookies (cookie scoop sized), and I had more than half of the dough left over. I put the remaining dough in the freezer, so I can make the rest tomorrow, but the dough ball still feels hard, even though it's been thawing in the fridge for 24 hours now. So I guess this dough doesn't freeze well? I'm not sure why.
...but it doesn't matter. Because the cookies were spectacular:



I did try a third recipe from the book that didn't turn out that great, but I think it's my fault, and not the recipe's. I tried to make these Chocolate Peanut Butter Shells, but I had a really hard time forming them into balls, keeping the pb from squishing out, and basically having them keep their shape. Even though I made them ball shaped, they fell like cookies once they baked and made a big mess. Ken loved them anyway, and ate the whole batch. I didn't take a picture of them because I don't like to keep photographic record of my baking mishaps.

All in all, I really like my new cookbook so far. And I wish I had the $$ for that "Vegan Master Baker" apron. It reminds me of driving down Buford Hwy. and seeing all of those Korean Bakeries named the same: Master Bakery. It's impossible not to snicker at a name like that! Well it's impossible if you're me or a 5th grader, anyway.

lordy.

The bathroom is almost finished. But will we ever be able to get our new floors back into "new" shape after this?



Or clean up the 3 inches of dust and crap on our new display shelves?



And will Moe ever stop begging at the dinner table?



...stay tuned to find out.

...but not open yet.

We got a banner for the window, so people can see just what kind of riff-raff is invading their neighborhood. It's neat to see our logo in 3' x 5' size!
Oh, and all that yellow trim around the windows. I painted that. fifteen feet high, in 89 degree heat. Ugh. While people drove by yelling and making various noises at me. What is it about a sweaty girl on a ladder?

aaaaagave.

Mmm. Cupcake. I made these for my dad's 72nd birthday. Ken said this batch of cupcakes are his favorite so far. The nice thing about these were, I didn't use sugar in the cake part at all. (The frosting...that's another story.) They are the agave nectar-sweetened cupcakes from VCTOTW.
I was a bit worried, as I haven't baked using agave before, but the texture was nice, light and fluffy. They tasted very sweet, too. I also used vanilla hemp milk in place of the soy milk in the recipe. Man, that stuff is so tasty. The chocolate hemp milk is great to guzzle by the glass. I'm trying to work in more omega-3's, as I've been dealing with some inflammation in my joints lately. Of course, laying off the sugar would help that, too. Yeah, yeah. I'm taking more DHA now, also. I recently re-read the vegan health study, and it lit a fire under me.

But anyway. Cupcakes, good. Agave, good.

sometimes I do read, rather than cook.

If you have the time, check this out. Isa kicks some serious ass.

ahh, the onion.

I love the little pants with "HELP ME" stitched on them.


Gap Unveils New 'For Kids By Kids' Clothing Line

yikes.

Moe looks so grumpy in that picture! And where is his nose? He wasn't angry, though. I just caught him mid-yawn. He doesn't hiss or show his fangs at me, because he's a good boy. Unlike another cat we know....



Miles is so sweet and innocent. *snort* Right before he claws your eyes out. El Gato Diablo.

Sorry for the lack of updates! We are still busy trying to get the store open. The bathroom construction has set us back, so we are looking at another few weeks. It better be before June, or my head may explode. We cannot write a third rent check without being open for business! Things are coming along okay. We have some display shelving in there now, and lots of inventory ordered. Today we finished dealing with the track lighting, and tomorrow we are having our freezer and fridge delivered. I will feel a bit better once our boxes that are being held captive at JFK customs are released, and when we actually have a couple of permits in our hands.
Last week, I posted a flyer in our (otherwise paper-covered) window so people will know that we will be there soon. Since you can't see in from the outside of the store, people walking by can't tell if we are in there or not. Earlier in the week, I heard some people walking by, and they stopped at the window to read the flyer. This is what I heard:
(young woman's excited voice)"A vegan store?! That is so badass!!

Then yesterday, Ken and I were inside and heard a group of people walking by stop at the flyer. We heard:
(Woman's annoyed voice) "Ooohhh noooo. Noo!! Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe. Gross!!!! We have to tell [so-n-so] about this!"

Heh. You win some, you lose some I guess.