post detox...post.

So yeah. Our 2 day juice detox lasted 1.5 days. And it sucked. I mean, it really sucked hard. Ken wasn't nearly as whiny as I was during the whole process, but I could tell he was feelin' the pain just the same.
I broke the fast in the afternoon on day two at a point when I couldn't focus on an email at work. Walking up and down the stairs was impossible, too. I was weak, shaky, and I kept having random crying fits.
...but I do tend to be a bit dramatic when it comes to food.

Anyway, we have been back to our regular eating schedule for the past week, with nothing really exciting to report. Ken is coming down with a cold, and he was craving a bowl of something warm. I obliged my sicky husband by making a simple chili. But that's not exciting.
What is exciting, and maybe a little bit sad, is that I found a biscuit recipe that I may like better than my prized Paula Deen biscuit recipe. Crazy, I know! I made a modified version of the Buttermilk Biscuit recipe from Yellow Rose Recipes. I made these rather than my regular go-to recipe because I didn't feel like fooling with the shortening. And I'm so glad I did! They are spectacular. I think that my slight modification made these already probably awesome biscuits extra super delicious.
Rather than using 3/4 cup of soy milk (because I was low on soy milk...) I substituted 3/4 cup of unsweetened soy yogurt (Wildwood) and whisked in just a bit of water to make it runny. I skipped the lemon juice part, since the yogurt already has a tang to it. Whoo boy! The biscuits were moist, fluffy, and light as air.
Here's our table tonight of entirely too much food. Chili, salad, biscuits, and prepackaged "Health is Wealth" buffalo wings.



Ugh. I'm so full.

In other news, Miles knocked this cupcake container off the counter. What is it with Mile and messing up pretty cake? Bad kitty!

Hungry.

Kill me now.

where there's a will, there's a way

You knew I wasn't going to just sit around all day without vanilla extract. I ventured out to Target and picked up vanilla while also shopping for a friend's baby shower that I never made it to.
I feel like a bad friend, but I'm not the best driver on a dry day in broad daylight, much less driving 30+ miles in the dark while it sleets and snows. Yes, I'm lame.
But I can't say I wasn't happy to sit around and bake all day.
I started everything out by baking a KitteeKake!
Confession time: I'm a poor baker. Poor meaning, I don't have any money. No money to buy nice things like 9" round cake pans, mixing bowls, food processors or other such kitchen luxuries. So I mix things in plastic tupperware or baking dishes with a serving spoon, and I make layer cakes the low-rent way: by baking a sheet cake and cutting it in half. Hey, it works. My layer cakes are rectangle, baby.
Anyway, the kittee part of this kitteekake is the vanilla cake recipe, and the idea to put other stuff between the cake layers besides plain ol' frosting. So. Vanilla cake with cherry preserves between the layers, with thick shortening-based frosting and dried cherries on top. Behold, "Cherries in the Snow"! (har har)





This cake was so sugary, it tasted like wedding cake. So good. Next time, I will absolutely top it with a fresh cherry compote of some sort.

Miles was apparently on a Brat-Tastic Voyage last night, as he decided to knock the cake holder off the kitchen counter and push it around the kitchen. he didn't manage to get it open, but the cake is now destroyed. Bad kitty!




We wanted to have something warm and comfy last night for dinner, so I put together a quick and easy lasagna. I made the marinara from scratch using Joanna's recipe from Yellow Rose Recipes. I loved the marinara. It was simple, and it tasted very deep and flavorful. I will definitely be making that again.
The rest of the lasagna was a pre-packaged nightmare of Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella, Yves Ground Crumbles, frozen broccoli, and of course lasagna noodles. It was so delicious, though.



I (once again) made Kris' Garlic Rolls from The Damn Tasty Vegan Baking Guide (no longer in print, boo.). These are always perfect. Of course I had to go all fatty and pour melted Earth Balance over them.



And that was my Saturday off.

snow & ice in GA

...and I'm stuck in the house with no vanilla extract or canola oil. How am I supposed to bake any of my favorite treats, then? How?!!!?

get well soon, Thea.

One of Christy's oldest cats, Thea, is very sick right now. Send some "get well" vibes Thea's way, please?

excessive use of sweet potatoes

I do love me some sweet potatoes!
I finally had a chance to try out a recipe from the new Yellow Rose Recipes: Black Bean & Sweet Potato Flautas. We loved, loved, loved these!! They're basically just sweet potato, black beans, corn, tomato and spices baked in a corn tortilla. Such an awesome combination. I topped them with some Mexican Gravy and Tofutti Sour Supreme.
Since I had some extra sweet potato left over, I also whipped up a batch of Mexican Tortilla Triangles from Dreena Burton's first book, The Everyday Vegan. I subbed the called-for butternut squash with the sweet potato, and added sun dried tomatoes and black olives to the mix. They were pretty good, but I don't think they were good enough to go through the trouble of making again.
I still have high hopes for Dreena's book, though. There are some great looking recipes in it. I'm not sure why my first recipe from it was a silly little appetizer.
Anyway, here are the goodies:

breakfast quiche

So I ripped off another Paula Deen idea. I made a tofu quiche with a hashbrown crust. What part of that is Paula's idea? Hint: it's not the tofu.

The quiche is a recipe of sorts that I've made for a few years now, but the hashbrown crust was a first for me. I liked it a lot, it turned out very tasty!


Breakfast Quiche

2 cups shredded potatoes
3 Tbsp melted Earth Balance
1 lb. extra firm tofu, drained
1/4 cup plain soy milk
2 Tbsp tamari
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
couple shakes of black pepper
1 bundle of spinach, washed and chopped or 1 cup frozen chopped spinach

Preheat oven to 425F. In a bowl, combine shredded potatoes and melted Earth Balance until potatoes are evenly coated. Press potatoes into a 9" round pie plate to form the crust. Bake for about 20 minutes, until crust is golden brown.
While crust is baking, break out your blender or food processor. Blend together the tofu, soymilk, tamari, liquid smoke, and nutritional yeast. This will create a thick batter. It doesn't have to be completely smooth, though. Set aside.
Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Toss in the onions and saute until onions are transparent. Lower the heat and add spinach. Once spinach is wilted, add all the seasonings to coat the spinach and onions evenly.
In a large bowl, combine the tofu mixture and the spinach mixture.
At this point, your crust should be ready. Remove crust from oven and lower oven temp to 350F. Pour quiche mixture onto the crust, and spread out with the back of a spoon. If desired, top quiche with a handful of shredded Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella or Frontier Vegan "Bacon" Bits.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until Quiche is firm and golden. Let cool slightly before cutting into slices.

drop the cookbook and back away slowly.

I think I'm going to need a Veganomicon intervention soon.

Spicy Tempeh with Broccoli Rabe Rotelle:



Seriously, this book has yet to fail me in any way. The only thing we have had from 'nomicon that I wasn't crazy about were the Chickpea Cutlets, but they were pretty good regardless. I just read too much hype about them beforehand , I think.

So anyway, the spicy tempeh pasta dish. Yes please.

In other news, Miles likes to keep warm and give us disapproving looks at the same time while sitting on the pc monitor.

strawberry biscuits

Two posts in one night! Can you tell I had the day off? ;)

So I did some more zine cookin'. I was intrigued by the recipe for Biscuits in the Krazy Katlady Cookbook #1 because they call for chopped, frozen fruit and sugar. But...but... wouldn't that make them scones? or funny shaped muffins? My southern-fried brain can't take that kind of confusion. But I do love biscuits, and I do love fruit, so here you go:



If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times- I freaking hate using Egg Replacer in baked goods! I only use it when I'm following someone else's recipe because I get too scared to mess with substitutions, but damn does it always disappoint me. These would have been heavenly if made with soy yogurt in place of dry, powdery old Egg Replacer.
That being said, they aren't terrible. In fact, these are pretty sweet lil' biscuits. They just have the potential to be so much more wonderful. Next time I will stick to my fail-safe biscuit recipe, and just add fruit.

same vegetables, different dish

I like variety. I don't dig eating the same stuff all the time, but you know, sometimes it just works that way.
Tonight I was trying to make good use out of the rest of the potatoes, carrots and corn from last night's comforter dish. I decided to do a potato corn chowder, and it really hit the spot! It's nice and warming with red pepper flakes and curry, and has a good creaminess from coconut milk. And really, is there any better food combo than coconut milk and curry? Well, raspberries and chocolate are pretty awesome together...but that's not what we're talking about here.
Anyway. I adapted this recipe from a Corn Chowder recipe, found on page 18 of Don't Have a Cow #3. I've just changed it a bit to suit my taste, and to use up some potatoes. :)


Potato Corn Chowder
makes about six servings

1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp basil
3 cups vegetable broth
1 can coconut milk
3 large russett potatoes, cubed
2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen
2 large carrots, peeled and diced


Heat olive oil over medium heat and saute onion and garlic until they become aromatic, about 5 minutes. add all seasonings and stir until onions are coated with the seasoning.
Add the vegetable broth and coconut milk. Toss in the potatoes, carrots, and corn and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer for about 15-20, until potatoes are tender.
Serve with some warm cornbread or biscuits on the side.

named after a blanket or a good hugger?

Behold, The Comforter:



These delicate little pockets of goodness were from a recipe called The Comforter, in the cookbook Alternative Vegan. They were a lot of fun to make, with sweetly-spiced curried vegetables & gravy all wrapped up in a puff pasty. I used edamame in place of peas because peas have no place in our kitchen! Ha. The only issue I had with this recipe was that it yielded way more veggie filling than could possibly have fit into the called-for puff pastry squares. I probably could have made four more, if I had more pastry sheets on hand. But who am I to complain about extra food?
And just look at how cute they are!

mmm....snobby.

I made Snobby Joes from Veganomicon for dinner tonight, with onion rings.
Whooo boy, do I love these. I could eat these every week, I think. Maybe I will too, because they're easy to make. And more ways to add lentils to my diet is even better!



Tonight at the grocery store, I left the cart with Ken for five minutes in order to run back for broccolini. I came back to this:



My husband thinks he's funny. :)

pumpkin waffles from VwaV.

Holy Shit. Like my belly needs more tasty waffles.

the kids are on the upswing

Finally, after almost a week, I think we have some healthy cats again. We spent New Years Eve in the emergency vet office with Miles getting fluids and medication in hopes that he could make it until after the holiday for diagnostic tests at his regular vet's office. He and Moe were both acting really sick, not eating, hiding, vomiting, etc. But many blood tests, vet visits, shots, meds, and $700 later (freakin' ouch), they finally ate food tonight and kept it down! And they are both acting happier, more playful, and a lot less sick! Miles even attacked my arm with his viscious teeth only moments ago. Yup, it's back to normal around here. The final prognosis was a shared stomach virus.
Here's poor Mile when he was feeling his worst. Poor baby.



How we spent our New Years Eve:



So it's time for less fretting and more eating! Ye Haw.

I made a pasta dish last night that was inspired by Lori from Pleasantly Plump Vegan. I made pasta with the Faux Feta as she did, but I added sun dried tomatoes, black olives, and asparagus spears. I really liked this same feta on pizza, but I was underwhelmed by it in this dish. I dunno why. It needed more umph from something. Maybe I should have done more spicy-spices. I just used olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper. This will have to be tweaked at a later time.