Fat Pants

Well I've been MIA for a while but I've really had nothing exciting to blog about! Plus last week we went home to see my family and go to the Home Run Derby. It was so much fun! I got to see my favorite Cardinal, Yadier Molina, catch the first pitch which was thrown out by Ozzie Smith.



And while Pujols didn't do well like we all hoped in the Home Run Derby, the winner, Prince Fielder, was my second favorite to win. He just so happens to be vegan! Proof that you can be strong, athletic, and healthy on an animal-free diet!



I was also excited because there were several vegetarian options at Busch Stadium thanks to Tony LaRussa, the Cardinals manager. He is vegetarian. I ended up having a veggie "chicken" sandwich with fries. So unhealthy but so good!!

So we had a great time at the derby and a fabulous time with my family and of course I left feeling homesick for St. Louis! But it is always good to get home after a trip.



Today I decided to bake a dessert for the hubby. I figured I would give the Babycakes cookbook another try, but I modified a lot of stuff. For example, last week I made the pumpkin muffins to use up the leftover pumpkin from our pancakes (totally not pumpkin season but I think the unseasonably cooler weather has us thrown off!) . I used the Babycakes recipe but used regular flour, half of the agave nectar requested and then half of regular sugar. These muffins were The.Best.Ever. So this week I thought I would try something else and see if I got awesome results again. I had Dave pick out the dessert and of course he had to choose the Fat Pants Cake. I basically took the idea and used other recipes because the frosting recipe in that cookbook is awful and too liquidy. The cake consists of two layers of chocolate cake (recipe from the Joy of Vegan Baking), buttercream frosting (courtesy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World), and the crumbled up chocolate chip cookies (courtesy of VegWeb) sprinkled on top. This too is soooo delicious! And I'm worried I might need to bust out the fat pants if I'm not careful!



Tomorrow Dave and I are hoping to get tickets to see Food Inc. after we go to the nearby Farmer's Market. I can't wait to see this movie!

Fourth of July Weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th! We definitely did, but it was quite different than our usual. For one thing, the high yesterday was the second coldest in history for the city. I think they said it reached 70. It was cloudy most of the day, but fortunately it didn't rain so we got to grill out.



Dave made chicken wings for himself and grilled these veggie skewers for me. They were delicious!



I also made two recipes from The Vegan Table: Boston Baked Beans and Tantalizing Thai Slaw. Both were really good, but next time I will omit the teaspoon of ginger from the baked beans recipe. It was a little too overpowering for my taste. I also modified it by adding vegan Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and salt and pepper.

Our dessert was inspired by the most recent edition of VegNews: Ice Cream Sundaes! We used the So Delicious vanilla and raspberry ice cream (the fruit sweetened kind), nondairy chocolate syrup (Much thicker than the Hershey's version I grew up on and so much better. Almost fudgy!), Soyatoo! whipped cream, and maraschino cherries.

After dinner on the Fourth of July, we always go hang out with a bunch of families in our neighborhood and shoot off fireworks. This year I guess we were feeling a little anti-social so we stayed home and watched fireworks from our deck. It was crazy. Everywhere you looked, fireworks were going off. It was pretty amazing. I brought my new camera out, but of course every time I tried to take a picture, I missed the good stuff! All in all, it was a wonderful, relaxing evening and I had a great time with the hubby. :)

Farmer's Market

One of my favorite things about the summer is going to the farmer's market. The vegetables I buy there are so much fresher and taste so much better than anything I could buy at a grocery store. It's nice to support the local farmers and it's neat to be able to meet the people that grow the food I eat. There are several farmer's markets here, but my favorite one is at the Old Market, which is the largest one in the city. There is such a variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs and there is an abundance of vendors. Today I went to a smaller farmer's market that is located at one of the outdoor malls. While it lacked in vendors and variety, I did manage to find zucchini and squash that were bigger than I could ever find in a grocery store. I also bought red potatoes. Potatoes are one of my favorite things to buy at a farmer's market. It is amazing how fresh and different they taste than your typical potato from the supermarket.



I have recently found two new items that I am loving these days: Sticks and Twigs and Zhena's Gypsy Tea.

Sticks and Twigs are one of my new favorite snack items. They are made with brown rice, amaranth, millet, quinoa, flax seeds, and chia seeds. They are great plain, but I also enjoy them with hummus or guacamole.



This tea is something I drink every morning now that I have given up drinking coffee. My favorite flavors are Blueberry Vanilla and Caramelized Pear. While I do still miss my coffee sometimes, these are a pretty good replacement. Not to mention, my body actually feels better and LESS tired now that I've lowered my caffeine intake to one cup of green tea a day. Who would have thought?!



Tonight the hubby and I are going to have a date night. Not sure where we are going tonight because he told me I get to decide and I am terrible at making decisions like that! I guess where we go will depend on the weather, and right now it looks like a storm is moving in...

Veggies and Donuts

I remember during my pre-veg days when I considered fried chicken, corn, and mashed potatoes a great meal. It was probably my favorite meal. Now that my eyes have been opened to nutrition and to what really goes on in the food industry, it repulses me. The fat, the grease, the dead animal, and the lack of color are just some of the reasons I can't believe I ever thought a meal like that was appetizing. Who would have thought that the girl who claimed the only vegetables she liked were corn and green beans (canned, mind you) would end up craving a meal like this??



When I got home from work today, Dave had this lovely stir fry waiting for me. Call me a dork, but it completely made my day. Carrots, celery, bell peppers, sprouts, water chestnuts, kale, onions, and mushrooms with a simple yet delicious sauce served over brown rice. Amazing.

For dessert we had Jelly Donut cupcakes (recipe courtesy of Veganomicon). These are so easy to make and I like that they don't have frosting! Sometimes you just want a cupcake minus the frosting. The strawberry jelly filling is the best part of these cupcakes!:)

Color Me Vegan!

Today I found out that I will be testing recipes for Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's (www.compassionatecooks.com) new cookbook that is scheduled to be released in 2010. Her first cookbook, The Joy of Vegan Baking, is my favorite cookbook and her new one, The Vegan Table, is quickly becoming a favorite as well so I am really excited to play a small part in the creation of her upcoming cookbook, Color Me Vegan. This is good timing too, because I just purchased a Nikon camera last week (it should arrive this coming week) so I will finally have high quality pictures to post! While I won't be able to reveal any details about the recipes, I will be sure to post plenty of pictures.

Kitchen Failures!

Correction to last post: In my last post, I raved about the VegeUSA products that I found at Whole Foods. At this time, I had tried the imitation chicken and spare ribs, both of which were really good. Well last week we tried the pepper steak and it was awful. It had such a meat texture and taste that I had to dig the box out of the trash to make sure it was in fact vegetarian! I tried to eat it so I wouldn't be wasteful, but the gag reflex kicked in majorly! Dave ended up having to finish it for me.

Anyways, I have been doing a ton of baking and cooking lately thanks to the arrival of "The Vegan Table" and "Babycakes". So far from "The Vegan Table", we have made creamy polenta and mushrooms (not picture worthy, trust me), PBJ cookies, and Hoppin' John. I am totally not a fan of mushrooms, but this dish was amazing. The sauce was delicious and when paired with the polenta, I did not notice the mushrooms too much! Of all of the dishes we have tried from "The Vegan Table," my favorite has been Hoppin' John. It has so many flavors and I now love black-eyed peas! I had never tried them before because of their name, but they are nothing like the green peas that I despise. :)

PBJ Cookies:


Hoppin' John


The other cookbook I have tried is "Babycakes". Sadly, I am extremely disappointed with this cookbook. I was so excited about it because the recipes are from the famous New York City vegan bakery, but the recipes are also gluten-free. This makes for some difficult and expensive recipes! There are so many different flours and each recipe seems to require something different. The fat of choice in the cookbook is coconut oil and the sweetener of choice is agave nectar. I have decided I am not a fan of coconut oil, and while I love agave nectar, I used up a whole bottle of it while baking this weekend! The ingredients just aren't cheap or practical. Anyways, I started out by making the chocolate chip cookies, but all I tasted was coconut. It just wasn't right so we ended up throwing that batch away. Determined to make something successful from this cookbook, I decided to try the blueberry crumb cake. I used canola oil instead of coconut oil and it made a huge difference! The crumb topping called for crumbled up vanilla cupcakes, but I didn't feel like buying three different kinds of flour just for that so I used the vanilla cupcake recipe from "The Joy of Vegan Baking". This cake is delicious thanks to my modifications, but I think it would have been another failure had I followed the recipe exactly. So unless you are allergic to gluten or have tons of money to spend on all of the ingredients, I do not recommend this cookbook. There are far better dessert cookbooks out there!



Note: Please excuse my terrible photos. I have definitely never claimed to be a photographer. :)

New Products!

Well it's no surprise that I have a HUGE sweet tooth. I always have to have something sweet after my meals. Last night while at Whole Foods, I decided to skip baking for a weekend and go for a healthier dessert. I loaded my cart with more fruit than normal (bananas, apples, blackberries, tangerines, and kiwis), planning to just eat fruit for dessert. But then I discovered a new product!! NaSoya Silken Creations. It's a nondairy dessert starter (but can also be eaten straight out of the container) that comes in vanilla, strawberry, and dark chocolate flavors. I chose the vanilla thinking that it would be a great accompaniment to the fruit. And I was right--It was so delicious!! I just put some in a dessert cup and topped it with blackberries. Amazing. I can't wait to try the rest of the flavors.
I have also discovered a new vegan brand at Whole Foods called VegeUSA. They have citrus spare rib cutlets, chicken drumsticks, and black pepper steaks. These products are so delicious. The flavors are amazing and nice switch from the tired old veggie burger. They make a great weeknight dinner when we're in a hurry.
And the most exciting news of all (to me anyways, but I'm kind of a dork), The Vegan Table arrived yesterday!!!



I absolutely cannot wait to try some recipes from this since Colleen's previous cookbook has become my favorite. Still not sure what recipe to try first because there are sooo many and they all sound good.
Not much going on this weekend. Just going to see that Wolverine movie tonight (not sure why I agreed to go see it...) and planting a garden. Let's hope I can actually grow something this year!