Valentine's Weekend!

Since Valentine's days always seems to fall in the middle of the week, Hunter and I are having ours Saturday. I made him some tasty little heart cookies as a present. They turned out really cute but the vanilla dough was a pain to pipe and my hand was really sore after. I got the recipe from this great blog. I will have more pictures after tomorrow of our V-day dinner :3

Veggie Pizza

I received a new baking book from a friend when I was working at the zoo. I just now have had a chance to try some of the recipes out. I have made 2 desserts and 1 savory dish from my The Baking Bible. Last night I made a veggie pizza and it turned out delicious! I love this book except for the fact that it is made for Europeans with the measurements and the wording. I am not used to graham crackers being called "sweet biscuits" haha. I will try to have more pictures soon!

Christmas noms 1

With my German oral exam, final exams, Christmas shopping, and work I have had zero time to bake or blog. However, now that I finally have a break I intend to catch back up a bit. I LOVE watching the food network/cooking channel and I saw a Martha Stewart Christmas special the other day and decided to make some of her cookies. In my haste to get these cookies made as Christmas presents I did not get any pictures but I can assure (as can my boyfriend) that they turned out delicious. I made Martha's Noel Nut Balls and Chewy Molasses-Spice Cookies. The latter were by far my favorite and the only ginger bread type cookie I have found so far that I like. Maybe I've just had bad ginger snap experience (I know there's a difference but I had only had the snap so I thought they all tasted that bad). I am going to be doing some more baking before Christmas which is coming up fast. I have also been doing a lot of hand made Christmas presents which I hope to post pictures of soon (probably after Christmas so none of the receivers see their presents early :P ). If you are wanting to make some of your own decorations or just make something as a family, FamilyCircle.com has some great ideas on their site. I hope everyone has their shopping done and if you don't... good luck. More holiday baking, cooking, and crafts on the way!

*Picture from MarthaStewart.com*

Vegan MoFo Day ???

I am soooo sorry for the lack of posts!! I can't believe how much time flies when you have no free time O.O I will do my best to post a lot for the rest of the month. I will definitely have a great Thanksgiving post for you wonderful readers! I think I'll post a dessert today since it's getting to be that baking time of the year. Have you ever seen that huge, delicious looking cake at Panera? Their coffee cake is suppose to be amazing and I love having a little something sweet to go with coffee so I found this awesome recipe and can't wait to make it for either Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Vegan Coffee Cake

Topping:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (light or medium)
4 tbsp Earth Balance, melted
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Cake:
1 cup vanilla or plain soymilk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup packed brown sugar (light or medium)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
Egg replacer for 1 egg, mixed with necessary water according to package directions (I like Bob’s Red Mill Brand)
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F
9 x 13-inch glass baking dish, greased
Serves 12

1. Topping: In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, melted Earth Balance and cinnamon, mixing well. Set aside.

2. Cake: In a measuring cup, mix together the soymilk and vinegar to create “buttermilk” and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder, mixing well. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl), combine the sugars, oil, applesauce and vanilla, beating well. Add the reconstituted egg replacer, beating on high speed until well beaten, about 20 seconds or so. Alternately add both the reserved “buttermilk” and flour mixtures to the mixer bowl, beating just until smooth.

3. Spread batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle reserved topping evenly over batter. Bake in preheated oven for about 50 minutes, or until a tester inserted in center comes out clean. Remove cake from oven, place on a rack and let cool completely before cutting cake. If desired, lightly dust cooled cake with powdered sugar.

(picture courtesy of Google Images)**

Vegan MoFo 4

What's better on a weekend night with friends than a warm cheesey pizza?! The only problem is, there are (in most cities) no vegan pizza places. Not to worry, you can make your own and it will be a lot tastier than any delivery. After doing a little prep work with the dough, the rest of the pizza takes no time at all. Just add toppings and bake. Whole Wheat Pizza Dough:
1.5 cups warm (115degree) water
2 packets active dry yeast
1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for bowl
2 T sugar
2 t coarse salt
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour

1. Place water in a large bowl; sprinkle with yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 5 min. Brush another large bowl with oil.
2. In bowl with yeast, whisk sugar, oil, and salt. Stir in flours with wooden spoon until sticky dough forms (I usually just use my hands at this point). Knead a couple of seconds into a ball. Transfer to oiled bowl; brush top of dough with oil.
3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let stand in a warm spot until dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.
4. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. With floured hands, kneed until smooth, about 2-5 min. divide into 2 balls (the whole thing makes an XL pizza).

Baking:

Preheat oven to 450 F. Use a pizza pan or a large upside down cookie sheet and cover with oil. Roll out dough to desired size and thickness. Fill with desired toppings. Bake until crust is a golden brown; about 18-20 min.

My Vegan Fillings:
I usually chop up some fresh tomatoes and saute them with mushrooms, fresh herbs (basil and thyme), and onions. When that is the desired consistency I add it to the dough and then cover either in fresh goat cheese (I know, not vegan but I love it!) or vegan mozzarella. I think that's the only store bought vegan cheese I have liked so far that actually acts and tastes like real cheese. After the pizza is done I top with some more chopped fresh herbs and ENJOY!

WARNING! This pizza (because it's wheat) is VERY filling but you may find it hard to stop your self from eating 3 thick slices. Have fun making your own pizza :)

Vegan MoFo Day 1!

This is my first time joining in durning Vegan MoFo so I will try my best to not disappoint! :) I think my plan will just be to share some of my favorite, easy vegan entrees and snacks. Since I just told everyone how good the vegan cookies are that I made I thought I'd start off with that one. I personally enjoy these with dark chocolate but feel free to add caramel, peanut butter, or whatever else tickles your fancy!

2 cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt cinnamon, to taste, optional
vegan chocolate chips, to taste
1 cup raw sugar (turbinado)
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in chips. Make a well in the center and set aside.
2. In a medium size bowl, add together sugar and oil; mix well. Add the vanilla and then add the water; mix well. Add the wet to the well in the dry. Mix it well but be careful not to overwork it. Add more chips if you need to. 3. Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Put them in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes and then flip and rotate the sheets (top to bottom & 180 degree rotation). Bake another 4 minutes and check them. The cookies are done when they seem a little bit softer then you want them to be. They will harden up some as they cool. I usually go in two minute increments from here until they get to where I like them.
4. Take them out when they are done and move them to wire cooling racks. If they split or come apart when you try to remove them let them sit on the pan for 2 minutes before transferring them to the racks.
Enjoy!

Sadly this was the only picture with my cookies.

Jelly Burgers

I love going to the Grand Asian Market in Raleigh and looking around for new things. Usually I try to buy at least one thing I've never had before and this time I decided to buy Jellyfish. I had never even seen it as a food and, even though I had no idea what I was going to do with it, I bought a bag of natural jellyfish to try out. I found this awesome recipe for Jellyfish Burgers and since I had a ton of red potatoes fresh from the garden I decided to give it a try.

I didn't have everything so I had to modify it a bit but they still turned out amazing. Everyone loved them and there's plenty of left overs for lunch tomorrow ^_^ I hope everyone enjoys the recipe. We had ours with a side salad which was just the right amount of food. So get out there and help Japan eat up their Jelly infestation!

Killer Week

I have been on the go non-stop this week... I have had 2 cake orders needed for the same day. I believe my teachers have no life because I've had to spend hours sitting at my computer reading online lectures, stories, and writing papers. I am finally caught up (for the most part) now and look forward to at least one day of fun with my friends at Animazement tomorrow. The first cake I made this week was a graduation cap cake for my friend from Panera. Once again this was a first time for me and it was the cake from hell... Everything seemed to go wrong, especially the fondant. I'm wondering if the extreme humidity that has hit NC has something to do with it. I swear when you walk out side it feels like you've run into a wall. Anyway, I finally finished it this afternoon and ran it out to my friend's house.She and her family loved it. I saw her graduation cap and it's the exact same color as the cake. I had been worried about that since it was such an unattractive color but I was right on. I made the top out of fondant and cardboard (yum!) and she wanted a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream again. Hope she and her family like it and that she has a great day at her graduation tomorrow! :) Now I'm working on the Dukes of Hazzard General Lee car. Having never made a carved cake I was really nervous but it's turning out pretty well so far. I just have to finish it tonight since the birthday is tomorrow and I won't be here. Totally off topic, I spent 2 hours and $50 on Joanna at the vet today because when I put her in the tub yesterday she had a hard time breathing. The vet looked her all over and in her mouth. She said she looked totally healthy and her lungs sounded fine. Turns out, lizards can have panic attacks... At least I know she's healthy. She's also gained 150 grams since her last visit about 2 months ago, so she's growing fast! Hope everyone has a great memorial day weekend! I will have more pictures for the cake and Animazement soon! <3 style="color: #cc66cc;">

Focaccia and Snow

Last weekend for our anniversary I made Hunter dinner (which is my favorite thing to do!). I usually like trying something knew every chance I get but I'm low on money so I can't get too crazy with it. Soup, salad, and bread is always a great meal so I thought I'd play with that. In culinary class last semester we made an awesome soup called Vichyssoise. It's a leek and potato soup served cold (yuck) but I skip the chilling part and enjoy it nice and hot. That turned out wonderfully! I didn't add any cream to it either just because I'm not a big fan. I also made a vegan Caesar salad dressing. It didn't taste anything like real Caesar dressing but was still pretty darn good. Then there was the focaccia... I have to say I've gotten pretty lucky and most of my first tries in the kitchen turn out fantastic. This one, not so much. It still tasted great! But it turned out more like a bread stick than a big, fluffy loaf I was hoping for. The starter had to ferment for 16 hours, then rise for one, punch down, rise again, spread in pan, then rise for 2 and 1/2 more hours! My house is pretty cold unfortunately and I think maybe that was the reason it didn't rise like it should have. But it was still a lovely, delicious dinner and of course Hunter ate up everything :) That's all the thanks I need.
Finally after waiting all winter we have snow! It is suppose to snow 6-12" all together. That's the most snow we've seen in a couple of years. I'm suppose to still be going to work tomorrow but I like at the bottom of a hill...There might be no way out lol At least that will give me plenty of time to play and make snow men! Hope to have more pictures up tomorrow.

The Joys of Crème

Wednesday in Hot and Cold desserts I got to make my first Crème dishes! What excited me even more was the fact that this meant we were going to be using a blow torch in class! Yay for the pyromaniacs! We first made a tart shell for our Apple Custard Tart. We then made 6 small Crème Caramels. It turned out beautifully, especially since I had never made one before. My teacher also said upon tasting it that it had great mouth feel and looked wonderful. Great was to start off a new class. She also said the same about my -->Crème Brûlèe.Using that blow torch for the first time was a little tricky. Not sure how many Crème Brûlèes I'll be making in the future but it was a lot of fun. Sadly I had to leave before my apple tart finished so I didn't get a picture of how it is suppose to look before serving. I just bought a tart pan at William Sonoma today with a Christmas gift card and can't wait to break it in. Hunter (my boyfriend) has never had a tart before so I intend to make him his first this week. We made beautiful small pear tarts in baking last semester and I have been dying to veganize the recipe so that I may try one as well.

Crescent and Quiche

Today was our last real baking lab. Why don't I sound up set... It has been an alright class. It would have been better if I had been assigned to a better teacher. Hopefully next semester will be better. We made plain crescent rolls, chocolate filled pastries, and stuffed crescent rolls with out croissant dough we made two weeks ago. We were suppose to use ham and cheese to fill them but, since I don't eat ham, I used pear, onion, Gruyere cheese, and cream cheese. They turned out very puff as you can see. But I had a tiny corner and they were quite tasty.
I didn't try to the chocolate one or the regular crescent roll since I'm doing the Body-for-Life program. Only been a week so far but I'm hoping that if I exercise and eat like I'm suppose to I'll start seeing results soon :D Anyway, back to baking. I bought the stuffed crescents so I could actually eat one on my free day tomorrow and to share with my mom and Hunter.
We also made a quiche out of pie dough that we made and froze a good 5 weeks ago. I filled mine with thyme, basil, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and cheddar cheese. It needed to be turned half way through but oh well, it was my first quiche and we were ready to get out of there.I am so ready to start cooking for Thanksgiving! My mom asked me if I wanted to make everything and I said yes of course. I warned her that it was going to be all vegetarian but she said that was fine. I've been looking at several of the blogs I follow and Vegweb for ideas and I think I know what I'm going to be making. No more class till after Thanksgiving but, sadly, I do have work Monday, Tuesday, and probably Wednesday. I'll post more about the "feast" closer to time. Hope everyone has a great weekend! Get your Christmas shopping done now ~.^


Oh and here's a recent picture of my baby Joanna! She even struck a pose for me. She is so cute and getting so big! She just seems to be having trouble shedding for some reason, so I've been giving her baths. They are very good and fast swimmers!

Puff Pastry

We have been working on puff pasty for the last couple of weeks in my baking class. For those of you who have made it before from scratch you know how long it takes to make that dough...It's ridiculous. But I still might attempt to make a vegan version for Christmas eve or maybe even Thanksgiving. We made puff pastry and croissant dough last Friday and today we finished up the puff by making it into a Napoleon, a Fruit Band, and Voul Au Vent. They were easy to make once all of the dough was ready. The fruit band just took a very long time in the oven. While it looked beautiful before and after baking, I would much rather have had some brie and apricots in puff pastry instead of the extremely sweet apricot and frangipane filled pastry topped with apricot glaze. Way too much.The week before we also made a mushroom and shallot filling for our voul au vents. They were cute and easy to make as well but I could only stomach one. I think it was due to the butter in the puff. It was like eating very rich Ritz crackers. So yes, I was a very bad veg and tasted my work. I hope that if I veganize the pastry it won't be so rich. Even before I became vegan I did not like butter and now that I'm not use to eating it, it's even worse. I did not take any pictures of the Napoleon partially because I forgot and also because I was not that happy with how it turned out. I didn't try this one either because it was nothing but puff, pastry cream, and chocolate glaze. Yeck, no thank you

.

Culinary Classes

I have been very busy in both my Culinary and Baking classes. Sadly my phone is retarded and did not want to take any pictures for me. I brought my camera instead but guess what?! It died as soon as I tried to use it...Someone does not want me to take pictures of my work lol I might buy a disposable camera to take to my classes. Here are just a few pictures from some older labs. I made Almond Tuiles, Chocolate Chip Almond cookies, and Fancy Tea cookies.The next week me made Chocolate Dipped Eclairs, Swans, and Cream Puffs.Of course I did not try them but I brought a swan home to show off my work to my boy friend and he said it tasted wonderful. :) This lab was fun and easy just time consuming. I would like the make the chocolate dipped and swans again.

We made pasta from scratch in my last cooking lab. It was so much fun! We made Goat Cheese and Herb Ravioli, Shrimp and Cheese Tortellini, and Vegetable Lasagna. They turned out lovely. I really wish I could have taken a picture, especially of the tortellini, but my phone would not cooperate. This week in my baking lab we made tarts. The week before we made three different kinds of pie: Apple, Cherry, and Coconut Cream. The tarts we made this week: Pear Almond tarts and Fresh Fruit tarts, both topped with an apricot glaze. I didn't care much for the glaze, it made the tart look messy after spending all that time arranging the fruit. I took this picture before adding the glaze and I'm glad I did.
I will try and take more (and hopefully better) pictures while in my labs. I know I could always make these recipes at home but what would I do with all of that food?! Anyone care to buy some baked goods? Just email me! :)

Sourdough

I have always wanted to make a sourdough starter but was always so intimidated by them. They sounded hard to start and like they took a long time before you could use it in bread. But I found a really easy step-by-step website and took a shot at making a sourdough starter. I only took a couple of days before it was ready to make bread out of. I didn't let it rise long enough so it didn't turn out as tunnel-y as it should have and it was not as sour as I had hopped. Not bad for a first attempt though. I now have plenty of sandwich bread :) I have another starter growing in the fridge and hopefully I'll do better with this one. I love the taste of the bread but that starter smells terrible! I guess it lives up to it's name in not only tasting sour but also smelling sour.If nothing else, being in my baking class is helping me at home. My bread turns out much prettier and is a lot easier to handle now that I know what to look for and what order to go in even if the directions for the recipe don't tell me. I can't stop playing in the kitchen! At least I know I will not get tired of baking and that this will be a great career choice for me. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Back to work and class tomorrow!
Oh! If you have yet to see Julie & Julia, you HAVE to drag your husbands/boyfriends to go see it! My mom paid for my boyfriend and I to go see it because she thought we needed to see it that much. He wasn't to thrilled about going because we both thought it was going to be a chick flick (which neither of us enjoy) but boy were we wrong! It was far from being a "romantic comedy", it was hilarious and a wonderful, true story. We were both laughing the entire time. I highly recommend it. I know movies are pretty pricey now a days but go to the matinee!

It's the Nannerpus!!

*sigh* I miss that commercial... But I have some amazing banana recipes to share! I love making whole wheat pancakes with oat flour and bananas and recently I found a new light and fluffy recipe. I did not have my usual recipe with me so I looked around online and found a vegan blog called Holy Cow!. This is her wonderful recipe for whole wheat pancakes:
Whole Wheat Vegan Pancakes

Ingredients:
Dry:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Mix the dry ingredients well and set aside.

Wet:
1 1/2 cups soy milk
2 tbsp flax seed powder mixed with 6 tbsp water
3 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Mix together the wet ingredients and add to the dry. Mix gently until the dry ingredients are just moistened. There should be some lumps remaining in the batter.
Heat a nonstick or cast-iron griddle. Smear lightly with a few drops of canola oil. Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter on the griddle and let it cook until bubbles appear at the top of the pancake and the underside is golden-brown. Flip over with a spatula and cook the other side until it is lightly browned.
Serve hot with a pat of vegan spread and maple syrup.
They were wonderful! I enjoy topping mine with some Earth Balance and 1/2 cup of fresh-from-the-yard blueberries. A great way to start your morning.
Last night (instead of studying) I made some banana bread out of my room mate's forgotten bananas. I just can't resist blackening bananas :) I found this recipe on VegWeb and it turned out a lot denser than what I'm use to but forgot all about that once I took a taste. Best banana bread I've ever had! No offense banana bread baking family members. A brown sugar/cinnamon, slightly hardened crust formed on the outside giving it a sweet, slight crunch. I can't wait to make this again for family dinner around the holidays!
Moist and Delicious Banana Bread

Ingredients (use vegan versions):
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 very ripe bananas
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon cooking oil
2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. In a small bowl, mash bananas, and add 1 tablespoon oil, vegan sugar, vegan brown sugar, and vanilla. In a separate small bowl (I use a short drinking glass) mix 2 tablespoon water, 1 tablespoon oil, and 2 teaspoon baking powder. This is to substitute using an egg. It gets fizzy, but don't panic, it turns out great. Add this mixture to the first small bowl and mix well. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. I like to sprinkle some extra cinnamon on the top to make a nice crispy cinnamon crust. Bake at 325 degrees for 50-55 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a wooden toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool for about 10 minutes, and slice it up!
Serves: 1 loaf
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Enjoy!

More bread

Not only have I been making a ton of bread in my baking class, but I have also been busy kneading away at home. I never get tired of playing in the kitchen ^.^ We braided challah and made knot rolls two weeks ago and then this past Friday we made cinnamon rolls and brioche. I forgot to take a picture of my most recent work :( But I did get a picture of the challah. My friend Rachel recently went to Europe! (so jealous) She was nice enough to think of me and bring me back a beautiful bracelet and a jar of real Italian pesto! It has some Parmesan in it but hardly any so I looked past the fact that it was not vegan and used some to make bread. I got the recipe from one of my favorite blogs have cake, will travel. I made the Spelt Pesto Bread. It turned out fantastic! It made two loaves so I froze one and enjoyed the other. I made some little "mozzarella", tomato, and basil sandwiches with my new bread and they were delicious. Money's been kind of tight here recently due to having to buy everything I need for my culinary classes among other things so I've been trying to bake a lot of my own bread. I can't wait to try out some more of Celine's recipes! They all look so beautiful and delicious. I highly recommend checking her blog out if you love baking, especially bread. I'm going to have to watch my waistline though lol hard to stop eating hot, fresh bread. Mmm... ^.^
Went to the Exotic Animal Show in Raleigh yesterday. There were a lot of corn snakes, ball pythons, and leopard geckos. I was hoping for a bit more variety but it was still a lot of fun. My room mate wanted some more corns so she had a good variety to choose from. It's fun to see all of the different creatures people bring and allows you to meet a lot of breeders that you might not have known about other wise. Hope everyone has a great labor day weekend! Don't forget to stop wearing white by Tuesday :P

Busy Baker

Wow, I have been the worst blogger! I have just been so busy. I had a bake sale to try and help raise money for non-profit animal shelters. I sold cupcakes and cookies for a dollar. I ended up making around $50 all together. Not too bad but I was hoping to make more. I had a couple people order a dozen cupcakes. One order was chocolate peanut butter and they turned out wonderful! Everyone loved them especially my peanut butter loving boyfriend who, of course, had to taste test for me. :P He loves his job. I ended up making way too many chocolate chip cookies though. One batch made about 50...So I ended up just giving most of those away.
I started school last week at Wake Tech. It's so nice going to class and learning about cooking and baking! We even made yeast rolls and baguettes in my lab Friday. I was not able to make them vegan since they wouldn't turn out the same as everyone else but I can always tweak the recipe and make them at home. I took my creations home for everyone and they did not last long. A friend of mine asked if I would make her son's birthday cake last weekend. She wanted something kind of detailed but I told her I would do my best. I found a picture of a cake online and just went off of that. This was my first time playing with fondant so I wasn't 100% sure that I was doing everything correctly but I did my best and I think it turned out alright. The only thing I really had a problem with was the paint. I used egg yolks and food coloring gel. It didn't work too well but I got by. There has to be a better recipe or a place to buy paint. If anyone has any suggestions or links it would be greatly appreciated because this was all I could find. Her son, his friends, and their parents all loved the cake and kept asking where she got it. Hopefully I'll get some more business soon. That would be an awesome way to make money while in college!
I'm all moved into my new place and have already baked in the kitchen a couple times. Today I thought I'd try a recipe out of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. I bought it about a month ago but haven't really had a chance to make anything. So, as I previously stated, since my boyfriend loves peanut butter so much, I decided to make the Peanut Butter Cupcakes. He won't even be able to tell they are vegan (especially since there is only one vegan ingredient in them). I had one while I was cleaning up and they are so yummy! I highly recommend this book if you like baking cupcakes whether you're vegan or not.

Birthday Cake and Kitty Treats

I made my first Birthday cake since my Wilton classes! It was for my little twin cousins. Their favorite colors are pink and purple so I made pink and purple flowers. The butter cream was a bit too thin so they didn't sit as nicely as I wanted them too but they turned out alright. I thought I would make fondant butterflies to add to the cake but I ran out of time and Michael's didn't have any fondant so I made chocolate butterflies instead. I got the idea and instructions from a fellow blogger (Cake on the Brain). My butterflies were no where near as pretty as hers but they looked pretty good for my first time. It doesn't really matter what I think of the cake because my little cousins LOVED it! They both gasped and then gave me a hug. I had plenty of left over butterflies just in case and they had me decorate each of their cake slices with butterflies. My family also Oowed and Ahhed over it which is very rewarding :) If they like this level of decorating skill, I can't wait to see what they do when I am able to do much more complex decorating. One cake down, two more to go.

Today I am making kitty cookies =^..^= I had to take my baby to the vet Monday and felt terrible about it. Especially when they told me he needed his rabies shot (even though he never leaves the house...). He was such a good boy and never even mewed when he got his shot, I think that deserves a treat. I looked around till I found this recipe from Healthy Recipes for Pets:

Cat Cookies

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp catnip
• 1/3 cup CATMILK
• 1/3 cup powdered milk
• 2 T butter or vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup Soy flour
• 1 egg
• 2 T Wheat germ
• 1 T Unsulfured molasses

Preparation & Cooking

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients together. Add molasses, egg, oil and milk. Roll out flat onto oiled cookie sheet and cut into small, cat bite-sized pieces.

Bake for 20 minutes and let cool. Store the cookies in a sealed container.

I didn't have soy flour of catmilk so I used flax meal and a mixture of 1/2 milk 1/2 water since milk is not good for cats. (Just as a side note, do not give your cat soy milk, especially if it is a male. It's extremely bad for them, it can cause infertility and liver damage.) He seemed to enjoy them :) Probably would have liked them better if I had topped each cookie with some smoked salmon.

I have been a busy baker this week! I also made some vegan whole wheat bread. It is so yummy! I was worried when it called for molasses but you don't really taste it. I got my recipe from Vegweb, great place for recipes and answers to vegan questions. Hope you like the pictures and the recipes!

Vegan weekend

I have decided not to post my tattoo because I think I want it to be my little "mascot" for my bakery. Don't want anyone to take it.
Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I was in the kitchen the whole weekend. I have recently decided to go as vegan as I can afford. It's also very hard to find a lot of the vegan products that are suppose to be in your local whole foods store. Living in NC is hard if you don't like greasy, artery clogging foods. I was able to hit up Trader Joe's and a Whole Foods but still was unable to find a lot of stuff I see in many vegan or just cooking show recipes. But back to the holiday cooking.

I made a Grilled Tomato Bruchetta as a starter. Then I took yellow squash, zuchini, red onion, red pepper, snap peas, and yukon gold potatoes and made shishcabobs with a rosemary vinegarette. Very yummy. For the main course I made Portabella mushroom "sliders" with sauteed onions on top on whole grain rolls with sweet potato fries on the side. It was a lot of slicing and prep work but it all turned out wonderful. My mom and grandma loved everything. They didn't miss meat at all :) I didn't care for the sliders that much but I would definitly make everything else again. I got all of the recipes from this month's Vegetarian Times. I also got my dessert idea from the magazine but I switched it up a bit. The Summer Pudding recipe called for Angel food cake. Making this cake vegan would be a lot of trial and error due to the large amount of eggs used in a traditional angel food cake. So instead I made a pound cake. It stayed so nice and soft that I was able to mold the cake into the bowls and then fill it with the fruit syrup. One fed three people lol But it just depends on how big the cups you put them in are.
In addition to 4th of July grilling, I also made sushi this past weekend. I made one of my boyfriend and my favorites, Spicy Tuna Roll. Then I tried a couple new things: Phili Rolls and California Rolls. I was able to make my Phili rolls vegan with some Tofutti. My Cali rolls I filled with red snapper instead of crab and it was the first time I had ever made an inside out roll. I think I like making them and eating them better that way. They all turned out really well, especially the Philli rolls. Obviously everyone liked them since they were pretty much gone that day.
I am on the look out for easy, non-spicy vegan recipes if anyone has suggestions. I've been wanting to go vegan but, as a student, didn't know if I could afford the cost of the foods or the long drives I'd have to take to get them. After reading Skinny Bitch, I knew I couldn't eat meat anymore...If you've read it you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you should, it's a real eye opener. I still eat fish but I try to not eat any other animal products. I hope you enjoy the recipes I've posted!