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*

Wordless Wednesday

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)**

Wordless Wednesday

Vegan Mofo Day 9

Some people (not me) love french toast so it would be pretty upsetting to have to give that up on becoming vegan. But of course, like most recipes, there Is a vegan version that even I find pretty tasty. This recipe is going to be based on serving size but I just eyeball it. If you know how to make regular french toast this recipes should be no problem for you.

Soy/almond milk
Sliced white bread (sour dough)
Cinnamon
Sugar
Cooking spray

Place milk in a shallow bowl. Dip both sides of one slice of bread into the milk. Place into a heated and lightly sprayed pan. Cook until one side is golden brown and then flip. Place onto a plate and add cinnamon and sugar and TaaDaa! Awesome cruelty free French Toasties.

***Beautiful picture courtesy of Naomi

Sushi Cheese Cake

I'm glad I finally have a cake to share with you :) It was my room mate's boyfriend's birthday yesterday and she asked me to make his cake. He loves cheese cake and sushi so she loved the idea I found to put the two together. It didn't turn out quite as pretty as I had hoped but they both loved the taste and how they looked and that's all that matters in my book. Especially since I'm very critical of my work. The chocolate wasn't easy to work with but it didn't take as long to put together as I had anticipated.
More cakes on the way soon! I've had a lot of requests so we'll see how many actually follow threw. Can't wait :)

Vegan MoFo Day 8

YES! Finally caught up. My lovely readers will have plenty of recipes to choose from today ~.^ I gave you more of a summery recipes so now I'll give you a fall/winter recipe. Again it is a stuffed squash dish and is twice as filling as the zucchini. This is also a pretty easy recipe as well as inexpensive. This recipe will serve 4 hungry people but be prepared to feel stuffed when you're finished.

Stuffed Acorn Squash
2 acorn squash
1 cup wild rice (Buying the boxed kind works great)
2 veggie bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
a small yellow onion
2-3 stalks of celery
1/4 cup (or so) chopped walnuts
1 1/4 teaspoon (or so) each dried tarragon and sage
a dash of garlic powder
salt and ground black pepper TT

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Start cooking the rice. I just use the seasoning that comes with the boxed wild rice and then add the salt, pepper, and garlic. But feel free to use plain wild rice.

3. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Put a little oil on the cut sides and in a casserole dish then put them cut side down in the dish. Roast them for one hour, or until they collapse easily when pushed with a wooden spoon.

4. Chop the onion, celery, and walnuts. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Put in the onion and saute it for about 3 minutes, then add the celery and saute it for around 2 more, then add the walnuts and saute a little longer until the onion is translucent, the celery is on the soft side, and the walnuts are a little toasted.

5. If the rice isn't done yet, turn off the flame and stir in the vinegar, tarragon, sage, garlic, salt, and pepper. If the rice is done add that to the pan and then add the vinegar and spices and continue heating it a little to meld the flavors.

6. Your squash should be done by now so spoon the rice mixture into the cavity and voila! This is a great meal all by itself! Hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. :)