squash
It’s not very often that I make genuinely pretty dinners. Especially because we love things like mashed potatoes and gravy, which while delicious, aren’t all that photogenic. At the store the other day I decided I needed to buy some squash since there was such a good selection and I’ve never really made anything with squash besides zucchini.
So I picked out some lovely delicata squash without any idea what I would do with it. I decided that even if I couldn’t find a recipe I liked it would serve as good decoration in the mean time. Luckily I found an exciting recipe on gothamist for chickpea stuffed delicata. The chickpeas are fried and mixed with a cranberry wine syrup. It was a really nice mix of flavors and textures sweet and savory. Of course, it looked pretty too which I was pleased about. Not to mention it was quite different from the usual meals we make and very quick to prepare.
chow mein
I also got a ton of fun stuff at the store so I’ll be making some other exciting treats this week.
berry crumble
Here is a black raspberry and blueberry crumble I made. The important thing with this is that the crumble on top is really great and could be used with any fruit. It is great with peaches or apples or berries. I’m not usually into blueberries but I love how they look with the black raspberries and the flavors are very complimentary. Here is the recipe…
Crumble top
3/4 cups all purpose-flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup non-dairy butter
Filling
(sorry my measurements are a bit, well, sketchy)
1 bag frozen black raspberries
1 bag frozen blueberries
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp arrowroot powder
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Defrost the fruit in a saucepan (or microwave) and pour into pie pan. Stir in sugar and arrowroot powder until it is dissolved in the fruit juices. Set aside.
Pour dry ingredients into a bowl and combine. Cut non-dairy butter into chunks and add to bowl. Use your hands to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until they form crumbly balls. Sprinkle on top of berries.
Bake for 40 minutes or until crumbles are golden brown.
Another option with this is to leave out the arrowroot powder all together, depending on the fruit, or substitute regular flour.
I’m supposed to be posting more this month but man it’s quite a bit harder than I thought. Mainly because I spend all day in front of a computer at work and don’t really want anything to do with my laptop when I get home. I would much rather be baking. Anyway I’m trying to get back on track.
Halloween Treats!
These little ghosts might not be scary but they’re so tasty. I tested out a new recipe for cappuccino and espresso cupcakes. I happened to make these before I made dinner so I had to test out the batter…which was possibly the best ever. Seriously.
Shawn and I also decorated the sugar cookies I made last night. I think I got a little carried away but it was so much fun!
I really can’t believe how good these cupcakes are. They’re not like your typical vegan cupcake either. I’ll post a recipe when I’ve got it worked out. The espresso cupcakes turned out cakey and the cappuccino cupcakes are crispy. I’d like them to be a little more alike. I just topped them off with some regular vanilla buttercream frosting but think something a little more exciting would bring these guys to a whole new level of cupcake. You might think I’m kidding. I’m not.
All these treats are for a Halloween movie marathon we’re having. Oh and we’ll be making pizza of course. Can’t wait!
Happy Veganniversary
Even if it’s not so exciting for everyone else I’m going to tell everyone my going vegan story.
I decided to become vegetarian at age 13 to “save the animals.” Honestly at that point meat did not interest me at all and I had a really difficult time knowing I was eating something that had been alive. My mother insisted I continue to eat fish but other than my parents were pretty much uninvolved in what I ate. This meant that as a vegetarian I did not have a very diverse diet. For most of my teenage years I ate mostly cereal, grilled cheese sandwiches, chocolate chip cookies, pasta and Dr. Pepper. Oh yes, lots and lots of carbs. Although I had tried more ethnic foods than a lot of people, they weren’t a regular staple. Except for sushi. Which I have to admit I was obsessed with (and still am in its vegan forms). I finally stopped eating fish when I was 17.
As I got older I started learning more about cooking and about veganism. I made some simple switches to soy milk and earth balance but thought that going completely vegan would be too hard for me. My biggest problem was my sweet tooth. I just hadn’t had many good vegan desserts and I couldn’t imagine living without them. Though for the most part I ate vegan and cooked vegan I still didn’t think I could do it. At the same time, having learned more about factory farming, I was having a lot of guilt whenever I ate things that weren’t vegan.
When I was 21 I went backpacking in Europe for a month and a half. The entire trip my diet consisted almost entirely of bread and cheese. It felt horrible. The day after I got home I decided that I had to go vegan. I made a resolution that if I were going to do it, it had to be for at least a year. That year came and went and I could never imagine myself going back.
Being vegan has changed my life immensely for the better. I cook all the time, and bake even more. For me this is so rewarding. I feel like having this connection with my food makes me appreciate it even more. Going out to eat at restaurant with vegan food is exciting, it’s not just something that you have to do. Despite having staple foods that I eat a lot, my diet is so much more diverse than it has ever been. I’ve also leaned so much about all the things that I eat. I feel better eating the food without the guilt of another animal’s suffering or the gross things in non-vegan food. I’m also extremely fortunate to have a vegan boyfriend so we get to make treats together, which makes things that much more fun.
Anyway, I’ll get back to more fun photo posts soon. I have been bad at updating lately, and have a little backlog of pictures to post. Eep!
