Rocky Roads

I've been a busy baker since I got my copy of Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. As far as I'm concerned, the star of the book is the rocky road cookie. It graces the cover and just dares you to make a batch, so that's exactly what I did. Since I don't have access to vegan white chocolate chips I used a mix of dark chocolate chips and chocolate chunks. The almonds absolutely make these cookies, so spend the extra time to toast them up!



They're soft and chewy right out of the oven, just like I like em!! Yum...



While I was baking, someone came into the kitchen begging (my 15 year old rescue Maine Coon, Luxie.) Too bad kitties can't have chocolate because this cute little guy deserves a treat. <3

Luxie wanted me to tell you all to visit Katie's blog and click away - every time you click you'll raise money for charity! Operation Chocolate-Covered Kindness is an easy way for you to give with extremely minimal effort! So go and browse her delicious recipes and check out her fabulous giveaways! Help Katie help others; tis the season...

Cookie Jar Invasion and Fudgie Persuasion

Vegan cookies are about to invade my cookie jar!



Thanks to a generous family member, I am now the proud owner of Isa and Terry's new book. I made the Mexican chocolate snickerdoodles a few weeks back and they were soooooooooo good. I can't wait to start baking, especially with the holidays right around the corner. Does anyone else have it yet? I can't decide what to make first. Peanut butter blondies sound pretty good, but maybe I should start with an actual cookie...

Now, on to the the fudgie persuasion. A lot of people already know about Operation Chocolate-Covered Kindness. I want to help Katie (and everyone else she's helping) by getting her as many hits as possible. I've already admitted my obsession for her fudge babies, but I've gone baby crazy and made a few versions of my own.



On the left, we have cinnamon pecan babies. I used 1/2 cup of raw pecans, 5 large medjool dates, and 1 tsp of cinnamon. These guys are perfect for the upcoming holiday season! Next, we have cocoa almond babies. I used 1/2 cup of raw almonds, 2 tbsp raw cocoa powder, and 6 large medjool dates. I think I need a 12 step program!

You say potato...

Sweet potatoes totally blow their regular white counterparts out of the water. Not that I won't indulge in a giant mound of mashed potatoes a few times a year! ;) Sweet potatoes are near and dear to my heart because of an old family recipe that reminds me of holiday gatherings, family visits, and my grandmother. For as long as I can remember, my granny has made sweet potato biscuits every time I visit.



Let me explain a little. They aren't light and fluffy like you'd expect from a regular biscuit. They're flatter, denser, and sweeter. You start by roasting whole sweet potatoes, mashing them, and adding a whole stick of earth balanace while they're still warm (that's how granny makes them, there's no butter allowed because it makes them brown too fast!) Then comes the usual flour, sugar, and baking powder.

Now that I live very far away from my family (we're talking 16 hours, people), I have to make my own sweet potato biscuits. The first few times were a little rough, but I've gotten the hang of it. Now I have to make them whenever my family comes to visit me! My sister was here a few weeks ago, so I made a few dozen.



What can you do with these biscuits? They're amazing if you spread a little earth balance on while they're still warm. I've also tried almond and cashew butter, cinnamon sugar, and a drizzle of maple syrup -- all with excellent results.

Katie made me do it!

Just a quick mini-post so you can all share my excitement!

Chocolate Covered Katie...I'm about to embarrass myself by admitting that I made your Fudge Babies about 5 seconds after I saw the recipe. Ok, it was more like a few hours, but still!

I had all of the ingredients on hand, plus I've been obsessed with raw snacks lately. And since I'm supposed to be upping my fat intake I don't have to feel guilty!! So here are my fudgie baby bites! I also took Katie's advice and ate about half the dough, lol...




These little guys come together easily and are soooo simple to make. Seriously, go make them RIGHT NOW! As for me, I'm headed to the fridge for another bite! :)

Food, Folks, and Fun!

The last few weeks have been pretty awesome. My sister came for a visit, which is great because I rarely see her. She flew all the way from San Fran to St. Louis to spend her birthday hanging with me. I was able to take a few half-days at work, and I drove her all over the city. I also made mint chocolate cookie cupcakes per her request. She'll probably kill me for posting about this, lol. She would want me to mention that she was fresh off the plane in the following picture ;) Happy Birthday, Mel!



We did a lot of eating in four days. I took her to VegaDeli, a local vegan cafe, for a snack (carrot cake hit the spot). We also went to Sweet Art for lunch and a brownie (she agrees that they are out of this world and addicting!) Plus, I made beer battered tofu, roasted butternut squash, pumpkin pie oatmeal, sweet potato black bean chili with cornbread, Belgian waffles, and the list goes on and on!

We also did a lot of shopping. Let me say that I'm not usually a big shopper. I reject fashion because I'm clueless. I can pick out a cute bag or pair of shoes, but I'm not good at whole outfits. I think my sister came here on a mission to make me over. I felt like it was MY birthday because she showered me with gifts and updated my lackluster wardrobe with age-appropriate and super cute new duds. No longer will I be mistaken for an undergrad when I'm at work!! And I might have to change my blog to food, football, and fashion -- to go along with my new addiction!

Here's one of my new outfits!


A Penn State update is also in order. Last week, we lost to conference rival Iowa. It was a messy and embarrassing way to start Big 10 play, but I'm not one to dwell on unpleasantness, so on to this week's game. My Nittany Lions traveled to Champaign, IL to take on the Illini. I only live a few hours away, so Lucas and I drove out for the game. He surprised me with FRONT ROW tickets a few weeks ago. I had such a good time, and it was totally worth the drive! We won, and won big. Lets go State!

Magician in the Kitchen

No, I'm not giving myself that honor because it belongs to one Isa Chandra Moskowitz! I own every cookbook she's ever published and I'll keep buying `em as long as she's writing `em. Admittedly, I don't often cook from a recipe. I probably own ~25 vegan cokbooks, but I usually end up making my own concoctions anyway. This is both good and bad...I like to be creative in the kitchen, but I ultimately end up in a food rut because I make the same things over and over. Lately I've been on a quest to make my daily meals more special and I'm doing that by dusting off my cookbook collection and picking 2-3 new recipes to try each week.

The first one I brought out of hibernation was Veganomicon. I've already worked my way though the tomato rice soup with roasted garlic, tamarind lentils, curried tofu, rutabaga puree, baja tempeh tacos, and chickpea quinoa pilaf in the last week alone. I wish I had beautiful pictures to showcase, but I hate when my dinner gets cold while I try [unsuccessfully] to get a decent picture. Tonight, I'm making the braised seitan with kale, brussels, and sundried tomatoes and I'll do my best to snap at least one photo, even if it kills me!

I also like to check out the PPK blog from time to time, and I loved the recent post about Mexican hot chocolate snickerdoodles. Even though I revealed in my last post that I don't like making cookies, I'm still going to buy Isa's new cookie book! I even whipped up a batch of those snickerdoodles on Friday night and they are goooooooood, not to mention simple...



This morning I was inspired to make a fancy brunch. It's a cool rainy day in St. Louis and there's nothing like a few slices of French toast to perk me up on a day like that! Enter Vegan Brunch. I made the pumpkin french toast, though I used sweet potato puree instead. This recipe got a big thumbs up from Lucas, so you know it's good!!



I also need to give a shout out to another culinary miracle worker, Chocolate Covered Katie. Her melted banana trick has saved me from many a boring breakfast! Here's a bowl of oat bran that I made with 1/2 a "melted" banana, a dallop of sweet potato puree, carmelized figs (from Vegan Brunch), and toasted pecans.



And Katie, thanks for introducing me to these babies! They are delicious :)

Blondies are more fun

I admit it -- I suck at making brownies! I don't know why, but mine always come out light and fluffy when I want them to be dense and fudgy. All hail Sweet Art for baking the best vegan brownies so that I don't have to! They even stopped making the regular omni kind because the vegan version was selling better. I know I had a point in all of this...

Oh yeah! Early one morning I had an intense craving for something sweet and gooey, so I whipped up a batch of blondies using this recipe. I really wanted a brownie, but blondies are a pretty good subsitute. I decided to bake them in individual squares so that each one would get crispy, chewy edges...mmmm!! They did stick to the pan a little bit, so next time I'll be more careful.





I'm not much of a cookie maker either. This time it's not the taste or texture because I don't have problems there, but the time commitment! Cookie dough often has to chill for hours, plus you have to scoop it out in measured increments and sometimes even flatten it down. Then you have to keep checking them to make sure they don't under or over bake, and even one minute can make a huge difference! Ugh, cookies are so high maintenance! The ultimate high-maintenance cookie might just be the NYC staple "black & white". In addition to the aforementioned reasons, these cookies also need to be topped with two different kinds of icing in a 50/50 ratio. I never thought I'd try to make them, but my fav. aunt came to visit from the City and I wanted to give her a warm welcome. I had major issues with the frosting (original recipe was a disaster and I had to make another one up on the fly), but the effort was worth it in the end. They tasted good and lasted almost a week in the fridge.



On a side note, my beloved Nittany Lions kicked off football season this past Saturday with a home game against Akron. We won, 31-7! Our QB had a great game and I just know he's taking us to the Nat'l Championship this season :)