Coconut heaven

I know I said I wouldn't make another cupcake till my book arrived. But there was only one left to be made in VwaV and I couldn't let it go untested. And boy am I glad I didn't! Holy coconut! I made the Coconut Heaven Cupcakes and they are divine! If you are a fan of coconut (as I am) then you'll absolutely go crazy over these.
I also tried the Beet, Barley and Black Soybean Soup with Pumpernickel Croutons (say that five times fast). It was good and I don't think I've ever tasted a soup that shade of red! Sorry about the blurry picture. I was hungry and not paying attention but you get the idea.

Cupcake madness and other food porn

So I'm on a cupcake binge. I can't get enough of the stuff. I finally got around to making that Chapters Wishlist and Vegan Cupcakes take Over the World was on it. But I couldn't help myself and I ordered it yesterday. I'm anxiously awaiting it's arrival in the mail. I shall not make another cupcake until I receive it. I also ordered Veganomicon, Isa's newest cookbook which isn't even released yet and Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol, for the crafty woman in me. I saw a really cute purse/bag on a flicr group the other day and realized that I must make it immediately so I didn't put off buying the book for another second. I actually flipped thru the pages last Saturday with Meese on my unplanned trip to Calgary. But back to the matter at hand. Cupcakes. I love them. They're so wonderful. It's like a cake for one. And not just a measly slice, but something you can devour with your eyes before plunging into it's moist deliciousness. So I caved and made the Fauxstess cupcake in VwaV. Well not really caved, I don't have the black chocolate so I decided to just make a regular chocolate cupcake with a ganache frosting and none of the other fixings. I had a raspberry chocolate bar from Tropical Source hanging around that I wasn't sure what to do with so I used it to make the ganache (hence the little flecks in the frosting). It all turned out heavenly. My mouth waters just thinking of it now. Alex was thrilled and couldn't get enough... he loves chocolate. He asked me if I couldn't make some for his coworkers. He likes when I make things that are unbelievably good cause then he tries to get me to share it with the non-vegan world. As if to say 'Can you believe this is vegan!?' LOL.

Yes, yes it is my dear. I also made the Carrot Bisque and the BBQ Pomegranate Tofu. Both turned out excellent! Except I didn't have any pomegranate molasses, so I subbed in some blackstrap molasses. I know it's totally not the same but I'd have to order pomegranate molasses online because there's no way I'd find that in Red Deer. Maybe Calgary or Edmonton though, I'll have to think of it the next time I go to either of those cities.

And finally today's breakfast and dinner. Oh my! I made the Lemon Corn Waffles with Blueberry sauce also from you guessed it VwaV. I can't say enough good stuff about it! I'll definitely be having seconds tomorrow morning.

I decided to digress from VwaV for a moment and make a spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight. In our family spaghetti sauces are usually Alex's domain. But I decided that I would make my first real sauce using a cookbook I bought especially for him. Nonna's Italian Kitchen by Bryanna Clark Grogan. And you guessed it, it's a vegan Italian cookbook. I must say, it's a phenomenal cookbook. I mean all of my cookbooks are great but I just love the stories behind almost all the recipes and the fact that most people would think you couldn't veganize anything Italian. But she has and to great success. So I made the Ragu alla Nepoletana, it was delicious! She recommends simmering it for 2 hours but I had mine simmering for practically the whole day.

Hopefully I can get to crafting once my book arrives. I know this has all been about cooking so far but as involved as it looks that's all I seem to have time for lately.

Thanksgiving and posting delays

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and it reminded me that this time last year I was writing my last post on Vegan Engineer. Unfortunately, I didn't have the same spread I prepared last year. Not only do I not have the time to get so elaborate but Alex was working and so I would have just been preparing it for me. But I wasn't without a fully home cooked meal yesterday. I've been looking thru my many cookbooks and I pulled out Vegan with a Vengeance to get some ideas for dinner. As some of you may know I fell completely off the vegan bandwagon when I got pregnant and would occasionally be found eating eating dairy or fish (and can I just say how the guilt overtook me every single time). But now that I don't have any more raging hormones, all day sickness or constant food cravings I'm getting back on my high horse. So last night I wanted to make something fast and easy and stumbled upon the Asparagus and Potato soup in VwaV. I had all the ingredients on hand so it was a perfect fit. Except as I started making it I thought to myself, wouldn't it be wonderful if there was some broccoli in this. Then I thought maybe I'll add some grated carrots for color and then since I hadn't eaten lunch I thought maybe I'll add some silken tofu for that extra punch. So when it was all said and done I had my own little soup going on. It tasted amazing! I still pureed 3/4 of it at the end so it was very creamy just the way I wanted it. After all that I decided I needed something bread like to go with the soup and wouldn't know you Isa had a wonderful biscuit recipe ready to go in that wonderful cookbook of hers! And they turned out so yummy! They were kind of flaky and very buttery tasting. So good! For dessert I decided to make the Carob Chip Muffins from Vive le Vegan! again. Except I didn't have any carob chips so I subbed in some chocolate chips. Oh I just love this recipe. I can't get enough of the little crunch the shredded coconut gives. As you can see I still had a great dinner last night that I could not complain about at all.

Speaking of all this food, I've decided I want to try to make as many recipes from my cookbooks as possible. I would have to say that's my other great addiction. Buying cookbooks. I'll have to make a post about all the ones I do have just in case anyone is interested in trying them out. So far I haven't been disappointed in any of them. I need to make a wish list on Chapters to keep track of all the ones I want to get. Every time I go to buy one I know I'm forgetting one I want even more.

I would like to add here that I started this post this afternoon at around lunch time. It is now past 9pm! Yes people, I didn't get a moment of peace to myself all day. So I'm going to just wrap up this post so I can go and finally relax. Maybe I'll have something more interesting to say tomorrow after a good night's rest!