:: 7 ::

I've been itching to make a ratatouille ever since I saw the movie. I had never heard of it before but I figured it would be a good way for me to introduce myself to eggplant in a good way. We tried it once before but I think we weren't took keen on the results. It was a deep fried recipe and I think it absorbed too much of the oil. I remember reading somewhere after the fact that eggplant does that. Anyway, so I was checking out all the lovely vegan blogs doing updates and I came upon the Vegan Lunch Box by none other than Jennifer McCann aka Jennifer Shmoo. She had done a lovely ratatouille for lunch the other day and she so kindly emailed me her recipe to try out on my own.

Well, to my complete delight it was really fast and so simple to put together. And I must say it was very very delicious indeed. I'll definitely add this to my 'must make again' list. The only downside to all of this? It's not very photogenic. I made it this afternoon before leaving for work at 2:30 and by the time I came home at 5:30 all of the nice bright colors had kind of all melded into one big beige. So even though this doesn't look amazing it really does taste good. We paired it with some pumpernickel bread using the pumpernickel crouton recipe from VwaV.

Luckily I can still save this post with some cuteness in the form of my sleeping babe. I've been telling my mother for weeks now about how Ayla likes to sleep using a pillow because I guess that's what she sees Alex and I doing. Today I had to wake her up from her nap to go pick up Alex from work and I came upon this sight. It was too good to pass up!

As you can see the wrinkled brow is due to Mama making flashes go off while she's trying to rest. Oops!

:: 6 ::

I'm having a great time thinking up new things to make for Vegan MoFo. It's forcing me to actually get in the kitchen and whip up some good food. Yesterday after dinner my sweet tooth started kicking in so I asked Alex what he'd like me to make. He immediately asked for chocolate chip cookies.

We're huge fans of the Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies in Vive le Vegan by Dreena Burton. They're amazing and I've never used another chocolate chip cookie recipe since finding this one. I know there are probably others out there that are just as good but the ingredients used in this recipe are right up my alley. They don't call for butter (unlike most cookie recipes) which is quite pricey in my neck of the woods. I had to use the flash since it's late and the shadows are out to play.

PS. How do you like my vintage cookie jar that says 'Biscuits' (French for cookies) on it. I just love it so much!

:: 5 ::

I figured I'd just call this five since I missed that day and today is technically day five of Vegan Mofo. So first up is what we had for breakfast. The famous tofu scramble. It's a given when becoming vegan that you'll adopt a tofu scramble as your go to breakfast when you've got time on your hands. And really it doesn't need a recipe but there are many good ones out there. This was just a freestyle as we like to call anything we make up as we go along in this house. Basically it's bell peppers, tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms, firm silken tofu, basil, salt, pepper, a pinch of tumeric, and a dash of paprika. Oh and the toast in the back ground is home made bread I made yesterday. I threw the kale in there for some greens. I just sauteed them with some soy sauce, lemon juice and garlic powder. It was a very yummy breakfast.

For dinner Alex used up the rest of the shiitake mushrooms we had left over from breakfast and this really amazing deep fried tofu that I found at Superstore. I also found some egg style noodles at the grocery that don't contain any eggs! I read both the french and english ingredients just to be sure. Again another freestyle that turned out amazingly.

:: 3 ::

Technically I should do two posts for Vegan MoFo to make up for my missed day. So perhaps there might be two posts today. Or maybe tomorrow. I haven't decided if we'll be having leftovers for dinner today or if I actually feel like making something new. It's one of those lazy cloudy days where the couch looks so much more inviting than the kitchen.

We made crepes this morning for breakfast with Yves veggie sausages and grapefruit wedges. This is Alex's favorite type of pancake, if it can even be called that. He doesn't like when they're fluffy but likes the thinness of the crepes. These are made from the Nonna's Italian Kitchen cookbook by Bryanna Clark Grogan. I have to say these are really an amazing vegan crepe recipe. Very yummy and very believable. The next thing I would really like to try my hand at is a vegan omelette. I've seen some tasty looking ones popping up here and there around the vegan blogosphere. I just have to decide which ones to try! Speaking of which, Isa has a new brunch cookbook coming out and I've been seeing some of the tester photos and drooling. I must have that cookbook!

:: 2 ::

My second installment for Vegan MoFo. I tried to make a veggie pot pie using the recipe from The Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas. For the pie crust I used the recipe from Sinfully Vegan by Lois Dieterly.

There are many things I would change about all of it. For one thing, I'd use less potatoes in the pot pie and a completely different recipe for the pie crust. I couldn't remember for the life of me my trusty pie crust recipe that I used the last time I had made a tofu quiche. I'll have to hunt that down because I would love to make an apple pie this Thanksgiving.

I hope that by the end of this month I'll be better at taking food pictures! They're just horrible in my estimation. I can never figure out the proper angle and lighting.

Autumn pictures

Well I wanted to post about dinner today. But it didn't go into the oven till very late and so we ended up having something not blog worthy. Instead I offer up some wonderful pictures I took today of Ayla and her friend Faith. This is not the first time that they've gotten their pictures taken together.

They turned out very well. Well actually, the sun set much earlier than we though it would. We really didn't have any sunlight at all to take these pictures. The clarity is only due to the wonderful lens that I bought to go with my camera. I wish I could remember what it was. Anyway, it was about 100 bucks but it allows me to take great pictures in low light without a flash. I hate flash so this lens really came in handy today.

:: 1 ::

To kick off Vegan Month of Food I've decided to start with breakfast. This morning I was craving pancakes so I whipped up these really fluffy and yummy blueberry pancakes. This is my standard recipe that I've been using for ages. It's a Martha Stewart recipe that's long since been veganized.

Blueberry Pancakes

1C Flour
1tsp Baking powder
1C Non dairy milk
2tsp Sugar
1/4tsp Salt
1Tbsp Oil
1/3C Blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry. Mix until just combined. Add blueberries (if using frozen, toss in flour before adding to batter so that it doesn't turn the batter blue, unless that's what you're going for). Mix, leaving some lumps. While the batter is resting heat a non stick frying pan on medium low heat. (I don't use oil in my pan but you can if you want to just use your discretion) Once the pan is heated drop the batter by the spoonful to your desired sized. Spread it evenly in the pan, flip once browned nice and evenly. Remove to a warmed plate. Enjoy with maple syrup!