Brunch: Carrot Cake Pancakes & Breakfast Potatoes

My kitchen has once again been a little lonely.  Since Mardi Gras I have been finishing up left overs and cooking random veggies.  Sometimes vegans/vegetarians do just eat veggies!  I think I have obtained a slight addiction to green beans.  I started liking them after becoming vegan but now can't get enough of them.  I just made these the normal way with soy sauce, garlic chili sauce, agave and garlic.  Sauted the green beans with some broccoli, added the sauce and heated through.  Just a bowl of veggies is sometimes all you really need.  Saturday I had a veggie sammich from Subway on the 9 Grain wheat bread, mustard, all the veggies, oil and extra vinegar..pretty spiffy for an on the go lunch while in Elk Grove.  If I'm at home I add my own vegenaise but it's good without it.  Maybe I can write to the subway owners to start to carry veganise.  How genius would that be!! 

Sunday my friend and I started PAINTING!!!  I don't think I realized how much work painting really is.  We're only painting the living room which is pretty small (see above for the before) so I thought, meh...this should be pretty easy.  Welll.....maybe not so much.  We had to move all the furniture/stuff to the center of the room, tape everything...which was a pain and took forever, wipe down the walls, cover the furniture with plastic (which we didn't buy enough of so we had to keep moving it depending on where we were painting), and then start painting a primer that seals odors/stains that was alcohol based and smelled awful.  Literally like we painted the room in vodka.  It was BAD!!  We got a little late start too so we ended up only getting to the primer.  We did some touch ups today and are ready to finish with the paint tomorrow.  Luckily we should only have to do one coat of paint so tomorrow should be easy, paint!  With that said I haven't been cooking.  Sunday before the painting began I did manage to cook brunch for Aryn and I. 

I've posted about the carrot cake pancakes before, I got the recipe from The Post Punk Kitchen.  The wonderful Isa is amazing.  Check out her other recipes because I haven't had anything yet that I didn't like.  Although I am having some problems making the chickpea cutlets...my own faults as a chef, not hers.  The only adjustment I made was leaving out the carrots.  Due to comments left I'm afraid I'm going to shred them wrong and ruin them.  They are just too good to ruin, and taste just dandy without the carrots.  Albeit I'm sure less healthy, but if I'm counting probably much more healthy than the actual cake itself so really a win-win. 

Since the pancakes are very sweet I wanted to balance that with some potatoes.  I LOOOVVVEE potatoes.  Really they are my best friend.  If they didn't take so long to cook I would make them more often.  I'm always so impatient for them to be ready.  Any kind of potatoe I love, french fries, baked, stuffed, mashed, salad, soup, on pizza, in burritos..really there is no wrong potatoe. 

Ingredients:
4 medium potatoes
1 red pepper (I used left over roasted red pepper)
1/2 medium/large onion
olive oil
seasoning to taste I like a lot of different ways
 this time I used rosemary
 Oregano
 salt/pepper
 paprika
 
Directions:
1.  Wash the potatoes then add to boiling water (You can peel if you wish but I prefer to keep the skins on)
2.  Once fork tender rinse with cold water and let cool
3.  In the meantime chop the onion and pepper, cook in a little olive oil
4.  Chop potatoes and add to onion/pepper with seasonings
5.  Let cook until browned and crispy

It was the perfect meal to start our tiring painting endeavors.  Please forgive the photos as we were in a rush and I didn't have time to be artistic.  Only one more day to go and then we're half way back to having my apartment back to normal.  Once the paining is done tomorrow I can move the furniture back/remove the tape then carpet is in on Friday!!!  My mom is coming down on Saturday to help me re-decorate.  I can't wait to have my apartment back.  Maybe I'll have more time to be creative and cook/blog!!  I feel like it's been weeks since I've been to the grocery store.  I've gone to get a thing here and there but not enough to get creative, just clean out the place.  I'm planning a trip on Sunday once the place is back to normal.  Can you beleive I'm out of garlic!!!  I almost put garlic in EVERYTHING that I eat and food is going to be pretty bland without it.  Luckily I have left over Chipotle for lunch tomorrow.  =)  I'll be sure to post pics of the "new" (obviously new being relative) digs once everything is back to normal!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!!

Happy Mardi Gras!! King Cake and Black Eyed Peas

I know..I know I'm two days late but better late than never.  First up is King Cake that I made for work.  This cake is linked up over at Sweet As Sugar Cookies.  Go take a look at check out all of the other sweets that others have posted.   I used the dough from the braid bread I made for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Luckily the recipe makes two sets of dough because I burnt the first King Cake, my oven really doesn't like me.  Second turned out perfect and was gone in minutes!!

Dough:
2 Cups of almond milk
2 Tablespoon flaxseed meal
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup canola oil (I used olive oil)
1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 tablespoon whole cardamom seeds, coarsely ground with a mortar and pestle (I couldn't find these last minute in the store so I subbed for 3/4 Tablespoon of cinnamon)
5 1/4 cups of unbleached white flour

Filling:
1/2 Cup brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon melted butter

Icing:
1 1/2 Cup Powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
1-3 Tablespoons of water (start with 1 and add more if needed to make icing able to frost)

Directions:
1.  Make sure you have plenty of prep time because the dough has to rise...twice!
2.  Stir together almond milk, flaxseed meal, agave nectar, oil, yeast, salt, and cardamom in large nonreactive bowl with lid.  Add flour, and mix thoroughly with wooden spoon.  Cover with lid or plastic wrap and let stand for 2 1/2 hours at room temp.  Transfer to fridge and let rest over night
2. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray, or line with parchment paper.  Remove half of the dough from fridge (reserve remaining dough for second loaf. (will keep in the fridge up to 5 days).  Roll out dough until it is a long "rope" about 18inches or so long.  I found it easiest to work it with my hands.  After you get the length you need Press the dough so it is flat and as wide as possible.  You need some room to put the filling and roll.  I was able to get mine about 3-4 inches wide. 
4.  Melt butter in microwave, add brown sugar and mix well.  Spread the mixture in a line down the middle of the dough.  Roll the dough over the mixture and make sure it seals well.  Some of the mixture will come out of the seams while cooking but you don't want all of it to come out.  Make the dough into a circle and press the ends together.  Put seam at the bottom.  Loosely cover cake with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile preheat oven to 375* degree and Bake for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.  Mine took a lot less time but that's due to my oven.  Take out of the oven and let cool. 
4.  Meanwhile mix frosting.  Mix sugar and lemon juice until well combined, add water until consistency desired.
5.  Spread frosting on the top of the cake letting it drip down the sides. Top with sprinkles or sugar while frosting because if you wait to frost then sprinkle the frosting will have dried and they won't stick. 
6.  Enjoy!!

For dinner I wanted something that reminded me of home, some down home southern cooking was what I needed.  I was really in the mood for a veggie muffaletta but didn't have any of the ingredients and didn't have the car to go to the store.  A muffaletta is a New Orleans style sandwhich typically in a round french bread, spread with an olive salad that soaks into the bread.  Topped with layers of different meats and cheeses.  I found a yummy recipe for one with the same olive salad that the sandwhich is famous for but layered with roasted red peppers, artichokes and pepperocinis marinated in an olive oil mixture along with some vegan cheese.  Next grocery store run I'll be sure to pick up everything I need to make one and report back.  I decided to make black eyed peas because I had everything I needed to make them.  I've posted about them before but I don't follow an exact recipe and usually change it up a little.  This time around I made the following:

Ingredients:
1 can of black eyed peas with juice, do NOT drain
1/2 red onion
about 1 roasted red pepper (from the jar)
2 stalks of celery
3-4 cloves of garlic (would have added more if I hadn't run out)
Olive oil
Red Beans and rice seasoning packet from zataraines
brown rice

Directions:
Cook rice for however many mouths you have to feed.  I just use my rice cooked and made about 1 cup for myself.  Start this in the beginning so when the rice is done your beans should be done too. 
1.  Chop veggies, heat olive oil (enjoy to saute) in pan, add onions and garlic and cook until softened
2.  Add peppers and celery and cook down a few minutes
3.  Add can of black eyed peas along with about 1 additonal can of water
4.  Cook for about 10 minutes or so.  Then add seasoning to taste, I used the red beans and rice seasoning packet but feel free to use a mix of cajun seasoning, a dash of cayenne, red pepper flakes, salt/pepper.  Whatever you'd like
5.  Let simmer until heated through and rice is finished.
6.  Add as much rice as you'd like, then top with "broth" and beans.  I like mine more soupy with rice as an accent, but others like the rice to be more prominent with a top of beans.  It's up to you.  Don't forget to add a ton of Louisiana hot sauce!! 

Laissez Les Bon  Temps Rouler!!

Garlic Lemon Pasta

So if you haven't heard I received a plethera of lemons from a friend (Thanks Ash!).   She posted a lemon pasta recipe she made and I was determined to make something similar without cheese.  I found this recipe online and it was JUST what I was looking for.  This turned out exactly how I wanted it to.  If you like lemon and garlic you will LOVE this.  Not only is it delicious it is SUPERRR easy!  This was soo good I've made it twice! 

I only made a few adjustments to the original but I don't think they made that big of an impact so if you followed the original I'm sure it would be just as tasty:

3/4 lb of pasta
1/3 Cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice (It's a little more than 1 lemon in my first try I used 2 lemons, and the second try about 1 1/2 lemons)
3-4 Cloves of garlic minced (The more the better)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 teaspoon of agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon mustard
About the size of the tip of your pinkey finger nail of horseradish, just enough to give it a kick
3 1/2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1/4 cup of freshly chopped parsley

Directions:
1.  Cook the pasta; Drain but do not rinse (reserve a little bit of the pasta water if you think you'll need it)
2.  Mix lemon juice, garlic, salt, agave nectar, mustard, horseradish and olive oil.
3.  Mix dressing with pasta and parsley
4.  The original said to reserve some pasta water and mix if the pasta was too dry but I didn't need this either time I made it
5.  Mix with more salt and pepper to taste (the original also says to mix with more olive oil if needed but again I felt the dressing was plenty)
6.  SIDE OF GREEN BEANS:
The pasta needed a veggie so I sauted some frozen green beans, with about a tablespoon of water.  Once heated I seasoned with salt and pepper and a little left over lemon juice.  Mix with the pasta and you have the perfect meal.

You can easily adapt this recipe to your liking.  Asparagus would be good with this too.  The first night I had this with a nice piece of bread and a glass of champagne.  Perfection!  I hope you all enjoy this one as much as I have!  I'm baking my king cake tonight for Mardi Gras tomorrow..wish me luck!  I'll be up late so hopefully I don't fall asleep tomorrow at work.  Even so it will be worth it.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Comfort Food: Grilled Cheese

As I'm sure you could all tell last night was a little rough.  I felt like this would never end..which I knew rationally wasn't true...but it kind of made it worst because I was mad at myself for getting upset in the first place.  I wasn't going to cook at all because I was feeling sorry for myself but ended up getting hungry enough and being too lazy to go out and get something I decided to throw something together.  I knew I wanted more green beans like I made the night before and I needed something quick to go with them.  I thought about rice but that takes too long.  I had some nice whole grain bread in the cuboard with some nice seeds and figured..what the hey...why not some grilled cheese...Brittany style!!  Before being vegan...especially after becoming vegetarian I lived on grilled cheese.  Now that Daiya has found it's way into my life I can enjoy that luxury.  I like to mix it up so I added some chopped red onions and roasted red peppers that I had in the fridge.  Buttered my bread and grilled it on the stove top.  Cooked a side of green beans like yesterday and voila a FAB meal for a not so fab day.  Honestly sometimes the simple meals are the best.  This really hit the spot and really made me a feel a little better. 

A grilled cheese isn't really a grilled cheese until you cut it in half, diagnoally.  When I was on my grilled cheese binge as a vegetarian I would make one for Hubby and myself and Rich wouldn't eat it unless I cut it diagnoally.  I mean who would blame him...much more cool this way.  =) 

On a positive note (I knew my next post would be more positive.  It usually happens that way, right after the melt down things get better.  Like God is saying...okay I guess you had enough) all the drying equipment is GONE!!!!!!  It is the best thing EVER.  I can actually hear things.  I can hear what is going on in the next room, bella running around, the food sizzling in the pan, the phone ring...it's amazing!!!  Downstairs at work even.  It was almost eerily quiet.  We all felt like we were yelling still. 

So the fix it guy is coming tomorrow to find us a new oven.  The landlord decided to just replace it since it's so old.  Yay for new ovens/stovetop!!  The hard part is finding one so small.  our oven is probably half the size of a normal oven that would go in an apartment even.  Hopefully it doesn't take too long to get one in.  My office is going to be bummed if I don't bring a king cake on Tuesday.  The carpet is going to take a little longer to come in, they are hoping to be here on the 18th.  No worries...at least it's coming!!  I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We're on the home stretch, soon to have life back to normal.  I think I'll throw a party...hmm..on second thought maybe not.  I don't want anyone spilling anything on the new carpet!!  ;)  That's all for now...

Nevermind no it's not.  I almost forgot to mention, as I'm sure you noticed I have a new layout!!  It's probably going to change again.  I didn't want to spend anymore time on it tonight so I'm settling with this for now.  Hope you like it for now!! =)

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Am I being tested?

I'm going to start this blog off right.  I'm healthy, my family is healthy, I have a job and a place to sleep at night, a husband who loves/takes care of me.  I couldn't ask for much more than that.  I feel like I'm being tested.  I have a tendancy to over analyze, over stress, and over ....freak out....about things out of my control.  I'm trying to relax and understand that everything happens for a reason and there is no need to get worked up over it.  I'm sure this will all be over soon.  That's what I'm telling myself at least.  All of this is harder said than done. 

So my oven stopped working yesterday.  Just out of the blue...went to cook myself a tofurkey pizza for lunch and it just won't turn on.  The stove top still works...just not the oven.  I don't know what's wrong with it.  My landlord had me call an appliance fix it guy to come take a look to see if it can be repaired or if it needs to be replaced.  We'll see.  I hope it's working by Monday so that I can still make a homemade king cake for Mardi Gras.  All of the million drying machines are still in the apartment.  They were hoping to have them out today but the ceiling isn't quite dry yet....*sigh*.  Maybe tomorrow...who knows. 

Last night I tried another new dish and well...failed.  This time it was completely my error.  I didn't read the instructions right and screwed up.  Two nights of failed meals is tough.  One fail...well you learn and move on.  Twice...it's a little discouraging.  To make matters worst its a recipe I've tried before and failed the first time.  I don't know if you remember but I attempted making Isa from Post Punk Kitchen's chickpea cutlets and accidentally used chickpea flour instead of vital wheat gluten..needless to say they kinda fell apart.  So this time I made SURE I had the right ingredient and was excited to finally make the recipe.  This time I totally missed that your suppose to mash the chickpeas with the oil, then combine the remaining ingredients.  I just mashed the chickpeas by themself and then added everything.  I started kneading everything together and they weren't sticking.  They were just falling apart.  I was able to "make" the cutlets and I was very determined to make it work so I just fryed them up anyways...Crumbles and all...The picture looks nice but they were gummy and chewy on the inside and just kind of fell apart.  They didn't look anything like Isa's picture.  I did end up eating one and kinda felt sick after.  =/ 

On the bright side I made a side of green beans and they turned out yummy.  See recipe here.  Really easy.  I used frozen green beans, cooked them on the stove top with just a tad of water, drained the water after they were soft and added the sauce.   I ate all of the green beans myself and didn't even save any for Rich.  Whoops!  I was hungry, tired and a little grumpy.  Luckily he had already eaten so no biggie.  (So you don't think I'm totally horrible I was going to make more if he wanted some).  =)

Needless to say but I've just not been up to par.  I think my brain is on overload with everything going on at home and being super busy at work.  I need a vacation.  Or just my apartment back would be nice.  I'll keep everyone posted on how everything is going.  I hope my next post is a little more optimistic. 

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!  (Yes...roll right back to me please!)

Red Pepper Cream Pasta with Baked Sweet Potatoes

Tonights dinner was just okay.  A little underwhelming.  I think I may have hyped it up too much and now I'm disappointed.  You can find the recipe here.  I pretty much followed it to the T.  The only sub I made was using jarred roasted red peppers instead of fresh.  That cut down on a lot of time and work.  Which I'm glad I did since I wasn't that impressed.  I think I made a few mistakes with this one.  I ran out of my bow tie noodles so I used the rest of my vermicelli noodles.  Not a good choice of noodles when you need it to pick up the sauce.  I also think I might not have cooked enough noodles.  There was not only too much sauce but it was also too rich for me, I barely finished a 1/4 of my bowl and had enough.  It wasn't that it tasted bad just missing something that I couldn't put my finger on.  For seasoning I used salt/pepper, red pepper flakes and a little paprika. 

The sweet potatoes were great.  I wish I cubed them a little bigger and didn't bake as long because they were a little too soft and I was looking for something a litte tougher but they were still good.  I chopped them up, sprinkled cinnamon, sugar and chili powder drizzled with olive oil and baked in the oven.  I had this with a side of good bread.  So all in all the bread was good, potatoes were great, pasta..eh...probably won't make it again. 

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Veggie Chow Mein and Fresh Squeezed Orange Lemonade

Old pictures of Bella being a princess

 I hope my mom is wrong when she told me bad things happen in 3's but it seems to me that my life is heading that direction.  Bella has always been a princess in my book but now I think it's true...shes a REAL princess.  Other dogs get into bark, sticks..rocks even but not Bella.  She gets into bedazzled jewels.  Last night we got home around midnight.  We left bella in the bedroom for a second and when I came back in she was looking at me with some sort of jewel stuck to the cornea of her eye.  You couldn't miss it.  I think she just really wanted to be fancy.  After the whole ordeal I figured out where the jewel came from.  An old shirt of mine I got in New Orleans has the word NOLA covered with these jewels.  I had put the shirt on my bed that morning for just a minute and back to the closet it went.  One of those jewels must have fallen off and found it's way to Bella's eye.  Of all places...Bella's eye. 



Too bad I didn't get a picture of the jewel.  Here's just a picture of Bella being cute!

  Luckily UC Davis Vet Clinic is open 24 hours for emergencies.  We got over there within 30 minutes of it happening and they were able to get the jewel off of her eye.  Luckily it didn't have prongs or anything that punctured her eye.  It was just on the surface.  She now has an ulcer where the jewel was but it should heal fine with some drops they gave us.  Crisis averted!! 

On happier news I went shopping with my mom and sister yesterday and got a WOK!!  I've been wanting one and it was super cheap at Ikea.  Only $5!  I also got two jars for my homemade dressing and some cute dishes!  I love dandelions!   I know I said I was going to stay away from the kitchen until the house was back to normal but I just couldn't help myself.  Not only did I get a wok but I got a whole bag of lemons from my friend Ashley who has a tree in her backyard.

 I figured a simple stir fry or "chow mein" and some fresh squeezed lemonade would be simple enough.  I found the chow mein recipe here.  I made a few adjustments so see below for my version:

2 T olive oil
2 teaspoons of hot chili sesame oil
1 small onion chopped
1 celery stalk sliced
handful of baby carrots sliced
2 cloves of garlic chopped
2-3 cups of frozen stir fry veggies (mine was a mixture of broccoli, water chestnuts, baby corn, snap peas, mushrooms, carrots, red peppers)
5 ounces of veggie broth
3 T soy sauce
3 T Apple cider vinegar
1 T agave nectar
1 T cornstarch mixed with just a little bit of water
Cooked vermicelli noodles (I didn't really measure just took a few handfuls and cooked them)

Directions:
1.  Heat both oils in the wok over medium heat
2.  Add the oninos, carrots and celery stir fry for a minute or so
3.  Add in the frozen stir fry medley
4.  Stir fry until heated through add the garlic and stir fry another minute
5.  Add the broth, soy sauce, vinegar, agave and cornstarch.  Cook until the liquid starts to boil and thicken
6.  Add in the cooked noodles and mix well until all is incorporated and heated through (I started cooking the noodles around step 1-2)



I LOVE lemonade.  It's one of my all time favorite drinks.  So when one has an abundance of lemons...well duh I'm going to make lemonade! 

I have an old juicer my mom found at a garage sale awhile ago.  Perfect excuse to put it to use.  I also had some oranges we got at the farmers market last weekend so I figured we'd spice up normal lemonade with some added orange juice. 

Juice from 4 lemons

Juice from 3 oranges

4 Cups of water

3/4 Cup of agave nectar

Mix all together in a pitcher, chill in the fridge and serve with ice cubes.  Perfection!!

After everything the past week this meal made it all seem to go away.  =)  An hour in the kitchen does that to me.  The recipe I've been wanting to make since the farmers market last weekend is back on schedule.  Can't wait!  Creamy red pepper pasta with baked yams.  I got a tasty loaf of bread and bottle of moscato to go with it!  Stay tuned!! 

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!