Fall Foods

Hello everyone! Halloween is just a couple days away, and I can hardly wait! Here's some of the fall foods I've enjoyed this month...

First up is "best snack ever" aka pretzel sticks with melted chocolate chips...

Next is the Simple Baked Sweet Potatoes from The Raw Project (I added cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice as the seasonings)...

Here's the awesome food from when I visited my sister Alena in Philadelphia. We went to Blackbird Pizzeria for lunch...

Alena had a slice of pepperoni pizza.

I had a slice of veggie supreme pizza.

We also decided to share a seitan "chicken" parm...

...and a seitan cheesesteak.

(Of course, we couldn't finish everything, so here were my leftovers.)

I bought a kitchen sink cookie (chocolate chips, potato chips, pretzels, pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes, and oats) on our way out, which we shared later at Alena's place with tea.

We passed this adorable mural (on the side of the building for an animal rescue).

And I got a free copy of Slingshot from Wooden Shoe Books, which I read on the train ride home.

Centerfold.

When I got home, I made sure to harvest my little garden before the frost.

Next up is the Greek Lemon Soy Curls and Potatoes from The "V" Word (I left out the olives and parsley)...

And here's something new I tried, but wasn't too fond of; it was too sweet, more like a pumpkin pie puree...

Yesterday I made mashed sweet potatoes (with ½ T vegan butter, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice), a sprinkle of sugar, and some cranberries on top)...

...And baked Halloween cookies... I used the following cookie cutters, but the cookies expanded a bit too much while baking, so they morphed but are still delicious, haha!

Once Halloween is over, it will be that most magical time of the year, the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! It will be my 6th time participating, and I'll be sure to keep you updated on my progress throughout the month.

Here's Cringer and Daisy, being silly...

...And Buttons and Leela briefly sharing the sunshine until Leela decides, "nah, nevermind"...

Peace. :)

Vegan MoFo 2014 Wrap-up

Hello on the 30th day of the Vegan Month of Food! This month has flown by so fast! So much cuteness and so many great themes! Tonight's final Vegan MoFo post will include my five favorite dishes, as well as a super long list of the bookmarked recipes I want to try! But first, here was today's lunch...

Mac & cheese with potato chips and pickles.

...And tonight's dinner.

Avgolemono (with added broccoli, diced red onion instead of shallots, and vegan chicken broth instead of vegetable broth).

Five Favorite Dishes I Made This Vegan MoFo:
 
Garlic Green Beans, Smashed Potatoes, and Spicy Corn
 
Classic Cornbread and Down-Home Chili
 
French Toast
 
Burger, Fries, Veggies, and Spice
 
Meera's Avgolemono

Recipes I've Bookmarked to Try:
 
Banana Breakfast Rollup from A.Cook in the Making

Chilly Monkey Biscuits from Adventures in Vegan Bento

Miniature Whole Wheat Soft Pretzels; Easy Apple Nachos; and One Minute Flourless Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Brownie from AfroVeganChick

Thai Chicken Laksa from Alien on Toast

Pizza Rolls from Bake Eat Love

Broccoli, Cheese, and tempeh bacon pot pie; Jackfruit Chick’un Noodle Crockpot Soup; French Onion Soup; and Chamomile Lavender Cupcakes from Banana Curl, Vegan Girl

Fabulously Fruity Muffins from Cat and Ju Vegan Cooking

Sesame Sriracha Noodles; Vegan Jackfruit BBQ; and Harvest Wild Rice Salad from Danielle Atkins

Easiest Weeknight Pasta Ever from East Meets West Veg

Carrot gnocchi with fennel en papillote and Chickpea flour pancakes with cumin and fresh coriander from Eating with the Rabbits

French Fries and Drown Your Sorrow Waffles from Evolution of Jill

Super Cheesy Easy Mac & Cheese; Popcorn Chick'n; and Cinnamon Sugar Bagel Chips from Floral Frosting

Grandma's chex mix; Toasted Walnut Maple Buns; Vegan Cheez Its; and Country Fried Seitan with Homemade Seitan Cutlets from House Vegan

Rosemary and Potato Focaccia from iheartcrapkitchen

Vegan Stovetop Mac and Cheese and Easy Broiled Breakfast Sandwiches and the Best Tofu Ever from Jessicat Cooks

Polish Potato and Cheese Pierogi Made Vegan and Aloo Paratha from The Judgmental Vegan

Potato Cheese Soup from Just the Food

Apple Cranberry Hand Pies from Kim Cooks Veg 4U

Pretzels from KZ Cakes

Onion Cake from Life by Six Mile Creek

Broccoli Corn Chowder and Apple Muffins from Lisa's Project: Vegan

Vegan Buckwheat Tabbouleh and Vegan Orange-Glazed Tempeh from Odd Little Vegan

Garlic Knots from Peabrain and Nosewhistle

Cream of Mushroom Soup from Plant Base Living

RAW LEMON, LAVENDER, VANILLA, PISTACHIO BITES from REAL FOOD + TRAVEL

Cawl; Welsh onion cake; Creamy leek soup with garlicky bagel croutons; and Leek and cashew pizza pie from Rosie's vegan kitchen

Runner Bean Pie; Couscous Stuffed Vegetables; Asparagus Pea & New Potato Pakoras; Homemade Tomato Sauce; and Courgette & Lentil Loaf from Self Sufficient Cafe

Buttermilk Dill Smashed Potatoes and Sprouted Chickpea Hummus from soy division.

Pureed Broccoli and Cheezy Soup from Sprouts and Chocolate

Chikn Noodle Soup with Rosemary Bread Rolls; Smokey Potatoe Baycn Bisque with Dark Rye Bread; Italian Wedding Soup with Gluten Free Basil Crackers; Cheezy French Onion Soup with French Baguette; Thai Coconut Curry Noodle Soup with Roti; and Mushroom-Burger Soup with Soft Pretzels from stairway to vegan

Split Pea Soup from the sunflower kitchen

Vegan Orange and Pecan Rooibos Teabread from Tea and Sympatico
 
Filthy Toxic Hot Chocolate from Thistle and Yellow Rose

Biscuits and Gravy; Lentil Loaf; Peanut Sauce with Super Easy Tofu-and-Broccoli; Vegan Chicken N' Noodle Casserole; and Rich Brown Gravy from Tofu Mom

Five-Cheese Baked Pete-aroni and Cheese and Deep Dish Mac & Cheese Pizza from V for Vegan

Cherry Buckwheat Breakfast Salad from Veg Fiend

Chick'n pot pie and Chick'n noodle soup and A Bac*n sandwich the TbLT from Vegan Knyquol 

Sweet Rolls and Sweet and White Potato Pancakes with Mushroom Sauce from Vegan Sweet and Simple

Lemony Risotto with Shiitake Shrimp from Vegan4One

Vegan Ham Cheese Stromboli from veganopoulous

Fudgy Black Bean Brownies and Chocolate-Orange Chia Pudding from vegga

Golden Gravy; Dijon Mushroom Potatoes; and Cheezy Baked Macaroni from VeggieSue's Veggie Adventures

Jewelled Rocky Road Bars from veghotpot

Smoky Chickpea Stew from Walk, Talks and Eats

Sweet & Easy Dessert Rolls and Squirrely Cookies from x means no onions

Pizza Burger from Zsu's Vegan Pantry

New Blogs I've Started Following:
I've updated my “Blogs I Follow” in the sidebar, so check it out! (Some, like House Vegan, Sprouts and Chocolate, and Panda With Cookie won't show up because Blogger keeps rejecting them when I try to add them to my list, but I'll keep trying!) I know I'll be adding more in the coming weeks; I still have a bunch of Vegan MoFo blogs to visit and read through!

Some More Vegan MoFo 2014 Highlights:
Buttons on the Round Up,
Winning the Vegan MoFo mug giveaway,
33 posts,
And nearly 6,000 pageviews!

And finally, an addendum to my favorite themes (how did I forget this one yesterday?): Soup & Bread by stairway to vegan.
 
I hope you all have had a great time this Vegan MoFo! Here's to an even better one next year, and lots of cooking, baking, and blogging in between! 

Buttons and Leela enjoyed meeting everyone this year, but they're going to rest up now; they're all worn out from having their pictures taken so much! 

Peace. :)

Bookmarked Recipes (Part 2)

Hello everyone! I've been making more progress on trying out some bookmarked recipes, so here's the latest installment!

Cheezy Twice Baked Potato

Last week, I made the Cheezy Twice Baked Potato from The Seattle Chickpea. My changes to the recipe: I used slightly less nutritional yeast and baked it the second time for 20 minutes at 350°F. 

It smelled amazing coming out of the oven and tasted delicious; Mystery was climbing all over me trying to get at it. I'll certainly make this again and experiment with different fun fillings. 

Pumpkin Brownie Cookies

I also made the Pumpkin Brownie Cookies from the vegan marshmallow. My only change was to use oat bran as I didn't have any almond meal. The dough was indeed sticky as Tina warns in her post, but it wasn't all too difficult to form into cookies. 

They turned out perfect, nice and soft and chocolately, definitely a great cookie recipe for fall/Halloween! 

Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate

Finally, last night, I made the Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate from Fo Reals Life. My changes: I left out the cardamom and used cocoa instead of chocolate chips (and only made a single serving). 

It was a nice treat for a fall night and easy enough to make; I'll likely return to this recipe soon enough!

In other news, today is National Cat Day, though Mystery doesn't see how it's different from any other day.

"Every Day is Cat Day!"

Peace. :)