Lucinda's Brown-Sugar Pecan Coffee Cake

Hello everyone! Today's prompt is "Share something vegan (and delicious, duh!) with a non-vegan," and it's also time for another Veganlist post!   

Lucinda's Brown-Sugar Pecan Coffee Cake
[from The Blacklist, "The Deer Hunter" (No. 93) (Season 2, Episode 13)] 

 
Red: Cinnamon-nut crumble?
Edgar: Brown-sugar pecan.
Red: (laughs) Oh my.
Edgar: Lucinda knows how you love her coffee cake.
Red: (laughs) Oh I do. (sniffs the cake) Mmm! Be well, Edgar, and tell Lucinda if she ever leaves you, I'd like to marry her. 

I used this recipe and baked it for a total of 45 min. All while I was stirring and mixing together ingredients, I was thinking, "This smells like fall..." 

Zach said we should pair it with some apple cider.

He's a dork. :)

Zach's review: Yum yum yum yum yum yum.
My review: Pretty good! It not only smells like fall, it tastes like fall. The apple cider was a good idea to go with it.

(Oh and that random white table in the middle of the kitchen that wasn't there during my kitchen tour? We moved it in after I was done taking pictures. In reminiscing about my first kitchen, I mentioned to Zach how I really missed having an island. We'd just gotten a bigger dining room table from his parents, so we'd put our old one to the side. Zach suggested moving it in just to see what an island would be like there.)

Bonus quotes from the episode:
Liz: Look, if you're here because you want to give me more unsolicited advice about my case –
Red: Tempting as that may be, I'm here to speak to Agent Mojtabai.
Aram: Oh. (chuckles) No one ever calls me that.

Last night, when I told Zach what the prompt was for today, his teasing response was, "See, it's a good thing I'm not vegan; what would you have done if I were?" And I responded, "I would have shared something with Buttons." (And then I saw Emil's post this morning, hehe.) Even though Zach's not vegan, he's found some vegan alternatives to things he likes. (For example, he now uses So Delicious coconut creamer for his coffee, and coconut milk for his cereal.) And he does try some of the things I make; the lemon chiffon cake from last week got very positive reviews ("it's lemony" and "mmm," lol!) & he had several slices in the days after I made it. That was one recipe I knew I'd make again for myself, but now that I know Zach likes it, I have all the more reason to make it again!

It was cold this morning, so I opened up the blinds to let in the sunshine; Leela was drawn to it immediately. 

Buttons, meanwhile, perched in her favorite spot on top of the love seat to observe the goings-on outside.

Peace. :)

Kitchen Tour

Hello everyone! Today's prompt is "It's kitchen tour time!" So, without further ado, let's begin our tour...

Here's looking into the kitchen from the dining room.

Fridge. (Note the step-stool leaned against it, for short people like me. And the red plastic cup and piece of cardboard, that's our bug-catcher so we can move insects outside.)

My plants on top of the microwave on top of the dishwasher (which more often serves as a drying rack since I prefer to hand-wash dishes). Bread machine next to microwave. Pretty flower arrangement from Alena (I keep it there because Buttons would knock it down if it were on the table).

Cabinets, counter space, toaster, compost container, utensils, Zach's coffee area, sink.

Oven, which had the heating element replaced after it blew out, complete with sparks, while it was preheating. That was a scare, lol.

Little cupboard with teas, spices, etc.. :)

Behind the door.

Trash, recyclables, back door, cute little seat.

Breakfast nook. (That's Buttons' food area on the floor; Leela prefers to eat upstairs.) In the corner is a spider plant from Zach's granddad.

Shelf (ignore anything non-vegan; it's either Zach's or the cats', lol).

Freezer & fridge.

Dorky pic of me when I was little; my mom put it on the fridge and told me I should keep it up, lol.

My mom also mails me comic strips; this one she noted as being Buttons.

Favorite. :)

And of course, a pic of Mystery.

Inside low cabinets.

Up top (I can't reach the highest shelves without a step-ladder, so they are mostly empty, lol).

Cabinet above coffee area.

Me, happy in my kitchen. :)

Zach, a cute grump who has not yet had his coffee.

Buttons decided to get in on the action, too.

Double bonus... here are pics of past kitchens...

Our last kitchen was super small...

Before that, we had an OK kitchen; I loved the cupboard in the back.

Before that, our kitchen was nice but could get a bit cramped; the view outside was lovely, though.

But our first kitchen will probably always be my favorite. It was big and obnoxiously bright; it had beautiful old windows and an island; it served as a kitchen, living room, and workspace; and it was my first kitchen as a vegan, my first kitchen in my first apartment, the first kitchen I did MoFo in (2010). Lots of happy memories. :)

And of course, what would a Vegan MoFo post be without food?! So, here was my quick lunch before I went to visit the shelter kitties... 

And here was my easy dinner of leftovers I had when I got back...

Last but not least, here are three Leela pics to end today's post... 

Peace. :)

Apple-Bacon-Chocolate English Muffin

Hello everyone! I have to admit, today's prompt – "Tell us about a weird food combo that you love" – made me a bit nervous. I couldn't think of any weird food combos off the top of my head, at least, not any I knew I would love. I'm generally not very adventurous with odd food pairings; I like to stick to tried & true foods that go well together. So, I decided to view this prompt as an experiment, the key ingredients being tempeh bacon (to use up what I had left from Tuesday's post) and chocolate chips.

Of the three experiments I conducted throughout this week, the one that turned out best was my lunch today, the Apple-Bacon-Chocolate English muffin. I baked my last three slices of tempeh bacon with five apple slices and then layered them (with melted chocolate) inside an English muffin. Is it the most adventurous weird food combo? No, certainly not. But was it one I could actually eat? Yes. Most importantly, I enjoyed it and can even see myself making it again.

Interested in seeing the other two experiments?

The idea for the first one came from the Easy Apple Nachos I'd tried recently. It turned out alright but was rather messy, and I couldn't finish the last bit of pepper; my stomach felt too weird, and I was not going to risk it, lol!

(Tempeh bacon pieces & chocolate chips baked in halves of an orange bell pepper, with peanut butter drizzled on top.)

The second experiment became the basis for today's successful weird food combo. I cooked four slices of tempeh bacon and had them on an English muffin with melted chocolate. Simple but something was still missing; as you know, I discovered today that that something was apple slices. 

Anyone else do food experiments for today's prompt? How did they turn out for you?

Here are some goofy pictures of Buttons and Leela; first up is Buttons all sprawled out...

And here's Leela getting scritchies from Zach...

Peace. :)