there will be s’mores

When my sister and I went vegetarian about four or so years ago, there was really only one thing we found ourselves longing for. When we were kids, our favourite after school snack was the S’more. Not a very labour intensive method was used, we just placed a marshmallow on a graham cracker, threw some chocolate chips on top and nuked in the microwave for a few seconds then-the best part-smooshing the melty chocolate and puffy marshmallow with another graham cracker.

Enter Sweet & Sara. The genius company behind the vegan marshmallow. I recently placed an order on vegan essentials and yesterday a box arrived for my at doorstep. These are what were nestled inside:

I was reallllly excited to try these and they did not disappoint, these were better than any marshmallow I’ve ever had in my life. These are some gourmet marshmallows, fluffy with a delectable hints of vanilla (and not that cheap vanilla taste. The good kind). I was a bit sceptical that these would not hold up for a s’more though…would they puff like a marshmallow should? Or would they fail miserably as so many vegan cheeses do? My province currently has a ban on any open fire (it’s really dry here, my neighbour’s well ran dry the other day) so I had to pass on any attempt to recreate the authentic campfire treat and take the microwave route. No matter, the s’more I made was just as I remembered, with gooey melty chocolate and marshmallow nestled between crunchy homemade graham crackers.

Sweet & Sara offer there own take on the vegan s’more which I ordered along with my marshmallows to sample.

I tried the Peanut Butter S’more and it was really good. It reminded more of a moon pie (or whatever they’re called) rather than a s’more though and I don’t know if I’d purchase one again. I prefer my homemade s’mores, they’re a lot cheaper to make too!  All in all, I love these products and am kind wishing I had have splurged on the Coconut variety they also offer but oh well, I think that my summer is kind complete anyway with my vegan vanilla marshmallows.

 

Quiche!

I have never had a quiche before. From my knowledge of it, I know it’s some traditional egg pie thing that’s often served at brunch. Yeah. So after becoming vegan, I had no desire to make a vegan version. But when Isa posted about her recent potluck experience, sharing a photo of this delicious looking Classic Broccoli Quiche, I decided I had to give this quiche thing a try.

Using Celine’s super awesome Pie Crust recipe (I used Whole Wheat Pastry flour and it turned out wonderful), I whipped this up yesterday afternoon to have for supper (I don’t really do savoury in the morning). It tasted delicious with its creamy texture and its delectable aroma. It also made a wonderful lunch today at room temperature, the flavours really shone through after they had more time to settle in.

So I am now a Quiche convert, and can’t wait to give this recipe another try with an array of variations (smoked tofu perhaps? mushrooms? fresh herbs?).

 

The Garden 2008 Post!

I owe you all a major update, don’t I?  I know I promised that I would be updating frequently once my vacation started but lo and behold two months have already went by since I’ve been off and the number of posts haven’t really increased…sorry!  I’ll make it up to you by showing you photos of what I’ve been up to lately.

Garden of 2008!

This year I didn’t let the fact that our backyard may soon become a renovation site discourage me from gardening.  I instead decided to try my hands at container gardening and so far the results have been promising.

This is my Arugula plant, it’s been growing quite well. I’m not sure if I even like arugula. I tend to do that when picking up seeds or seedlings at the garden centre, buy plants that I’ve never tried before, it’s probably not the most intelligent thing to do but whatever, it’s pretty and green. I do know that once this plant has reached its picking stage, it will be going into the Pasta Della California from Veganomicon.

This is another plant I wasn’t sure about but once I gave it a whiff, I knew I had to grab it. Chocolate Mint! It smells like a Peppermint Patty (although some will argue with you and claim it smells like licorice but they’re wrong) and I’ve heard it makes a wonderful tea. I also plan to make a sea-salt-body scrub thing with it (look at me thinking ahead and being all practical).

This is the one plant that I am not growing in a container, my Lemon Balm plant. Or should I say one of many lemon balm plants. I bought a tiny lemon balm years ago and despite the fact I neglect, shun and ignore it, this plant is everywhere in my yard. There are so many of these things and the most pathetic thing about its population surge? I’ve never used it for anything. Not once. Maybe I’ll try it brewed as a herbal tea this summer. If anyone has any ideas for its use, let me know!

These are the only plants I started from seed weeks ago that sprouted. Spring Onions. Actually, that’s a lie, my chives also sprouted, I just didn’t take a photo of them because they look the same as Spring Onions do. They’re a little bit bigger now and growing in a bigger container.

This is my Tomato Plant. I used to grow tomatoes years ago and every fall I’d have bags and bags of green/yellow/red tomatoes that I’d be pawning off on my neighbours (I don’t think they minded). I only have one plant this year so I don’t think I’ll have that large of a surplus but I’m excited to have fresh tomatoes again.

Ok, on to the flowers!

Lilac! We actually had two lilac trees but Benji destroyed one. He doesn’t like gardening, he’s afraid of bugs. Why he had to take it out on that poor lilac tree, I’ll never know.

Hanging Basket (can I just pause and say how much I love this hanging basket? It’s so pretty, sure beats those plastic ones all to hell) of Begonias and Myrtles.

I can’t remember what these flowers are but take a look at this urn! I’ve been wanting an urn ever since I saw one in a Martha Stewart Living Autumn issue. I want to put whatever it was that was in it in that issue I saw (corn husks? squash? I can’t remember but whatever it was I remember liking it).

I hope you enjoyed the tour! I hope to expand the garden, every time I go to the garden centre, I don’t leave empty handed. I really want to try growing kale. And beets. Beets look really pretty in a container. And swiss chard…and strawberries…

 

clearly, mini-cakes are where it’s at

I love mini-cakes. Not only are the adorable beyond measure, they’re fun and incredibly simple to make. I’m not the biggest fan of decorating and frosting cakes, I love the idea of decorating cakes but once I break out the pastry bag, my enthusiasm fades. When the cake is smaller, the task of decorating it is not quite as great.

This is the Ginger-Coconut-Macadamia-Carrot Cake from Vegan with a Vengeance made with walnuts instead of the macadamia nuts and sans crystalized ginger as there are some people who are wary of an excess of ginger in this house. To bake this mini-cake, all I did was halve the recipe, and bake the batter four 4-inch round cake pans for 20-25 minutes. Then I frosted and filled it with a buttercream frosting flavoured with coconut extract and I was left with two tiny cakes to enjoy and share (or not).

 

 

Update!

I haven’t updated in awhile, sorry! I haven’t even been that busy, I think it was just a case of blogger’s block or something.

Anyways, what have I been up to lately?

I started a small garden! I planted Spring Onions, Basil, Cilantro, Mint and Chives, all of which, once they sprout, will be housed in pots on my deck (My yard is rather shady so I need them to be able to ‘follow’ the sun). I’ll post photos once they sprout. I’d like to grow some other vegetables aside from the onions, but for now I’m going to see how these turn out.

Speaking of sprouts, know what I’ve been loving lately? Sprouts! I bought a small bag of organic Spring Salad Mix Sprouts at the farmer’s market last weekend and they have been wonderful on my tomato sandwiches.  They’re so good for you too, especially broccoli sprouts which are full of antioxidants.  I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to give sprouts a chance.

I’ve been fighting off a cold this week and Veganomicon’s Creamy Tomato Soup has been ever so nourishing and comforting.  I blogged about it previously here.

Last night, my mother and I ate out at my favourite restaurant here in Halifax (which I’ve blogged about a couple times here before, ha ha). I got the Cajun Tofu dish (my favourite!) which is tofu smothered in a hot cajun style sauce served with brown rice and steamed kale with some sort of delicious sauce. My mother got a slice of Coconut-Cashew-Banana Pie which was so heavenly we got another slice to go, pictured below:

That is all for now, I promise the next post will be sooner than this one was!