Making Monday: Simple Bread

 

We recently got "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" and it is amazing. The basic premise is beautiful homemade bread with as little time spent as possible. We have been making loaf after loaf, it is so addicting. One of the best features is that you as suppose to make big batches of dough, refrigerate them and bake them when you're ready anytime in the next week.

 

Everything has also been delicious on top of the bread as well, our favorites have been fake butter, our very own jelly, and honey from the farmer's market.

Making Monday: First Jelly/Jam!

 We recently tried our hands at making jelly/jam. We went with what there is the most of at our Farmer's Market, and so blueberry/raspberry jam it was!

 We used the recipe from The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila, but we halved it because we really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. So we ended up with 3 perfectly filled jars.

 They all sealed within half an hour of taking them out of the canning pot, and look gorgeous.

 

And taste AMAZING! I may have a little bias, but I took my first bite and declared it the best ever.

 

Making Monday: Chocolate Cake with Raseberries

With summer slipping away, it is time to blog again and time for a cake! I used a the simple Chocolate Cake recipe from Betty Crocker. I only made a few adjustments starting with cutting the recipe in half, I also used Earth Balance for butter and applesauce for eggs. As a final touch I garnished with raspberries from the Farmer's Market.

Making Monday: Pizza

We jumped right in with both feet to homemade pizza. After having a variety of prior experiences with eating other people's homemade pizzas, we were extremely happy with our end product, plus we got an extra one out of the deal that we stuck in the freezer for later! We used the pizza dough recipe out of "The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making" by Alana Chernila. We highly recommend this recipe but also the book as a whole is fabulous.

Making Monday: Savory Vegan Pies

1. Make vegan pie crust (use vegan butter or vegetable shortening instead of lard or butter). 
2. Cut into shapes using cookie cutter.
3. In olive oil, fry up some tasty vegan apple sage sausage and kale.
4. Pile vegan sausage and kale onto pie crust. 
5. Top with another pie crust shape and bake.
6. Eat tasty, tasty, tasty savory vegan pies.

Making Monday: Blueberry Soda

We made blueberry soda by boiling blueberries in water, then blending, adding sugar and lemon juice, and reducing.  We added it to fizzy water and the result is quite tasty.

Bread!

I have totally fallen in love with this bread recipe. The only thing I do differently, is vegan butter alternative instead of butter. I have also found that when I braid the dough and bake it that way I can just pull chunks off and eat it as straight bread. I would highly recommend at least giving it a try, though highly time consuming, it is totally worth it.  

PIE!

Some days you just need some pie. 

Making Monday: Pie Crust Cookies

Use cookie cutters on remaining pie dough.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.  Place next to the pie in the oven until golden brown (around 8 minutes).

Making Monday: Vegan Chocolate Pudding

In blender place one package of firm tofu, one tablespoon vanilla extract, 1/4 cup milk product (Infinite used almond milk), and 1 1/2 cups melted semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Blend until tasty.  Let chill in fridge for at least one hour.  Eat it all up.  Add vegan chocolate and creme sandwich cookies if desired. 

Thankful

We are thankful for good food, homemade gifts, and breaks that we can fill with action.

Pretzel Fail

We tried making vegan chocolate covered pretzels, and failed pretty epically. The theory is that we let them cool for too long and they got stale that way, but we really don't know how they ended up so stale. If anyone has any suggestions we are all ears.

Making Monday: CAKE!

We made a very simple yellow cake this weekend, with vanilla frosting. It was so simple that I managed to make at least one mistake in almost every step. The real kicker of the mess ups was adding 3.5 tbsp of powdered sugar instead of 3.5 tsp of baking powder. All mistakes where caught and the cake ended quite well, with a celebratory decoration, reminding us that we are, in fact, functioning people. Hurray for cake, celebrations, and fixed mistakes.

The Vegan Adventure Part 1

We have decided to commit to one month of being vegan, and February is the lucky month. We have been starting to slowly take out eggs, butter and milk, to prep ourselves. The hardest thing to cut out will be cheese, no more twice baked potatoes, grilled cheese sandwiches, or tacos with cheese. The hunt is now on for good vegan recipes, and restaurants that are vegan friendly, so if you have suggestions let us know!

Mini Pies

We made mini chocolate and berry pies over the weekend. We used the Betty Crocker pie crust recipe and modified the mixed berry pie filling recipe, so that our little mugs could hold all the filling. They were super tasty, and if you warm them up just a tiny bit before eating, the chocolate gets melty, making the whole thing even tastier.

We also made chocolate mousse out of the Betty Crocker Cookbook and it was amazing, the pictures were not though.

Blueberry Patsries

We wanted to make blueberry cream cheese danish. We combined these recipes (one, two). They are quite tasty.

Vegan Chickin' Pot Pie

We used the Betty Crocker Cook Book to make chicken pot pie and substituted everything meaty for non-meaty things; vegan buttery spread for butter, almond milk for milk, vegetable broth for chicken broth, and Morning Star chicken for chicken. Result...quite good.

Lemon Bars

These lemon bars were made from a fancy dessert cook book from the Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. They ended up a little bit wobbly, and very tasty.

Making Monday: Honey Wheat Bread Braid

We made honey wheat bread from our Betty Crocker Cook Book. We only have one bread pan and so decided to braid the second loaf. It worked quite well, in our opinion.

No Buy Winter Gifts

No buy year means even more homemade gifts than usual.

A picture book, written and illustrated by us.
Recipe book with our favorites.
Notes for coworkers.
Chocolate chip cookies as well.