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.

Marla's

We recently went to Marla's and it was to die for. They have awesome options for meat eaters and non-meat eaters alike. The place is small and welcoming,without any fuss just great food.

The portions are also huge so everyone got to go home with leftovers!

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.

Findings this Week

Mexican pastries!

 Fun spot for a silly black and white photo shoot!

Tracy's

 

Our latest venture into new restaurants landed us at Tracy's Saloon and Eatery. And it was delicious. There were nachos that tater tots instead of chips, veggie burgers, vanilla malts, and really fun music, which every generation at the table knew.

Victor's Cafe

This month's restaurant was Victor's Cafe. There was a wait even on a snowy Sunday afternoon, but it was a fun place to wait. With standing room only and walls covered in writing, we had a never ending supply of conversation and things to look at. The food was great, (Cuban food is so good!) and really everything was lovely, I would highly recommend going.

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. 

Foxy Falafel

We went out for an early lunch to Foxy Falafel, over a month ago and it was amazing. We highly recommended going to try, really anything on the menu. Plus it is featured in some of the central corridor advertising, supporting local business and public transportation, got to love it.

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. 

Making Monday: Potatoes!!

We planted the potato plants in a little garden we made in our backyard.

Yellow Like Sunshine?

New co-op finds: pear and pineapple tidbities addictions.

Making Monday: Potatoes!

We are all surprised how well our potato attempt is going. Not sure where to plant them, but they are growing.

Final Vegan Adventures

The Donut Co-Op where we ate vegan donuts.

Modern Times where we ate vegan sandwiches.

Thoughts on Veganism

Monster:
1. Misses turkey sandwiches
2. Misses cheese
3. Misses being able to order normal things from most restaurants
4. Despite these things, has noticed that most foods taste better

Infinite:
1. Misses cheese
2. Has also noticed that most food tastes better
3. Misses cheese
4. Will most likely end up being a halfway vegan

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.

Veganism Take Two

We have embarked on Vegan month take two. We have been vegan for 14 days. Above is a photo of a pizza luce pizza that has half soy free vegan cheese, and the other has rinotta, which is a vegan house specialty. Split in half the other direction has one half of fresh veggies, all of which was very tasty. The vegan thing has been much harder to transition into so far, then vegetarianism. A positive thing that has come out of all this has been that certain food tastes even better then it did before, a little food for thought as vegan moth continues.