Saturday eats.

Today Eric and I went to Wayward Vegan Cafe for some lunch!

We decided that we needed more food so we drove down to the market.

The market was super busy today! It was also super cloudy and very “Seattle” today.

And this is was the reason for going to the market…vegan cinnamon rolls. Look how big that thing is!

Outside of the market I spotted this lamp. Hang on sir!

There’s a gum wall near the market. Hey cute little raccoon!

Pretty sick, no?

When we came home this afternoon I decided to bake some chocolate chip banana bread…since I didn’t eat enough sweets today!…and I made some tea. I bought a vintage tea kettle yesterday at the thrift store. Super cute!

And the finished chocolate chip banana bread! This actually doesn’t taste very banana…y. Happy Saturday! What did you do today?

Vegan Butterscotch Krimpet Cake!

As promised…I made Eric a cake for helping me put that elliptical machine together! The recipe for the icing called for some butterscotch sauce. They so kindly provided a recipe for that too! The butterscotch is awesome! As it cooled it thickened to a consistency of a sauce you put on ice cream or that chocolates are filled with. It also really really tastes like butterscotch! This was such a good find AND it’s easy to make!

The cake is pretty much a normal cake. There is quite a bit of butter in it. The recipe also called for some salt, which I think I will leave out next time I make this. The cake was just a little too salty.

Mix that icing! There’s my first squash of the season too!

This was overall a success! The butterscotch sauce I think was the shining element of the whole recipe!

 

 

 

Tonight I told Eric I was bored…

I went into the kitchen…

And then this happened…

I can’t be held responsible for my actions!! I warned him!

I also shopped for blonde Kurt Cobain wigs tonight. But that’s a story for another day now isn’t it?

Happy Birthday Dear Eric!

Today is Eric’s Birthday! I made him a goofy card.

I gave this to Eric this morning. It was a hint for a Birthday gift. Bruce Springsteen is playing in Portland, OR in the fall and I bought tickets for us to see him play! Eric is a huge Bruce fan!

I also made a Mega-cake for the Birthday boy. Chocolate cake, peanut butter icing and chocolate ganache on top!

Pipe it!

Three layers!

Eric wanted to pick up this record on Record Store Day a few months ago. The fellows in front of us snagged all of them! He was kind of bummed about it, but I surprised him and bought him a sealed copy online! Yay records! Yay Birthday! Yay Eric!

The mid-week bake!

Tonight I was in the mood to bake. I tried two new recipes! First I made raw, vegan, soy-free and gluten-free lime cakes. And right after that I made a chocolate chip loaf with chocolate glaze. The raw lime cakes were more for me and the chocolate chip loaf was more for Eric. He didn’t try the lime cakes, but I did try the loaf!

The recipe for the chocolate chip loaf called for sour cream. I didn’t want to use sour cream so I replaced the 1/4 cup sour cream with 1/4 cup vanilla almond yogurt and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda! It worked out just fine!

Crust for the raw lime cakes.

And the filling for the lime cakes!

Chocolate chip cake and chocolate glaze.

Lime cakes!

Working with baked goods around a curious kitten is rather difficult. Juniper had a very hard time keeping her paws off the table!

Cake with glaze!

I’ve been mopey off and on the past few weeks. It’s super hard for me to meet people out here and I do miss my friends who all live in different states. Sometimes I feel like I’m just about to hit it off with someone and then the powers that be say “uh uh…oh hell no!”

I was watching the show “Rev.” tonight. The show is about a Church of England priest in London. It’s a fun show that you should check out! Tonight Adam, the priest, was dealing with his lack of friends. Adam said something that basically sums up the way I’ve been feeling….”Where’s my piece of bread? Who’s going to offer me a whole meal bloomer with the lightest sprinkling of sunflower seeds on top?”

Weekends are the best.

Today has been relaxing and productive.  We woke up and went to the grocery store, made food, cleaned the kitchen, I cleaned my office!, bought a few things for the house AND we made cupcakes.

I was looking out the kitchen window this morning and I saw these lovely flowers! I didn’t even know they were planted beside the house.

My tea plant has been sprouting new leaves like crazy the passed few weeks. I think there’s some sort of vine or branch popping out on the top of the plant.

Juniper is spoiled. She was napping in the sun today and then Eric brushed her. She kindly flipped over so he could brush her other side. She thanked him with a little kitty kiss.

I made chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing this afternoon too! I love Saturdays!

Vegan Food Swap!

During the month of May I participated in a Vegan Food Swap.  I first read about the swap via Vegan Yack Attack.  I decided it would be fun to join in the vegan sharing!

Everyone who signed up for the swap was given the name and email address of someone to send a vegan swap package to.  A different person was assigned to send you some goods.  You can read more about the swap rules here.

I sent my package to Ashley of Season of the Vegan.  The package I received was from Cheryl  of Stuff You’ll Love.  Oddly enough Cheryl is from the east coast, she screen prints and she’s from Seattle!  That’s a girl after my own heart!

My package from Cheryl was awesome!  Eric even got in on the awesome action.

My box of goods! There were crackers, craisins, Biscoff cookies, pins, stickers, seaweed snacks, tea, and my favorite…the brownie mix!

There was also this booklet with blank pages to write on inside. I loved the printing on the back…”Painstakingly hand-printed in Seattle, Washington.”

The brownies were by far the best brownies I’ve had since going vegan! I’ve tried a few different mixes and recipes and nothing really hit the spot. These little devils get the job done! They are pretty low in fat too!

I’m super happy I participated in the Vegan Food Swap and I can’t wait to do it again next month!  Oh, and happy 600th blog post to me!

Layer cake Friday!

Eric and I walked in the sunshine to the Co-op today to buy some ingredients to make a layer cake.

 

The blooming trees are just gorgeous now! And look at that sky! I swear it doesn't rain all the time here!

 

Let the cake making begin.

 

Oh what a fancy apron!

 

This was my cooling rack system. Not the prettiest setup in the world, but it worked.

 

Between the layers we put peanut butter icing.

 

Eric left me a secret message in this layer.

 

The outside of the cake was frosted with chocolate icing.

 

!!!

 

I had some leftover icing so I did a little piping. More sugar!!

 

She's not a beauty, but hey...she's alright.

 

Pipe it pipe it pipe it.

 

Round and around.

 

Oh and there was leftover peanut butter icing too.

 

And here's the finished product! A bad baby kitty was being a bad baby kitty.

 

Happy vegan!

 

Get cutting!

 

Lovely layers!

 

Happy vegan layer cake Friday!

 

 

Valentine’s Day- There’s nothing I regret.

I love my kitten.

 

Chocolate cookies with peanut butter inside of them are love.

 

We find ourselves in cars quite often. I love it and him.

 

I find myself being rather inappropriate from time to time. More often than you know perhaps. This was a card I gave to Eric for Valentine's Day. I once read on a blog that the author would determine what she could and could not write about on her blog by only writing about things she could talk to her sister about. I don't think ya'll want to hear what I talk to my sister about. That might be a little more than you bargained for. But this?...They're just bears with nipples. We all have nipples.

 

 

My first attempt at making kale chips!

I wanted to try this fun recipe for kale chips today!!  Here’s what happened…

The recipe was pretty simple with only a few ingredients. I had to soak the cashews for two hours.

 

I used red kale, green bell pepper, lemon juice, salt and nutritional yeast!

 

I laid the kale on a clean towel to dry it before coating them in the fun mixture.

 

I blended all of the ingredients together (minus the kale). I added a few drops of water as well because my little blender couldn't handle this mixture.

 

Then I poured the mixture over the kale and mixed it by hand.

 

Here's the kale before putting it in the oven.

 

And now I have kale chips!!

 

Look at all of that cashewy and nutritional yeasty goodness!! I approve of these! The baked kale tastes like broccoli and asparagus had a baby! A delicious baby indeed!