wow…long time no post

So by now most people must think that I dropped off the face of the earth. Not quite…just really trying to finish up the dissertation this year, applying on jobs, all of that fun stuff. Oh, and then throw in triathlon training into the mix. It doesn’t leave me with a whole lot of spare time.

I have been cooking though…I just haven’t been photographing my food and blogging it. For shame. Anyway, I would like to get back into that. So to start things off with a bang, here are some Valentine goodies I made for a local animal shelter that is having a bake sale.

First up, I made these sandwich cookies. I subbed no-sugar added strawberry jam for the raspberry jam originally called for, and used Earth Balance in place of the butter. This dough was pretty rough to work with when rolling out…It would either be too warm (and stick) or too cold (and crack when rolled out). The happy medium was pretty difficult to obtain. I think next time I will just use my standard sugar cookie recipe.

I was a bit worried, as the dough didn’t taste very good (always have to have a nibble at the dough!), but the finished product was actually quite tasty.

Here they are packaged up for the bake sale:

I also made heart sugar cookies, using NoWhey’s recipe. This is my go-to recipe…not too sweet and the perfect combination of crunchy and chewy.

I also made vanilla cupcakes with pink icing. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture before I packaged them up.

I wasn’t sure how to package cupcakes without ruining the icing. A quick Google search gave me an answer: buy plastic cocktail glasses (pretty cheap) to put the cupcake in and then wrap with cellophane. Genius!

Yay 100 Posts!

Well this post marks my official 100th post. A lot has happened in the past 100 posts..including transitioning to veganism from nearly 10 years as a lacto-ovo vegetarian. I really feel like being vegan has made my cooking 100x better…I can’t just throw cheese on something to make it edible (I at least have to go to the trouble of making a nutritional yeast cheesy sauce!). I actually enjoy trying to veganize classic dishes. I’ve even succeeded in having the bf eat vegan a few nights a week…which several months ago would have seemed impossible.

Anyhoo, nostalgia aside, I do have quite a bit of food-related things to share with you. First up, my brunch from yesterday…all from Vegan with a Vengeance:

Herb roasted poatoes, tofu rancheros, and the TVP breakfast chorizo. The chorizo was interesting…when I first tasted it I thoguht, “ew!” But by the 4th bite I couldn’t get enough of it and went back for seconds. Definitely something I would make again. Especially considering as I’m always trying to force myself to cook with TVP more…not that I don’t like it, I just never think of using it. Here’s a close-up of the tofu rancheros:

Yesterday evening we had a few friends over to play some board games. It’s a pretty fun and inexpensive way to spend a Saturday night, so why not? I enjoy it because I get to make snacks for people…last night was particularly nice seeing as how there were 3 boys so everything actually was eaten. First up, the infamous Fauxtess Cupcakes from Vegan with a Vengeance. I’ve been meaning to make these babies for awhile now.

I didn’t have any soymilk powder on hand, or maple syrup. So the filling on the inside is just regular vanilla buttercream, and the ganache on top is just soymilk and semisweet chocolate…mmmm. These went over extremely well. I managed to snag one, well the boys I think had 3 each. Here’s the money shot of the filling:

I also made a batch of tamari roasted chickpeas from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan…because they’re delicious and nutritious.

Finally, I made a black bean dip to serve with tortilla chips. Everyone seemed to really enjoy this…I thought I made way too much, but by the end of the evening there was nothing left in the bowl! I based it on this recipe for taco filling, but made it more “dip-ish” if you will.
Black Bean Dip
-15 oz black beans, partially mashed
-cooking spray
-1/2 onion, diced
-1 clove garlic, minced
-1/4 c. red bell pepper, diced
-1 tbsp. cornmeal
-2 tsp. cumin
-1 tsp. paprika
-1/2 tsp. cayenne
-1 tbsp. chili powder
-3/4 c. salsa
-a couple dashes hot sauce (optional)

Spray skillet and heat over medium heat. Saute onions until tender. Add garlic and red pepper and saute a few minutes more, until pepper is tender. Add the black beans. Stir in the cornmeal, cumin, paprika, cayenne, chili powder, salsa, and hot sauce (if using). Cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently. If more heat is desired, add additional hot sauce.