What's cookin', good lookin'!?

Already I've been neglecting my new blog and I apologize for that. Even though I'm sure I'm the only one actually reading it.

So, a couple weekends ago I still had a pile of zucchinis to cook up and this time I went for the chocolate zucchini cupcakes and a veggie tvp chili with lots of zukes! Both were a smash hit! As with most of my cupcakes, I LOVE putting a tasty surprise on the bottom or in the middle for extra sweet happiness. This time it was OREOS! My fave for the suprise base of any flavor cupcake. I highly recommend it. The chili was SO very easy! I just kept a basic veggie chili recipe on hand to glance at and winged it for the most part. Using up a bunch of zucchini, of course, and throwing in some textured vegetable protein (tvp) for that 'meaty' goodness and well... protein! I loved this chili! Chili is such a great recipe to make up as you go. With a few basic main techniques/ingredients, it's pretty much a free for all! We enjoyed this chili for several days with some of my fresh from the bread maker oat bread. YUM!

It was the long weekend last weekend and I had lots of alone time which I, of course, spent mostly in the kitchen baking and silk screening. Here's what I came up with in the baking department! On Saturday on my way home from the fabric store I stopped at a fresh fruit and veggie market in St. Boniface not far from our house. Or so I thought! Turns out it's pretty far when you're walking in 26 degree heat in the sun for thirty minutes weighed down with about 20 pound of fabric and another 15 pounds of fruit and veggies. AAAAAAAnyway, I loaded up on some beautiful Ontario peaches, local blueberries, raspberries and strawberries along with some yummy veggies. My first recipe was for vanilla cupcakes that were screaming for those fresh peaches and strawberries. Seriously, I could've sat down and eaten the whole dozen in one sitting. And to make them even more awesome, I whipped up a wee bit of icing with some icing sugar, vanilla extract, a bit of vanilla soy milk and some margarine, slathered it on and topped it off with some Skor bits. AAAAAAAWESOME! I was in heaven, let me tell you.
Next was a very new project for me. My good friend has a huge crapapple tree in her back yard and was sweet enough to share a grocery bag full of them with me. I had NO idea what I was gonna bake with them. After some googling I decided on Crabapple Spiced Jelly! It seemed straight forward enough, though time consuming. Lucky for me I had time! First I trimmed off the ends of each apple, then I boiled them in a huge pot with just enough water to cover them for about 30 minutes. After this I used my cheesecloth for the first time and let as much juice drain out as I could. Back in the pot the juice went! This is where it gets tricky. Well, at least for me it did. I didn't want to use gelatin and most recipes I found online said that crabapples have enough pectin in them naturally to have them jelly up on their own with a schwack of sugar. I try, where I can, to cut back on sugar in all my recipes but soon learned that in jelly making, cutting back will really effect the end result. As in, it won't jell. It got pretty syrupy eventually after boiling it several times. I ended up throwing in some pectin which helped a bit but needless to say, I've got three jars of delicious crapapple syrup! Perfect on pancakes, ice cream, fresh fruit or whatever! I really like it even though it didn't turn out how I planned. Definately a learning experience. Next time, I'll use the full sugar amount and the full box of pectin and I'm sure it'll turn out much more jellified!
Next were the cookies! I tried out a recipe from my How it all Vegan cookbook which I love! Cootie's Coconut Cookies was on the menu! They turned out huge and delicious, as expected! They were a huge hit at the kids' household. As does anything with chocolate chips. So, that sums up most of my kitchen adventures in the past couple weeks. This weekend I hope to bake up some vegan treats for my first ever Sew Dandee Clothing Swap at my store. I hope it goes well! If anything, they'll be well fed! Now, what to bake for them!?! Hmmmmmmmmmm......

Zuke Recipes Were A Hit!

Well, all three of the recipes I made over the weekend were a huge hit with my man, Mac and my brother and his whole family. Now what to make with the next batch of those phallic veggies?! If you've got some kick ass vegetarian or vegan recipes using zukes, post them here! If I try them out I'll be sure to post pics.

As per usual Sunday ritual, I made us a yummy sweet breakfast over the weekend. This time I tried the Oh Canada Pancake and Waffle Mix from Shoal Lake Wild Rice Ltd. I found the mix at a great little community centre farmers market a week ago. Every bit of the mix was made right here in Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan! AWESOME! It was tasty but I have to be honest, not as super delicious as I was anticipating. I added some fresh blueberries and cut up some banana on top which is my fave on pancakes. I though they were good but...... not the best. I'm still partial to my eggless pancakes using banana, some oats, organic whole wheat flour, some ground flax seed, cinnamon and nutmeg and some nuts and/or fruit for good measure. As a matter of fact, I plan to whip some up this weekend!

One Zuke Down. WAY More To Go.

Well, I managed to use up one of the massive zukes today in 3 delicious recipes! Since it was SO enormous, I shredded it up and made it less of a focus ingredient. First was the Carribean Zucchini Muffins. Originally, the recipe was for zucchini bread but I'm more likely to eat them in muffin form. I can freeze them and take a couple for lunch to work everyday. Now, this recipe I found online at All Recipes like a lot of the recipes I use. Here is the link. They're an awesome resourse so be sure to check them out if you haven't already.
I threw in some extra coconut so I could empty the bag I had and some chocolate chips for good measure. You'll quickly notice chocolate chips find they're way into a lot of my recipes. I have an addiction. I'm not afraid to admit it.
This recipe made a BUTT LOAD of muffins! It made a whopping 24 muffins so needless to say, my brother and his family are getting a good pile of them. Since the recipe called for baking them in loaf pans I had to adjust the cooking time. It took a couple toothpick checks but I ended up cooking them for about 30 minutes. I tried my best to time it so I could always have something in the oven and not waste energy if I could. For the most part, my plan worked. Next, I made the Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies! YUM! This recipe I followed to a tee and they turned out great! I did, however, have to extend the baking time by about 8 minutes. This could've been because I had other items baking in the oven with them at the same time. But again, another big batch! I didn't count them all but I'd say about 24 cookies from this recipe. Again, another online find here. Lastly, I made Baked Zucchini Quiche. My first quiche EVER! Lucky for me it didn't call for a homemade crust. I was already wiped out from the three hours of yard work. I didn't have the energy or skill to grind out a pie crust, too! Who am I, frickin Julia Child!? Anyway, I threw a few extra goodies in with this recipe too. Some feta, mozza and cheddar cheese, button mushrooms, a green pepper from my garden and some fresh dill, oregano and basil again right from my own backyard. How cool is that, right? I'm loving going just a few feet from my back door to do my grocery shopping!



This recipe was super easy and I'll certainly make it again.

Just mix everything in one big bowl and dump in a lasagna dish! Easy peasy lemon squeezie!

Happy Eating!

After Pictures.....

Here is my herb garden today! I've got basil, a couple kinds of oregano, pineapple sage that smells like heaven, a couple kinds of lavendar, chocolate mint which spreads like awesome wild fire, stevia (which I'm looking forward to try baking with) and a little Tiny Tim tomato plant! I've been harvesting all of the herbs like mad and am LOVING cooking with them. You can tell I'm a first time home gardener. I'm rather gitty about seeing things grow for the first time.






And here are my veggies! I'm so proud they've mostly turned out awesome! Most I planted from a starter plant but a few like the smaller zucchini plants on the corners and the dill I did from seed and would plant them from seed again for sure. They were easy peasy to grow.
The peppers have taken a long time to start growing even from an existing plant but now I've been able to harvest some to chuck in my dinner when I get home. I'm anxious for my cayenne and banana peppers to fully mature and change color so I can get them into my kitchen. The celery is getting close to ready, too! At the end I've got my raspberry bush just starting out. I can't wait for it to over-run the fence. And the spaghetti squash!! SOOOO pumped for them to get huge. Again, that's what she said. Stay tuned for my weekend cooking and baking projects! Happy eating!

Before Pictures.....

Here are a few shots of my very first garden in my very first house with my very first 'husband' (hopefully my last husband)! This is when I'd only planted some peppers and lettuce and a few herbs back in May. The boys did a fine job tearing the heck outta the lawn to make my garden area. Today it's bursting at the seams! I'll take some shots of it this weekend to show you the fruits and vegetables of my labor!

Time To Get This Food Party Started!

I hope to do some hard core baking and cooking this weekend so hopefully I'll get some good action shots that will get your taste buds flowing! Zucchini is on the menu seeing as they have taken over my garden in a HUGELY phallic manner! They're SO BIG! (That's what she said.)