Another Baking Adventure

Once again, we went on a baking adventure. This time, however, I took pictures not only after the event, but during the fun, as well!Step One: Make Cupcakes.

I made plain 'ole chocolate vegan cupcakes. Boogie helped me a lot. We topped them with buttercream frosting slightly flavored with coffee. I wish there were more coffee flavor in the frosting, but they taste fantastic regardless!



Step Two: Make Frosting.
The vegan buttercream frosting is made by creaming together Earth Balance Buttery Spread and Vegan Shortening - both of which I purchased at Whole Foods in Nashville. Then you add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and soymilk until you have the right consistency. We substituted coffee for soymilk today.




Step Three: Ice the Cupcakes

I bought a set of disposable pastry bags at Hobby Lobby. I also bought one pastry tip and the little gadget that holds it on (I can't remember what it's called...). The piping is great fun! You can see what a great time Boogie is having! Haha
Step Four: Spread icing on little sister's face while she has her hands full.



Step Five: Eat Icing (Watch out with this one, because your sister might seek revenge while your hands are full of icing and the camera.)

I love that I snapped a picture with her finger on my face...
See? She got me!

P.S. Did I mention I'm a Phi Mu? Well, now you know.



This is happiness.

This is summer.

This is me with icing on my face.

And my Disney hat on.

I love this.








Wish you were here to eat them with us! Have a great night, folks!

Food! Food! Food!

Well, I finally did it! I finally went to the farmer's market! It all started - as it so often does - with a recipe...

Okra-and-Corn Maque Choux (Beware, there is no picture of the dish online. The picture in the magazine, however, makes the dish look really good!)

Our local farmer's market is only open on Tuesdays and Saturdays, so I stopped by before work on Saturday. I had very little time to waste and the luxury of browsing will be saved for another day. In a matter of minutes, I located a tent with all the veggies I needed, loaded up a bunch of bags, and paid only $6 for all the delicious fare! I only wish I'd been able to visit and browse.

I still went to Kroger after work to pick up some other things I needed. I bought rice to serve with the Maque Choux, and veggie sausage to substitute in the recipe. I'll let you know how that goes later. I'm planning on making the dish tomorrow or Tuesday... The weekend has been too busy to bother much with cooking.

So far my experiences with veggie versions of meat products have been negative ones. With the exception of Morningstar Spicy Black Bean veggie burgers, I have yet to find a "fake meat" that tastes good. Speaking of Morningstar Spicy Black Bean veggie burgers, I had one yesterday on Ezekiel bread with tomato, avacado, and cheese (and a side of fries). It was the best sandwich I've made at home in months! I toasted the bread first, and it was yummy! And crunchy! And divine! By the way, a friend of mine has a soft spot for hot dogs and texted me after making a trip to her favorite hot dog place in Nashville... She said that they have veggie dogs that are rumored to be very good! I can't wait to try them! The shop is called Hot Diggity Dogs. If you get there and have a veggie dog before me, tell me how it goes!

In other exciting news, it looks like Southern Living has caught on to the cupcake craze! Check it out here. The thing about cupcakes is this... Single serving. Fun size. Each one looks like a whole piece by itself, not like some small part of a larger whole. How can you help but love them? I made peanut butter cupcakes yesterday night. They are moist and crumbly with melted chocolate chips on top. I really like the texture of the recipe and will probably make these again. They're vegan, of course.


New food finds that I'd recommend:

Amy's Kitchen soups and chili. Many are vegan and make for quick, easy meals. Organic section of grocery.
Raphael's Coffee. Coconut coffee with real coconut flakes! I've had it every morning for almost a week and it is fantastic! I'd love to try other flavors and this coffee is a delicious way to treat yourself and support locals.
Ezekiel bread products. Found in the organic section in the freezer, it's a bit rough and rustic at first, but addicting in a good way. Benefits of sprouted grains are explained at their website. P.S. Christian company!
Publix. I will always love Kroger, but Mom and I made a stop at Publix last week and the most amazing thing happened... All of the organic food is........... *drumroll here*.......... mixed into the aisles with the regular food!!! For example, on the baking aisle, there is a section of shelf labeled "Greenwise" with organic versions of all your baking ingredients! Imagine a world where you don't have to split your grocery run into two parts - organic section and regular. Pretty sure Publix is where God does His grocery shopping... Just sayin'.

Thursday is All About Food

Today, I'll make this:

Summer Stir Fry by the Pioneer Woman! I love, love, love her website. I visit it daily for inspiration, laughter and hope. Substituting tofu for the shrimp. Serving it over rice.

And these:


Vegan Mint Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. We have two of the Cookies'n'Cream cupcakes left... Wonder who I can give them to? I bought my first foray into cake decorating yesterday at Hobby Lobby. Just a set of disposable icing bags and the parts that go on the end of it. Hopefully I can post some pictures tonight!

My little brother is at Scout Camp this week, so it's just us women around the house, chit-chatting all day. We went shopping yesterday, met Dad for lunch, and I worked the closing shift at Bruster's Ice Cream. Today the subjects we keep circling around seem to be our favorites: relationships, relationships, relationships! (not just the romantic kind, either).

Another great event has happened this week...
Mom and Dad ate veggie burgers for dinner Tuesday night. Willingly. Of their own accord. No encouragement from me! Boogie ate a regular burger, since she is blood type O and the Blood Type Diet encourages her to eat a whole lot of meat - all the time. Both Mom and Dad are A's like me and the Blood Type Diet says that we should strive to be vegetarians since our bodies and blood respond well to organic, simple vegetables. With time, my family will hopefully switch to organic meat, since I've continually reminded them of the terrible hormones, antibiotics, etc. that are present in non-organic meat. I refuse to be a nag or a bother, however, and mostly let them do what they want. Thankfully, my family has always been interested in doing what is healthy. I told them that I just want us all to live to be really, really old together.

I also washed my hair with vinegar and baking soda today, trying to get all the conditioner and shampoo buildup out. I'd like a fresh start with my hair. Curls can be fussy. NaturallyCurly.com has been such an inspiration to me, and I've been very encouraged to just enjoy my hair for what it is - wild and sexy! More on that later.

POST-DINNER UPDATE:
The stir fry was FANTASTIC! Boogie and I both had second helpings and it is truly worth it to shuck the corn and cut it from the cob, rather than use frozen or canned corn. It just tastes better!

The cupcakes were a little more complicated. Well, they were fine, but the icing was complicated. Perhaps the trouble came from the fact that we used coconut oil instead of shortening. It took almost five cups of powdered sugar, instead of the prescribed three, to get it to piping consistency. Needless to say, it's too sweet. The cupcakes themselves turned out beautifully! I used cake flour instead of plain ole all-purpose. It was a great move! We put the too-sweet mint icing on half of the cupcakes and the leftover cookies'n'cream icing on the rest. Looking forward to more deliciousness this week!