Pesto Bread, Blueberry Muffins, Mac & Cheeze Plate

I have been fascinated with bread making ever since I was a kid. Between my Grammie's yeast rolls and biscuits and my Dad's pizza crusts and breads, I have been around good homemade breads my whole life. I mentioned before that my Dad found me a bread machine at a garage sale and I have been a bread machine girl every since. I still love the idea (and practice) of mixing, kneading and forming dough with my own hands, but the bread machine does provide a consistent product. This week I merged the use of my bread machine and my own hands by making a pesto spelt and whole wheat bread. I got the general idea from one of my fellow bloggers, Have Cake, Will Travel! I added both spelt and whole wheat pastry flours with some water, vital wheat gluten, brown sugar, sea salt, pesto and yeast to the bread machine and used the Dough setting. About 2 hours later, after a thorough kneading and long rise, I formed the dough into 4 loaves and baked them in the oven for about 30 minutes until they were golden brown. The bread turned out chewy and full of flavor between the 2 nutty flours and the bright (and mind you, leftover) pesto.
Baking in the oven:

Right out of the oven and cooling:

With steel cut oats becoming a bit boring in the mornings, I decided to make some muffins. With trying to stay in line with my healthier eating, a low fat muffin was in order. So, I turned to the Damn Tasty Vegan Baking Guide and made the Blueberry Streusel Muffins but cut the oil in the recipe with apple sauce. They did indeed taste healthier, but very delicious nonetheless.

Tonight I made one of my favorite things: Mac and Cheeze! I used quinoa shells instead of a traditional white flour pasta. The quinoa pasta wasn't as good as what my palate is use to but I think over time I will eventually get use to non-white pastas. I used the Soul Veg Mac and Cheeze recipe (the one they use at the ATL restaurants) I found online here, which is very naughty but between portion control and using a healthier pasta, I didn't feel as bad eating it. To go with the Mac and Cheeze I roasted some very sweet (and cheap!) asparagus and made a salad with mixed baby spring mix and cherry tomatoes.

very busy weekend in the kitchen

I'm not sure what got over me, but starting Friday and ending a few minutes ago, I spent more time in my kitchen than I have in a very long time. It was an awesome weekend of good eats!
First things first . . . As soon as I saw these Spicy' N Sweet Maple-y Nuts from Bazu's blog, I knew I HAD to make them. These are some of the best spiced nuts I have ever had.
Make these now. Right now.

Here is a beautiful loaf of French bread I made, which has been the BEST batch of bread I have made in my new bread machine. It had the least amount of ingredients and took the most amount of time (5 HOURS!) but it was so worth it.

I cut all the crust sides off and made garlic toast with them and used the non-crust white inside of the bread to make these croutons.

I used the crouton recipe in Veganomicon (pg. 81-82) and also made the Caesar dressing recipe. I was trilled with the croutons and thought the dressing was pretty good but not like Caesar salad dressing. I'd make it again though.
Friday night I made an Asian Noodle Soup. A few weeks back I had made an Asian inspired veggie broth out of onions, carrots, celery, garlic, ginger, black pepper and soy sauce and froze it. I thawed/reheated the broth and in my steamer, steamed cabbage, zucchini and baby bok choy. For the noodles, I used an eggless wonton wrapper, cut into strips, which I found in the frozen section of our local Asian market. I boiled the strips of wontons separately (which only took like a minute), added the cooked noodles to a bowl with the steamed veggies and broth ladled over everything. Topped with green onions, this was very filling and an awesome way to use up extra wonton wrappers.

Saturday, I made the Blueberry Streusel Muffins from the Damn Tasty Vegan Baking Guide. My new favorite thing is using soy yogurt in my baked goods because they lend such a nice sour note that really brings everything together. This time I used a blueberry flavored soy yogurt, which turned the batter purple. These are probably my favorite muffins and they taste great with any fresh or frozen berry.


Today I made one of our old stand by meals . . . the beloved tostadas (although, they look more like nachos). These had blue corn chips, some chipotle pinto beans I blended up, tomatoes, red and green onions, some of my Dad's famous Rex Sauce (sweet & vinegary), sweet Thai chili sauce and some of my homemade guacamole. Jared added some left over cut up romaine lettuce on his. I never get tired of these.

And last but not least . . . my new favorite dinner. Veganomicon's Chickpea Cutlets (pg. 133), garlic mashed potatoes, green beans and soy sausage saw mill gravy (same stuff I pure over my biscuits when we have biscuits and gravy).

berry streusel muffins, grilled wraps

My darling sister Erin and lovely brother-in-law Mike are coming up from Florida for a visit. They are expecting their first baby (the first grandbaby on this side) and wanted a little trip before the baby comes and we are very happy to see them for a day or two before they head further north. My sister, who is normally an omnivore, is a bit turned off by meat these days due to her pregnancy . . . so, this makes cooking and/or eating out a lot easier. Soul Vegetarian, here we come!
Anyways, I always like to make something sweet for all my guests and decided to make muffins for Erin and Mike (and of course Jared and I) to munch on. I used the Blueberry Streusel Muffin recipe from The Damn Tasty! Vegan Baking Guide. Instead of all blueberries, I decided to use a frozen mixture of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries and boy did they rock! The muffin is sweet and moist, with bites of tart and colorful berries bursting in your mouth. Plus, there is a sweet and crunchy crumble on top that matches so well with the texture of the rest of the muffin.
I hope Erin and Mike like them as much as we did.

Last night for dinner, I made simple wraps. I found these really tasty chili tomato flour tortilla wraps made with canola oil vs. partially hydrogenated stuff. I spread homemade hummus on the tortilla along with sliced tomato and a handful of clover sprouts. I heated the wraps in a pan with a touch of cooking spray, which made the tortilla crispy, melted the hummus and heated the veggies up a bit.
These were so tasty, Jared had two!

Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe

Jared and I are still relatively new to Atlanta and spend most of our weekends exploring. This weekend we were driving around in the Inman Park area of Atlanta. I was singing really loud, dancing around in the passenger seat and looking out the window when I saw it . . . the word VEGAN on a store front! I said to Jared, "I think I just saw a vegan store." Jared spotting a parking spot and immediately pulled over. Sure enough we were walking into Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe, this awesomely intimate and adorable all vegan store (duh!).
They had a more than adequate book selection, where I picked up
They also had a great selection of cosmetics, supplements, tons of vegan snacks and loads of cute shoes, bags, shirts, wallets and belts.
I love that Atlanta keeps surprising us. I love that we have a community to support stores like this. You too can check out and shop at Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe online. If you are ever in Atlanta, check them out at 672 Highland Avenue NE.