Quick Trip to Jacksonville, Fla

Jared's family is from and around the Jacksonville area in Florida and we decided to take a short trip to see them this weekend for Easter. Jared's family is always a lot of fun, especially his Grandmom, who we are staying with. Apparently, there will be tons of relatives in Jacksonville this weekend, some of which I haven't even met yet! I think typical Easter fare in his family (like a lot of families) is spiral ham with sides loaded with milk and butter products. No surprise, Jared and I are more than likely going to be the only vegans celebrating this weekend, so I have made a few things to take with us so we can enjoy a meal with family without having to stress.
I made my very first Roasted Tofurky, which I basted in olive oil, soy sauce and fresh sage. Jared has made this roast before and loves it. If it tastes as good as it smells, I know I'll love it too.

For sides, I made roasted potatoes with fresh rosemary & thyme, garlic and olive oil, as well as fresh steamed green beans.


For a sweet treat, and to warm over wary non-vegans, I also made some of my chocolate chip pecan cookies, which is always a huge hit.

I am also bringing cereal and soymilk for breakfast and a raw nut mixture of cashews, almonds, pecans and pistachios.
I hope everyone has a Happy Easter and a lovely weekend with friends and family!

Carrot Pineapple Cupcakes with Coconut Maple Icing

When I first read Dr. Stonielove's Nonfat Carrot Cupcakes recipe, I thought I had everything I needed to make these beauties. Then half way into reading the recipe more thoroughly, I discovered I didn't have maple extract and didn't have enough maple syrup for the sweetener part of the cake recipe. I also don't care for raisins so I decided to go on with the "skeleton" recipe and improvise with what I had and liked. Instead of maple extract, I used vanilla extract. and instead of using 1/2 cup of maple syrup, I used about 2 tablespoons of unbleached granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. I also added the juice of one 8 oz can of crushed pineapple, which yielded about 1/2 cup of juice and I used orange juice for the remaining 1/2 cup of liquid. I also added the drained crushed pineapple to the recipe. These turned out remarkably well considering I made a lot of changes. My tongue could tell there wasn't any fat in the cupcake recipe but luckily, the icing made up for it. For the icing, which is NOT nonfat, I only had to substitute the maple extract with vanilla extract and added a tablespoon or so of pure maple syrup. I kinda wished the icing had a bit of Tofutti cream cheeze in it to cut the sweetness down a bit, but I didn't have any to add.
All and all, this was a success. Even though I changed a few things, Dr. Stonielove gets the credit for these half healthy, half decadent cupcake treats! You rock Dr. Stonielove!
Just iced and dusted with cinnamon!

About to be devoured!

Oh, yeah! As the big bite shows, these rocked!

St. Patrick's Day Twice Baked Potatoes

The kitchen has been pretty inactive the past week or so with me not really wanting to cook and then have to clean up. I haven't even felt like grocery shopping! Today though, I was bit inspired and motivated by some of my left over Naughty Goddess Dressing I did make this past weekend to dip veggies in (we were serious snackers this weekend with sandwiches, chips and veggies with various dips, etc). My Naughty Goddess Dressing has Tofutti cream cheeze, Tofutti sour kream, Vegenaise, a bunch of green onions (whites and greens), a handful of fresh parsley, garlic powder, salt, celery salt, black pepper and agave nectar all blended together until it turns a very nice shade of green. I baked 4 medium Russet potatoes at 425 for 60 minutes. Once they were baked I carefully cut the very top off of each potato, scooped the insides out and added a little plain soymilk, a generous amount of Naughty Goddess Dressing, a little more salt and pepper and combined everything with a potato masher. I then stuffed the hollowed out potato boat skins until they were over flowing. For some of the potatoes, I also add a little Vegan Cheddar block and fake bacon bits to make "loaded" versions. I then baked the stuffed potatoes at 425 for about 20 minutes or until the tops were slightly browned.
As you can see, they turned out quite nice and had a lovely (and natural) green hue for St. Patrick's Day!

A Very Happy (Birthday) Meal, Just the Facts, Ma'm

First and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED!!! I made one of his favorite dishes: Red Curry Thai Tofu with steamed cabbage, carrots and broccoli with jasmine rice topped with green onions.


I have been tagged by Billy from Vegan Talk for five facts about myself. Fun!!!

1. I am seriously considering going back to school, possibly in the medical field, probably nursing school to become an R.N. I have been thinking about this for years and it crosses my mind at least once a week. Both my mom and dad are nurses and it would be an honor to follow in their footsteps in a most respected path. It would most likely end my job hunting. I can admit that fear has stopped me from pursuing this but I am tired of being lost.

2. I collect stickers. I especially love cute stickers like animal in space suits (which Jared got me from Borders), Hello Kitty, butterflies and flowers. I have a severe weakness for them, stopping me in my tracks every time I see some at the store. I love to put them on envelopes and letters. I am eternally 5 years old in this area.

3.I love grocery/food shopping. I could easily spend an hour in any supermarket, farmers market, specialty or international grocery store. I love planning meals, making lists, shopping and then putting away my loot.

4. I have recently picked up playing guitar again after a long hiatus. I forgot how lovely it is to create something as pure as music. Jared and I are planning on starting a husband/wife group and hope to start recording soon.

5. I am obsessed with watching shows about crime, real or fiction. I love shows like Law and Order, the First 48 and pretty much anything on TruTV (formerly Court TV) or A&E. If it's mob related, even better. My obbession started with Unsolved Mysteries when I was a kid. The music in that show still scares me a little. Ironically, I hate horror movies. Funny how I am afraid of stuff that will probably never happen to me but fascinated with stuff that could.

I'd like to hear from everybody, but since I have to pick five, I'll pick Theresa from The Tropical Vegan, VeggieGirl, Kamutflake Girl, Leigh from Raspberry Swirl and
Vegan Cowgirl (doesn't her name rock?!)

Labor of Love Cupcakes

I love Jared, that's clear. I have to say though, the biggest proof of my love and devotion to Jared is the fact that I tackled these cupcakes. I'm talking about the Brooklyn vs. Boston Cream Pie Cakes (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World) I made for Jared's birthday tomorrow. These were a multi-step venture not for the faint of heart. I started making these cupcakes at 5pm and just got done around 9 pm! These are the days I am glad I'm not employed because I couldn't see making these in an evening after a least an 8 hour shift and an hour or two commute. The cupcakes themselves weren't that difficult, just measure, mix, bake and cool, nor was the chocolate ganache topping. The hard part was the Vanilla Vegan Pastry Cream filling. This was the first time I used Agar Flakes and boy was it labor intensive. I had to whisk the Agar/Soymilk concoction for at least 15 minutes just to get the "cream" base smooth. After about 20 minutes of cooking, the Agar/Soymilk/Arrowroot base kinda looked like silly putty, not the most appetizing looking stuff. Once the sugar, vanilla extract and silken tofu was blended together with the base, I guess I can see how it tasted and looked like pastry cream. To fill the cupcakes with the filling, I had to make a whole with my impeccably clean finger in the middle of the cupcake, which sounds easy but I kept accidentally blowing out the sides. I did successfully fill each cupcake with the filling, allowing the cupcake liner to hold everything together, and top each with a generous amount of ganache frosting (even though it did ooze over the sides). After all the measuring, mixing, whisking, boiling, cooling, stuffing and topping, I sure do hope Jared likes these babies!