Sunday Spotlight Update

Last Sunday I featured EtsyVeg teammate Miss Munchie in my Sunday Spotlight. Well after a lot of thought (and mouth watering) I eventually decided on a variety pack to share with my mom. Small pretzel loaf, baker's dozen of nuggets, and a batch of cookies. A wonderful bit of everything. My mom and I decided on the garlic topping for the loaf, and let me tell you that when I opened the box up yesterday after school, all I could smell was garlicky goodness. Oh, my.

Since I couldn't decide on just one flavor of nugget, I ended up buying an extra baker's dozen so I could try two flavors -- Cinnamon Raisin, and Everything. A few of the Cinnamon Raisin nuggets made a great breakfast heated up this morning. Everything bagels are my favorite flavor, and will make a great after school snack.

Oh, and I can't forget the Peanut Butter 'n' White Chocolate cookies. Yummy! Our package even included a sample of bite sized Chocolate Chipsters. I felt so spoiled. :)

Not only is everything delicious, the packaging tags are so cute too. One of my favorite purchases, and I'll definitely come back to buy again in the future.

Soup's On!

Since it's cold and wintry this week, it seemed like a good time to make some soup. So last night I made Hungry Girl's Southwestern Surprise soup. It's a whole lot like the taco soup teachers at my school make, which is just fine by me. I used Boca veggie crumbles instead of the meat (of course), and a packet of Chipotle taco seasoning. I also added a bell pepper and some spinach. Tasty! And since the recipe makes so much, I put one container of it straight into the freezer. The second container will make a lot of yummy, warm, lunches the rest of the week. Yay!

A New Month...

... a new cookbook!

This week I made the difficult choice of which cookbook of mine to cook from during February. I really had a hard time picking one, but the choice was made a little easier since I had to make soup or salad for our luncheon at school yesterday. I knew how yummy the Sassy Salsa and Pumpkin Soup from Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World, so I went ahead and made that. So this month I'll actually be using a cookbook that I've cooked from several times, as opposed to last month where I cooked from a new one that I hadn't used before. Of course, it had been a Christmas gift, so it makes sense that I wouldn't have used it already.

So, back to the soup. The last time I made it with a chipotle salsa, and this time I used Joe T. Garcia's medium salsa. Joe T's is one of my all-time favorite restaurants EVER, and their salsa is sooooo good, but I think I liked the chipotle salsa better for the soup. It really added to the overall flavor. Next time I'm saving my Joe T's salsa for my baked Tostito Scoops. :)

Calamity Jenn Strikes Again

Last night as Ben and I were cooking dinner, it happened. I made (once again) a huge mess in the kitchen.

We were making sloppy joes, his with ground turkey, and mine from the Vegan Sloppy Joes recipe in my January cookbook, How it all Vegan! I had made the tomato sauce for mine in the food processor, and it was looking pretty good--all nice and tomato-ey. Ben had put the food processor out for me, around the corner of the counter and down at the end... not where I usually put it, but a decent spot, since we don't have a ton of counter space in the kitchen. So I'm turning to grab the tomato sauce so I can mix it with all of my veggie goodness in the skillet, and my arm knocked the bottle of olive oil off the counter and onto the floor.

I wasn't looking as I turned, but I must have been wild with my arms, because I know I didn't put the olive oil near the edge of the counter. And of course, the dog was already in the kitchen with me, so as I'm trying not to move and step on glass shards in my sock feet, I'm also trying to pick up the dog, so he doesn't step on the glass or go to town licking up the oil.

Did you know that it takes a REALLY long time to clean up a shattered bottle of olive oil that was more than 3/4 full? Ugh. Ben was really nice and did all of the sweeping and moping so that I wouldn't hurt my back (yes, I'm such an old lady... bad back and all). I helped by putting the dog up and fetching soapy water, clean water, rags, etc. Ugh. By then, our food was cooled off, since Ben had turned off the burners. Good thing, too, because it definitely would have burned, and then no sloppy joes for us!

Mine turned out really good, though. If you're a fan of veggie sloppy joes, definitely try it out. I used Boca veggie crumbles instead of TVP like the recipe called for. It's what I had on hand, but it worked just fine. Leftovers were pretty tasty at lunch today too! :)

Stay tuned, because a new month means a new cookbook to use! I have no idea which one to go with, there are so many in the cabinet.... ;)

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy

I know what you're thinking. Jenn, you didn't cook at *all* this week! What about your New Year's Resolution to cook at least once or twice each week???? Pshaw, I say. Sunday ends the week, and I definitely cooked tonight.

I made "Everything Goes" Stir-Fry, with Garlic Toss For Noodles. The recipe for the stir-fry makes me smile, because it actually calls for two cups of "everything goes" veggies -- basically, whatever veggies you have on hand. So I put carrot, onion, red bell pepper, broccoli, zucchini, spinach, and tempeh in mine. I cooked the Garlic Toss in a separate pan so the flavors could all gel together into some spicy garlic goodness, and then mixed it in with the veggies right before serving. Yum!

Oh, and just a side note. Don't forget to check on your rice as it cooks. I was so busy stirring my Garlic Toss into the stir-fry that I ended up with little crispy pieces of rice at the bottom of the pan. Turned out fine, but Calamity Jenn nearly struck again.

Chili-rific!

So this past weekend was our second annual Chili Supper. We had a bunch of people come up from Austin, along with a bunch of our local friends too. All together there were five different types of chili. Personally, I thought mine was the best... It was also the only veggie chili, and so was the only one I tried. But keeping with my New Year's Resolution to cook one month from one of my cookbooks once or twice a week, I made a new chili recipe. I tried out Sarah's Delicious Chili from How it All Vegan! and it was pretty tasty. I hadn't had chili with garbanzo beans before, but I have to say that I liked it. I would have added some additional spice to the recipe after taste testing for seasoning, but my in-laws were joining us for dinner, and my mother in law can't handle any spice right now. So I was the good daughter in law and made mine not very spicy. *pat on back*

I also made Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies. This would be only the second time that I've made vegan cookies. These turned out so yummy! I picked up some chocolate chips that were swirled with peanut butter and added walnuts. Yum! The consistency was different from a non-vegan cookie. My friend Nick said it reminded him of a biscuit, but to me it was a cross between cake, cookie and biscuit. So good, you definitely should try this one.

Well, It's Friday...

...and I missed today's Friday Feature. No worries, I'm full of excuses tonight.

1. We had a workday at school, and I was busy workday-ing.
2. Ben and I are having friends over tomorrow, and we were cleaning and washing sheets from the guest room.
3. Tomorrow is chili supper, so I made a grocery list.
4. Oh, and I was finishing up counting shrink wrap and packaging for inventory. That's my very least favorite part of inventory, don'tcha know.
5. And how could I forget, I seem to have hurt my back. Again. As in, my back stretches and Aleve haven't done a lick of good. So here I am, about to lay down in bed with the heating pad. Here's hoping it will feel better in the morning, or at least well enough to stretch it better than I could tonight.

And yes, I know it seems that I haven't cooked this week, despite my New Year's Resolution. Well, that would be because I haven't. Sunday I made a Use Up What You Have pasta-casserole-bake. I cooked up the last of the package of macaroni from Thanksgiving, and mixed it with the last of the veggies from when I made pizza that week, with the last of the Zesty Tomato Pesto sauce, also from pizza night, and the last of a package of veggie crumbles. Mix it all together, top with vegan Parmesan, bake for about 15 minutes at 350, and you're good to go. The leftovers made for pretty tasty lunches this week.

No worries, though. Tomorrow is Chili Supper. But enough for tonight. Right now my bed and heating pad are calling. Goodnight!

Pizza Crust is Hard to Do

Now just sing the title of this post to the tune of "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" and you'll be on the same page as me. Of course, it could be because right now I'm watching an episode of Buffy that has everyone singing and dancing.

Last night I tried my hand at making Yeast Free Pizza Crust, along with Zesty Tomato Pesto. Well the sauce turned out great, I added a bit more garlic and basil than the recipe called for, but then I do love garlic more than any other seasoning. The crust was another thing altogether. Yesterday I said it couldn't be too hard, but I think I spoke too soon. Should've learned my lesson from the lasagna noodle fiasco. Dough is hard...at least for me. *sigh* I'll get the hang of it eventually...

I Knead Noodles

Ha, get it? Yep, I'm a dork.

The lasagna turned out pretty yummy last night, but I can't say the same for my first attempt at homemade noodles. Apparently I didn't knead the dough long enough the first time, because when I put it through the roller part, the dough fell to pieces. So I kneaded and kneaded, and kneaded some more, and tried again. Came out fine, and I cut it into lasagna-sized strips. But when I cooked them in the boiling water, a bunch of them came apart. When I drained the water, I had a few whole noodles, and lots of little bits of noodle. So I ended up having to use the store bought no-cook noodles anyway, which ended up working out great.

And speaking of lasagna, here's a good looking one I found in GulfCoastCottagePDF's Etsy shop. (Italian Feast Felt Food PDF Pattern, $5.99)

Music Monday

Tonight starts my New Year's Resolution, and yes, I know it's a little early. Oh well. I was inspired. (And if you have no clue what I'm talking about, check yesterday's blog update.) One month of cooking from my newest cookbook, How it all Vegan! by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer. My mom is coming over, along with possibly a couple of guy friends, and I'm making Classic Spinach Lasagna, with homemade Traditional Tomato Sauce from the same cookbook. (Homemade pasta sauce rocks, and is super easy!) I'm also making Easy Garlic Spread and cooking it in some puff pastry to make garlic bread rolls. Yum! I bought some lasagna noodles just in case, because the closer it gets to cook time, the more chicken I'm getting about making my own pasta. We'll see... I might save homemade pasta for another night when I won't have company...

What about Music Monday? Hold your horses, I was just getting to that. I was putting groceries in the trunk of my car today and had a very "hippie" moment. In the Whole Foods parking lot, wearing faux-suede boots and an organic cotton skirt, putting reusable grocery sacks filled with tofu and organic veggies into the tiny trunk of my Beetle...

Needless to say, I listened to some Beatles on the way home.

This is one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Whew!

I hadn't realized that it's been so long since I updated my blog... Oops! The holidays are busy for everyone, so hopefully you didn't miss me too much. ;) All I know is, we were definitely Christmas-ed out. Five is a little much, but there's not really much to be done about that. It's nice to be able to spend time with so many different family members, though!

During my week away from school, I've been doing some thinking. And no, it didn't hurt, thank you very much.

Ben and I have been going out to eat most nights, and not cooking at all. For a while I was doing pretty good about cooking at least one dinner per week at home, but the last couple of weeks the only cooking I've done is to take to Christmas Eve dinner at Ben's grandmother's house. The way our schedules are, Ben and I really only eat together Monday and Wednesday nights, plus the weekend. So ideally, one (or both) of those nights would be staying at home for a home-cooked meal. Then, since Mr. Picky Pants doesn't really care for leftovers, that would leave me with lunches to take to school or leftover dinners for nights that I eat without him.

So I've decided that my New Year's resolution this year is to cook one or two dinners per week. That being said, I am a cookbook-holic. Yes, I admit it. I love to look at cookbooks, but the problem is that since I don't cook often, they don't get much use. This means that part of my Cooking Resolution is going to be to use those books! Right now I'm thinking of spending one month per cookbook, so I can try out as many recipes as possible. And I'm not afraid to admit that I was inspired by watching the movie Julie and Julia while wrapping presents. I'm starting with How it all Vegan! by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer, which my mom gave me for Christmas. Oh, did I forget to mention that I've recently started cooking vegan at home? Except for Christmas Eve macaroni and cheese, that is. My mom is coming over for dinner tomorrow night, so I'm making something from my new cookbook. I'm also trying my hand at handmade pasta, to use my brand new pasta attachment for my Kitchen Aid. Wish me luck!

Fuzzy's Tacos

On Monday nights Ben has pool club. This week he thought he wasn't going to have to play, so we were going to have dinner at home. Just before we got started making anything to eat, his brother called and said their team was one person short, and Ben would have to come play after all. So Ben decided that it would be faster if we went out to eat someplace up towards where he would need to be to play pool afterward. We remembered that the P.E. teacher at my school had told me that another Fuzzy's Taco location had opened up in Arlington, but we hadn't tried it out yet.

If you've never heard of Fuzzy's Taco, it's a tiny little restaurant just off the corner of University and Berry in Fort Worth, just down the block from TCU. I have to admit that I didn't go there too often in college, because (1) there's no parking on Berry and (2) walking across Berry is a pain in the rear. The times that we did run across that busy street, I definitely enjoyed some fantastic veggie tacos.

Well the new location in Arlington is just as tasty as the one I remember. Ben had the ground beef crunchy tacos, and they came out exactly as he ordered them -- meat and cheese only. (Sometimes we go out and they put veggies on his tacos by accident. *gasp!*) Obviously I'm not an expert on ground beef tacos, but he said they were pretty good. Since I had always ordered the grilled veggie tacos before, I decided to branch out and try something new. And let me tell you, their grilled veggie sandwich is really good! Add a splash of their Butt Burnin' sauce at the table, and you're good to go! I enjoyed it so much I even called my mom on the way back home to tell her about it.

So if you're from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, or just in town for a visit, drop by one of the five Fuzzy's Taco locations for some delicious tacos and tex-mex food!

Weekend in Austin

I just love going to Austin. Did I mention that before? :) Not only because I get to spend time with friends we don't see often enough, but because Austin is so incredibly veggie-friendly! Whenever we go out to eat in the DFW area, people always ask me where I can eat. When people ask me that in Austin, I say I can eat anywhere! It's Austin, there's going to be *something* vegetarian on the menu.

I had said in my previous post that I hoped we could eat at Trudy's and Dog Almighty this weekend, and we had the chance to eat at both!

My absolute favorite thing to order at Trudy's is the Veggie Flaquita dinner. Imagine an enchilada-sized flauta stuffed with spinach, pinto and black beans, corn, pico de gallo and cheese. The flaquitas are fried and topped with your choice of sauce. Usually I get the suiza sauce, which is a verde sauce mixed with a little sour cream. Saturday night I was a bit daring and had the caliente sauce, which was a spicy verde sauce. (Yes, I do love verde sauces...) The veggie flaquitas come with rice and your choice of bean--they have six different kinds of bean. I had the refried black beans, which are a little spicy. Yum!

Today on our way out of town we stopped in for lunch at Dog Almighty. What I love about this little place is that you can order anything on their menu vegetarian. Anything. The first time Ben took me there years ago I ordered the chili dog, just because I'd never had a chili dog. And you know what I learned? Chili dogs are ridiculously messy! :) Today I had the Broken Spoke Dog, which comes topped with BBQ sauce and sauteed onions, but I had them add sliced jalapenos too. So good! Ben always orderes the Jalapeno Corndog (with a regular ol' beef hot dog). He loves it because the batter is spicy with bits of jalapeno peppers in it. Every time we go, I'm tempted to try a veggie one. Maybe next time!

Friday Feature

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting any new blogs lately. I've been sick with the flu, still am actually, and it just has made me feel so run down that I get tired from doing the simplest things. The doctor says I should be feeling better by the end of the weekend, which is great because I've been in the mood to make soap for the longest time, but haven't been able to.

But I did want to let everyone know that my Cuticle Balm has been featured in a Treasury on Etsy. Woo hoo! Go check it out, there are really nice items there to look at.

Now onto my regularly scheduled Friday Feature: The Cupcake Mint! Who doesn't love a good cupcake, especially around Valentine's Day? Everything in her shop is made to order, so you can even order in advance and have your cupcakes sent to you on a certain date. How convenient is that? Here are a couple of my favorites from her shop (and let me tell you, this was a hard pick...they all look so yummy!). You'd never guess by looking at them that they're all dairy free too!

These chocolate ganache dipped mini cupcakes are what first brought me to The Cupcake Mint. If frosted cupcakes are delicious, chocolate-dipped cupcakes are even better. This set of six mini cupcakes comes in a cute heart-shaped tin, and a hand-written valentine. Just put your valentine message in your comments to seller at check out, and they'll get you all taken care of!

What could be better than a mint chocolate cupcake? I love the combination of sweet chocolate with that refreshing zing of peppermint. Plus, the little green leaf on top is just too cute. They send the cupcakes unfrosted, so you can be creative and decorate them yourself. Fun!

New Soap Listed!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! We had a three day weekend here, although my kiddos at school had Friday off as well. It was nice to have a workday to catch up though.

We had some friends over for the weekend and hosted a chili party. Several friends brought chili they had made, and Ben and I each made chili (mine was vegetarian BBQ chili... so yummy!). After dinner we played Catch Phrase and some card games. The whole night was a lot of fun, and we're planning on hosting one again next year.

This evening I just listed a new soap scent - Red Currant. These are yummy sweet, tart salt bars. Colored with a rose swirl, this would make a perfect gift for your Valentine. Add a Red Currant lip balm and you have a fantastic gift set. Red Currant spa salt bars and lip balm are listed in both my Etsy and Art Fire shops. Happy shopping!