First Day of Vegan MOFO and Halloween weekend review.

It's November and the first day of Vegan MOFO! I hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend! I did, it's my birthday on Halloween. Dave, Keaton and I went to a late breakfast Halloween morning and guess who was sitting a table away from us?????? Peter Facinelli, Jennie Garth and their kids. A vampire eating breakfast right by me. hee hee!   That was a pretty cool celebrity sighting and start to my morning.  Later that afternoon Dave carved the pumpkin.

Scary Leprechaun

Keaton made me a chocolate cake, while I made the filling and ganache topping.

The go to  chocolate cake recipe we go to all of the time that is super moist and comes out perfect everytime is taken from the Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts.  There are some changes I make they are: We double the recipe, use applesauce for half of the oil and I add a couple of tablespoons of instant coffee.
The caramel filling I used was actually the Dulce De Leche recipe from Viva Vegan and then the chocolate ganache was made with full fat soy milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted of course, than poured over the top.

Keaton went as a gorilla this year.  He had some cool sunglasses to wear but forgot all about them.

3 Bean Chili

For dinner I made a pot of chili and a side of cornbread.  For this recipe I used a ground veggie crumble because I thought that one of the parents were coming over to eat with us and they are a big time meat eater.  We actually prefer no veg meat in our chili. I forgot to add the chipotle chili in adobe sauce which adds an amazing flavor, oh well next time.  I make my own beans and this is actually the first tine I've cooked up my own kidney beans and man are nothing like the canned, they are so much better!  I also use Pomi tomatoes in a box because it is free of BPA but you can use any tomatoes you like, even fresh which I use all summer long.

3 Bean Chili

Olive oil for sauteeing

2 medium onions, diced

4 Italian red peppers, diced

2 Anaheim peppers, seeded and diced

5 garlic cloves, minced 

1- 12 oz. pkg veggie crumbles

1/4 C. soyrizo

1 1/2 T. oregano

1 1/2 T. cumin

4 T. Chili powder

2 T. Cocoa powder 

1/2 tsp salt

39oz. Pomi diced or whole tomatoes in juice, don't drain( if whole you can chop up or just pour into pot and mash them with spoon against side of pot to break them up)

2 C. water

2 C. black beans, drained

2 C. white beans(northern beans or cannelini), drained

3 C. kidney beans, drained

Chipotle in adobe sauce (optional) use according to how much heat you can stand

In a large heavy pot heat oil.  Once oil is heated saute onions, red peppers, garlic until they start to soften.  Then add the veggie crumbles and soyrizo.  Cook until it is browned and pepper-onion mixture is soft.  Next stir in the spices, salt and cocoa powder for about 1-2 minutes.(This is also the time to add the chipotle if you want).  Then add the water, tomatoes and beans.     Bring to a boil cover and turn down heat to a simmer for an hour or longer.  The longer it simmers the more the flavor develops. 

      

VEGAN MOFO and stuff.

It's that time of year again for Vegan MOFO! November is going to be a month dedicated to blogging about vegan food everyday! I'm really excited about this because it's my first time. I signed up to help me get back into the swing of blogging again. I miss everyone and this will throw me into to it again, for sure. If you'd you'd like to sign up just click on http://veganmofo.wordpress.com/ .   There are so many blogs signed up already, it's so cool!

So Cleo and Merlin weren't too happy about the crowns, obviously eh? 

 It's definitely Fall weather and Halloween is coming quickly. Is anyone going to see Paranormal Activity 2? I just watched the first one yesterday and what made it kind of creepy was that many of us have experienced at least one time in our lives some type of paranormal activity. I know I have when I was about 4 years old and then when my son was a toddler.  Have you?  Okay so I like the scary stuff. 

We've had visitors for the past 2 weekends and coming this weekend.  I love it!!!  I have been cooking and baking but not as many pic's lately because we've just been busy with stuff around the house and I haven't made anything new and too exciting due to finishing up our office and just getting stuff done around the house. 

  I'm still juicing everyday which really makes me feel great!  Here are a couple of  meals that I've made recently.

Fettucine with Delicata Squash, Cremini Mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, sauteed sage in a light white wine sauce.



Stuffed Italian Peppers with brown rice and tempeh mixture.

Green juice-broccoli stems, celery, green apple, romaine, cucumber

I'm officially back on track to blogging so now I need to catch up on your posts.  See you soon!

My Halloween Birthday apple pie and decorations....

My mother-in-law used to make my cake but since we moved and we are vegan I'm making my own birthday desserts. That's okay cuz I like baking anyways. This year I decided to make an apple pie instead of a cake. We have so many apples left on the tree and I don't like wasting fruit. Also I didn't have to go out and buy any ingredients. I couldn't have been happier with the results. My husband ate all of his portion and said how good it was and he's not a fruit pie eater. He's the type that takes out the filling and adds a scoop of ice cream to the crust! So I took his comment as a big compliment.

Yes my birthday is on Halloween ! Some fun facts about me: 1) I love scary movies, not to much on the gore, just scary ones. When I was little I remember my older brother getting home from work late at night and my younger sister and I used to get out bed and watch old black and white monster movies with him. 2) My grandmother, my dad's mom(whom I was never able to meet because she passed away before I was born) was born in Transylvania, seriously, no joke! I was thinking this weekend that if I start believing I am a vampire maybe my mind will have an affect on my body and I will stop ageing. Just a thought. But the only problem is I love the sun. 3) Clowns scare me. I know I love to be scared but clowns aren't my thing.

I know I just said I don't like clowns and here we have a clown! My son just loves doing this to scare me.

Here are some Halloween pic's. I love to decorate for Halloween, well I do have a kid I have to for him! lol! I made this Halloween garland a few years ago and it's still holding up. I really like vintage halloween decorations. Below is a closer view of it.

My dining table.

Outside the house. We are already planning more fun stuff for the outside next year.

My husband is the one who does the carving of the pumpkins. This year and last I had to because he was too busy with work. I was ready to smash it while I was carving it because I was getting so frustrated and it was taking me forever and it's really not my job! Okay I'm settled down now. So the many compliments I received throughout the night on this pumpkin made me me verry happy. It did look even better in person.

My birthday was a pretty quiet one. This is our second Halloween up here and my family couldn't make it. My son went Trick or Treating with his 3 friends and my husband and I handed out candy. When trick or treating was over we took my son and his friends to the awesome haunted house in town. The people who put the Haunted House together are all volunteers and the $6 a person is worth every penny. They really go all out and they do a great job at scaring people. BOO!