Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Vegan Valentine's Day to all of you!

Since I  didn't  make any sugar cookies for Dave and Keaton over the winter holidays I went a head and made a batch for Valentine'sDay.  Click here for this perfect sugar cookie.  It is a bit chewy and soft on the inside and just a bit crisp on the outside.  If you like a crispier cookie roll it out thinner and cook a bit longer.
Some of the cookies I made into a sandwich style and filled with a raspberry tofutti cream cheese like filling and a chocolate filling.  The Chocolate "Buttercream" Frosting I used is so tasty and it's not loaded with margarine and sugar.  This amazing recipe is from Ricki at Diet, Dessert and Dogs and you really must try it to believe how good it is.  The only change I made to the recipe is that I used cocoa powder instead of carob powder and I added about 1/3C. of organic powdered sugar.

Speaking of love...I'm so in love with this salad!  Dave and I had this for lunch one day so I added the tofu just to make it a bit more filling. The ingredients are bok choy, romaine, edamame, carrots, cucumber, and the noodle and dressing mixture is taken from Gramma's Bok Choy recipe.  Then drizzle with sesame oil.  In regards to the dressing for this, the recipe calls for quite alot of sugar that's really unnecessary especially if you use a different vinegar.  For instance  I used a Green Apple Ginger Golden Balsamic Vinegar(whoosh... take a breath) from Global Gardens, which is already on the sweet side.  You can also sweeten the dressing with other sweeteners if you choose.   For more of a slaw salad you can slice the bok choy and lettuce thinner and use more dressing.  Yum this is so good!  Oh and go ahead and add some chunks of avocado and shredded  nori on top which is also delicious!

Dave, Keaton and I are staying in tonight.  Keaton picked the meal for me to make and I'm making a little something for dessert.  Hopefully it will rain and we can enjoy our evening by the fire watching a movie and/or playing a game.

Enjoy your Valentine's with your sweetie and/or sweetie's! 

Oh and remember to share the love with all of our animals. 

XOXOXO to my Cleo dog and Merlin kittty!

weekend update...

Happy President's Day to all of you.  I hope everyone who has today off is enjoying it.  We are having some beautiful weather out here in California.  Yesterday on Valentines Day it was 72 and sunny.  Ahhhhh the sun!I just had to take a picture of our Cleo!

   

On Valentine's morning I made breakfast burritos for Keaton and Dave.  I had one too!  I can't usually eat something like this in the morning, it usually feels to heavy on my stomache but this actually didn't.  Even though my son and I couldn't finish one I didn't feel yucky after.  The burrito ingredients were: Rice tortilla, pinto beans, scrambled tofu with Soyrizo(I got to tell you the first time my husband had soyrizo he was pretty impressed and said he couldn't tell it was made from soy), potato & onions, avocado and a hot sauce.  Another thing about Soyrizo is Keaton's friend who made the decision to go vegetarian, his dad made breakfast for the boys one day and used Soyrizo for the first time and said he really liked it. 

I was going to make dinner for Valentine's but Dave didn't want me to have to cook.  So we actually were pretty casual this year and we went to the pizza place and ordered a pizza to go.  This is a garden pesto pizza no cheese of course.  I love that they totally load up the pizza with veggies, unlike some places.  I did make a salad to go with and he bought  me a nice bottle of red wine.

For dessert I made the gluten free chocolate cupcakes from Jessy(thanks Jessy) at HappyVeganFace .  These were real light and moist. The only thing I would change would be the gluten free flour mix.  It calls for Bobs Red Mill all purpose mix.  I think I would use Pamela's or make my own gluten flour mix up.  I'm  not a big fan of using garbanzo flour in my baked goods, but since these were chocolate it hid the taste.  We all scarfed this down.  I made a hole in the middle of the cupcake, poured some caramel sauce into it, drizzled chocolate sauce over that and stuck a cute chocolate heart on top! 

Do you say caramel or carmel?  I say caramel.  A discussion was brought up about a week ago when my in-laws were visiting and we were going back and forth on this.  So I did a little research and Caramel is the proper pronunciation for the sweet sugary sauce or candy we eat.  Carmel is a place, a town.  So there you have it.

Caramel Sauce:

1/2 C. brown sugar

1 T. arrowroot or cornstarch

1/3 C. mimic creme, non-dairy cream or full fat soy milk

2 Tbsp. *Golden Syrup or corn syrup

1 Tbsp. Earth Balance

1 tsp. vanilla

 Put all ingredients, except for Earth Balance and vanilla, in a saucepan.  Cook on medium heat and stir until mixture becomes bubbly.  Cook and stir for a couple minutes more until a bit more thick.  Next remove from heat and stir in Earth Balance and vanilla.  Serve warm or let cool.  This can also be re-heated.

*Golden Syrup- It's made from evaporated sugar can juice. I use Lyle's Golden Syrup because it's the only one in the market that I have found.   You can find it by the corn syrup in the market.  I don't like to use corn syrup.