Apple pie in the sky!!!

This is the yummiest apple pie in the world!  Pretty sure I say that about all my recipes :)  The crust is not light and flaky.  I don't really like my crust like that because to me, it always seems dry.  This is thick and doughy! yum!  I found the recipe in My Sweet Vegan by Hannah Kaminsky.  GREAT book - highly recommended. Here we go!

Ingredients

Sweet Maple Crust

2 1⁄2 cups all purpose flour
1⁄2 cup Whole Wheat pastry flour
1⁄2 tsp salt
3⁄4 cup margarine, well chilled
1⁄4 cup Maple syrup
3-5 Tbsp plain soy creamer (I needed about 7 Tbsp, and I used vanilla rice milk - so start with 3 and go from there..)

Filling

7-9 apples (I used 7 Braeburn but next time I'll use at least one more)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
1⁄2 cup Dark Brown Sugar
1⁄4 cup corn starch
1⁄4 tsp. salt
1⁄4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. (or more if you like) cinnamon
2 Tbsp margarine

Directions

1. Toss the flours, salt, and margarine into a medium bowl, and combine them with a fork or pastry cutter (or you could do it in a food processor).  Continue blending until coarse crumbs develop and small pieces of margarine are left intact.  Mix in the maple syrup, and add the soy creamer one Tbsp at a time, using just enough to bring the dough together into a cohesive ball.  You will have to use your hands to make the cohesive ball - it won't happen with a pastry cutter or a fork.  Divide the dough into two even pieces, smooth them into round disks, and wrap each tightly in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate the dough for two hours.

Preheat your oven to 400°F.

2. Meanwhile, peel, core, and slice the apples to desired thickness.  Put in a large bowl, and mix in the lemon juice.  Add all of the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the margarine.  Just the sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon.  Stir gently and coat the apples evenly with the dry ingredients.  Set aside.

3. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place dough ball on a lightly floured surface.  If you don't have a rolling pin, use a full bottle of wine.  If using wine bottle, cover the top of the dough with wax paper.  Roll dough out to 1⁄4 inch thickness.  Place in lightly greased pie dish.  *For an easy transfer, fold the dough in half and then move it to the pie dish - but this dough was pretty sturdy.

4.  Roll out the second ball of dough, just like the first, making sure it is big enough to spill over the sides of the pie dish.

5.  Pour the apple mixture into the pie dish on top of the first crust.  Cut the margarine into little pieces and scatter atop your filling.

6.  Place the second flattened round of dough on top of the filling, and cut off the excess dough around the dish.  Press the top and bottom crusts together with your fingers.

7.  If you feel so inspired to cut out shapes for your pie, form the excess dough into a ball and roll out again.  Use a cookie cutter to cut desired shapes!  Get creative!  

8.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Then lower the oven to 350°F without removing the pie.  Bake for an additional 25-30 minutes until the crust turns golden brown.  Let cool for 45 minutes before serving to allow the ingredients to set and get ooey gooey!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Yogurt Snack

Ingredients:
Vanilla yogurt (I used "So Delicious" coconut based yogurt from Whole Foods)
Walnuts
A banana

and...

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter!  I added 2 tsp. Yum!

There is sugar in it, but not too much - so it's pretty healthy!

Add some veggies and hummus on the side to make it a complete lunch!

Italian-ish Quinoa with Tofu

Another creation of mine!  Quinoa is an ancient grain that is high in protein and low in calories.  It has tons of nutritional benefits and is super duper healthy.  It cooks like rice (2 parts liquid to 1 part grain), and can replace rice in any recipe for a fun little change.  Click here to learn all about it!

Quinoa is virtually flavorless, but almost to a fault.  In order for it to absorb flavor, you have to sauté it with the other ingredients in the recipe before you cook it in the broth.  *if you don't have vegetable broth, use water and a low sodium bouillon cube.

This shouldn't take more than 40 minutes - probably less than that.  This recipe serves four.

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic (if you're a garlic lover like me), minced
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp-ish dried thyme
1 tsp-ish dried oregano
1⁄2 cup white wine
1 cup Quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
1 block super firm tofu
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1.  Melt butter in a large sauce pan.  Add onion and cook until soft.
2. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes more.
3. Add Quinoa, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper and cook for about 4 minutes on medium-high
4. Add wine and cook until all the liquid is absorbed.
5. Pour in broth and bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes - read package directions.
6. In the meantime, drain and cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes.  Heat olive oil in a pan, add tofu, a little salt, and pepper until tofu is browned on all sides.
7. When Quinoa is done, it should be fluffy with a teeny tiny crunch to it.  Add the tofu, and cook on low, uncovered for about 3-5 minutes (just to get some flavor into the tofu).  Mix in lemon juice and serve.

I served this with Sautéed Spinach:
3 cloves garlic
olive oil
1 tsp. butter
dash of lemon juice
salt, pepper to taste
1 bag of baby spinach

Cook garlic in oil.  Add spinach and butter, salt and pepper.  Squeeze lemon juice when cooked - don't over cook!

Your mouth and heart will thank you.

Gluten Free!

Best Pumpkin Muffins in the Whole World (seriously)

These are the most amazing baked good I've ever made.  I found the base of this recipe on the post punk kitchen website, which has awesome vegan recipes.  I modified this a lot to lower the fat, add some fiber, and omit the molasses.  So I'm definitely calling this my own recipe.  If you like molasses, add a tablespoon or two.  We had these in the morning, so I wanted a lighter flavor.  But I'm glad we omitted it because they are packed with plenty of flavor. You'll have no idea these are vegan.

Ingredients:
1 3⁄4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1⁄4 cups sugar (I use raw turbinado sugar)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1⁄4 tsp salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp. nutmeg
1⁄2 tsp. ground ginger
1⁄4 tsp. allspice
1⁄8 tsp. ground cloves
1 Tbsp ground flax seed

1 cup pureed pumpkin
2 Tbsp yogurt (I used vanilla coconut based yogurt - but use whatever)
3⁄4 cup almond milk (or soy or rice...)
1⁄2 cup applesauce
1⁄4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F.  Grease muffin tins (I used a 6-jumbo muffin pan) with vegetable oil or spray oil.

1. Sift together dry ingredients (flour through flax).
2. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (pumpkin through vanilla).
3. Pour wet into dry and combine.
4. Fill tins 2⁄3 of the way and bake for 27-30 min. (mine were done, but still ooey gooey inside at 28 minutes).  If you're using smaller muffin tins reduce the cooking time to 15-20 minutes.
5. Bake until a toothpick or knife comes out clean.  My knife didn't come out completely clean, but I like my muffins a little gooey in the middle.  So whichever you like!
6. Smother in butter and eat warm.

*Since there are only two of us, I usually cook 2-4 muffins at a time and save the rest of the batter in the refrigerator.  That way we can bake them fresh the next day or a couple days later.

a face only a mother could love

This is why we call him booger

Yummy treat alert

If you don't already know about Trader Joe's Cherry Chocolate Chip Soy Ice Cream, now you do and go get it!  It's a staple in this house.

I just discovered another treat that I LOVE.  Instant chocolate pudding from Trader Joe's - in the red box.   Hint: it's pretty thin if you use the full 2 cups of milk.  If you like it really thick start at 1 1⁄2 Cups and go from there.  And it does set in 5 minutes - but I'd give it 10 :)

It seems pretty easy to make on your own, but the boxed stuff is so cheap, it might not be worth it.

i picked the perfect orange...

but he's too cute to eat!

..courtesy of Mandell's tree :)

French Toast with Blackberry Cream Cheese

This is an easy recipe adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance.  The recipe seems like it wouldn't taste good at all, and I wouldn't recommend licking the batter off your fingers, but the finished product is DE-lish!  Use whatever bread you want.  Cinnamon-Raisin bread would be amazing.

The cream cheese is a lil somethin somethin I whip up for this recipe as well as crepes.  It's soooo easy and you can have any flavor your heart desires!

Cream Cheese

1⁄2 cup Toffuti cream cheese (softened for easier mixing)
3 Tbsp Blackberry Jam*
1 Tbsp sugar


*use whatever jam you like, and add more if you want it to have a stronger berry flavor.  Or less - whatever floats your boat.  This part is pretty much to taste.


Just mix together it together with a spoon!

French Toast

makes about 10 pieces of toast

Ingredients:
1 cup milk (soy or almond or rice..etc..)
2 Tbsp corn starch
1⁄4 cup Garbanzo bean (aka Chickpea) flour - trust me on this!
3 healthy Tbsp sugar
vegetable or canola oil
Bread of choice

Directions:
Mix well in a shallow bowl.

Heat a healthy amount of oil in a pan over medium-high heat.  The recipe in the book calls for them to be somewhat shallow fried - and they're definitely amazing that way.  So I choose a happy medium and put more oil than if I were making pancakes, but not enough oil to fry them.  Although I did shallow fry them once for Michael's birthday and they were ridiculous.

Dip both sides of the bread in the batter and cook until browned on both sides.

Top with the cream cheese and a little powdered sugar and enjoy!  You probably won't even need syrup.  To make the recipe sound fancier and make "Stuffed French Toast with Blackberry Cream Cheese," just make it a sandwich with 2 pieces of bread.

I got so excited to eat it that I forgot to take a picture - so here's a nice pic of my half eaten breakfast - I hope it still looks appetizing!

love these people

Kristen (one of my most favorite people on this planet and  beyond), and I were taking some headshots yesterday - and here are some fun pics we got at the end :)

 The greatest picture of all time ^

Caramel Apples

This requires a little love - but how often do we treat ourselves to vegan caramel apples?!

Recipe courtesy of suite101.com

*If you can find vegan condensed milk, let me know where.  If not, see recipe below.

Vegan Caramel Sauce

To make a thinner, saucier caramel sauce, reduce the condensed milk to ¼ cup or omit altogether.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp vegan margarine
1 cup ightly packed brown sugar
1⁄3 cup corn syrup
1 cup vegan sweetened condensed milk (we couldn't find it in the store so we made it. See recipe below

Directions:
1. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt margarine
2. Stir in sugar and corn syrup.
3. Bring to the boil and stir in condensed milk, if using.
4. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until boiled.
5. Turn to low heat until thickened.

Vegan Sweetened Condensed Milk

Ingredients:
This makes double the amount of condensed milk you need, but we didn't play around with halving it and sometimes when you halve recipes, they don't always work out.  But feel free to give it a try.  Or just double the caramel sauce recipe.

2 cups soy milk
1 3⁄4 cups brown sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch

Directions:
1. Measure the corn starch into a small glass or measuring cup.
2. Add 2-3 Tbsp of the soy milk and whisk with a small whisk or fork until smooth.
3. In a small saucepan, heat the remaining soy milk and brown sugar. Whisk in the cornstarch-soy milk mixture.
4. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly until thick.

Assembly:
We dipped them right in the sauce pan and spooned extra sauce over them.  Add chopped nuts or chocolate sauce or chocolate chips or whatever tickles your tummy. As you can see, we forgot to buy popsicle sticks so we improvised with chopsticks.

Bakon, Eg, and Cheeze...whaaaaat?!

Michael and I have been concocting this idea for years. We never expected it to be this good. Warning: wear a napkin on your shirt - you might just drool.. ok that was cheesy..pun intended...I'm stopping now...
*Read how to make the bakon and the eg first. You'll want to have them prepped in order to cook them simultaneously. So while the bacon is marinating, start your eg. Or prep both and cook at the same time.

Country Bumpkins

Howdy Y'all!

We went to get pumpkins a couple weekends ago and for two fresh-squeezed-lemonade-and-funnel-cake-filled hours we were transported to Anywhere, OK. There was actually a corn field in the middle of Los Angeles!! Ok, not right in the middle, but close enough :) These are a couple of my favorite pics from the day.

ignorance is bliss^

If you're in the area here's the info:
Halloween Harvest Festival/Rob & Cathy's Christmas Trees - pumpkin patch- already gathered from the field, train rides, corn maze, haunted corn maze, tractor-pulled hay rides, , prepicked produce, snacks and refreshment stand, restrooms, picnic area, pony rides, petting zoo, farm animals, birthday parties, weddings and wedding parties, school tours
20800 Victory Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91367. Phone: 818 999-6300. Fax: 818 700-9720. Email: info@HalloweenHarvestFestival.com. Directions: From 118, exit at DeSoto, Head South on DeSoto for about 6 miles, Turn left at Victory Blvd, Turn Right immediately after your turn into the Halloween Harvest Festival. From 101, exist at DeSoto, Head North on DeSoto for about 2 miles, Turn Right at Victory Blvd, Turn Right immediately after your turn into the Halloween Harvest Festival. And for a map to our farm, click here. Crops are usually available in October, November, December. Open: Fall: October 1 to October 31, Sunday through Thursday 10am to 10pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am to Midnight Christmas Trees: Day after Thanksgiving through December 24, Sunday through Saturday 10am to 10pm. Payment: Cash, Visa/MasterCard, Discover. Nordman Christmas Trees also available. We offer delivery of your Christmas Tree. We offer custom flocking of your Christmas Tree.
Can't wait to get my christmas tree there!

Cute Critters

I'm LOVING this new camera. It's a Canon 5D Mark II

Dudley (aka Dudley Shmudly)

Cagney (aka Caganeezy Sneezy)

Bogart (aka Boogsie Shoogsie or Booger)

The Conquering of the Vegan Doughnut!

 I finally got around to making the doughnuts from Vegetarian Times. Boy do I wish I made these sooner! I even remembered to take pictures this time. Although I made them at midnight and didn't have the best light...but you get the idea! You're gonna need time for these, so make them on a lazy Saturday when you have lots of love to give em! I did not modify these at all so before you go thinking I'm a doughnut goddess (although you can if you want), remember that this is not my recipe...but I did execute it well!!

Cha Cha Lu Lu

A year and a half ago, I started a dog rescue. We go to the Midwest and rescue dogs from puppy mills. If you don't know what a puppy mill is - go to youtube and plenty will come up - but make sure you're not eating when you do. It's really difficult to rescue animals - financially, emotionally and logistically. Especially when one has no idea what one's doing (which is how I started out). I took a break from rescuing for the past year, and to be honest have been thinking about giving it up altogether. But I just received an email a few days ago with an update from one of the families who adopted from me. They send updates fairly often, but this one in particular absolutely touched, moved, and inspired me. When I rescued Garbo (now ChaCha LuLu...a much more suitable name), she was a mess. She was tiny, matted, skinny, scared, SO smelly, had fleas, and ...let's just say... stomach difficulties. We got her fixed up, she recovered to a point, but was still skiddish and afraid to look at some people. She was bouncy and playful as Havanese are, but you could tell there was sadness and uncertainty behind those adorable black eyes. This family is absolutely amazing. They took her in, and before they even came to meet her, she was part of the family. I don't consider myself too successful with this as I've only rescued 11 dogs, but when I got this update, it made me realize that if I had not started this rescue and saved this little pup, she would either be dead, or really sick with lots of litters of puppies already under her (2-year-old) belt. And now she is with this family and it has not only transformed her life, it has transformed theirs. And the reason I'm sharing this is to acknowledge and give a lot of credit to everyone who has done something kind or generous whether it be big or small.  Because even the littlest things; like rescuing one little puppy, can transform so many peoples' lives.
Ok it's 4 in the morning and I might be a little emotional right now...
Here is the picture we took of ChaCha the day we rescued her in Oklahoma. The hair around her eyes was long and matted, and she didn't pick her head up for two days. She was so terrified, it was like she was playing dead and felt like a ragdoll in your arms.  This is a picture from the day we rescued her:

And this is the update they just sent me:

pink bows and all!

twinny twin twin

I mean really. Could we be any cuter??

my cholesterol

Hi all!
I had some blood work done because I've been feeling somewhat fatigued lately. I'm on medication that we suspected might be causing it, but before we changed the dosage, we wanted to rule out everything else. Everything came back great, except my hemoglobins are a little on the low side. So I just need to adjust my iron intake by eating more leafy greens, tofu, tempeh, oats, dried fruit..etc -good sources of iron. But I wanted to share with you my cholesterol level. The doctor looked at it and was shocked. She said she had never seen anyone's cholesterol so low!!! I'm at a whopping 127 mg/dL. The average American cholesterol level is 215 mg/dL (says Lipid Research Clinics Program Epidemiology Committee as found in The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II). I'm on board with the Chinese who average around a 127! An excerpt from The China Study reads:
" At the outset of the China Study, no one could or would have predicted that there would be a relationship between cholesterol and any of the disease rates. What a surprise we got! As blood cholesterol levels decreased from 170 mg/dL to 90 mg/dL, cancers of the liver, rectum, colon, male lung, female lung, breast, childhood leukemia, adult leukemia, childhood brain, adult brain, stomach and esophagus (throat) decreased. As you can see, this is a sizable list. Most Americans know that if you have high cholesterol, you should worry about your heart, but they don't know that you might want to worry about cancer as well."
Dr. Campbell goes on for a few pages about this. I'm writing this to inform you just how important your blood cholesterol levels are and to give some inspiration for those of you thinking of becoming vegetarian or vegan or just want to incorporate more veggies into your diet. So you should really be aware of what your cholesterol is.
How can you decrease your cholesterol level? By eating more plant-based foods such as legumes, light colored vegetables, fruit, carrots, potatoes, etc... and less or no meat, milk, eggs, fish, fat, and animal protein - well you knew that was coming :)
Definitely get The China Study. It's a fascinating book and I'm not exaggerating when I say it may save your life. 

Sebi Man

Beezie with the butt

If you look real close, you can see two eyes..

Oscar Man

He's so lucky he's cute......

Burgers Baby!

We had the yummiest dinner EVER tonight! And it was super duper easy.
- Veggie Burgers
- Broccolini
- Sweet Potato Fries
*First things first: get the oven pre-heated and the burgers in the pan.

Burgers
We were shopping at whole foods to get the stuff Trader Joe's doesn't carry, and we were starving. So we spent about 8 minutes in front of the frozen veggie burgers drooling over all of the selections we had no idea they had! We came across the new Bahama Rice Burger. These are gluten free, vegan, no soy (for those of us who are a wee bit sensitive to it), cholesterol free, high in fiber - they're amazing. We went with the Jerkin' Spicy. These were mushy when they warmed in the pan, so throw them on first thing, and let them cook until crispy and browned.