Category Archives: cooking things that aren’t pie

September 4, 2012 · 5:28 am

Vegan Kick Start – Day 1

I want to eat all these things

Today was the first day of the Vegan Kick Start I committed to as part of my 30 Before 30 list. Don’t worry, I won’t blog every day of it. That would be almost as exhausting – for me and for you – as the amount of cooking I’ll have to do the next 21 days.

I’ve been vegetarian for a decade and I do eat mostly whole/fresh food. However, I have two significant weaknesses that have prevented me from going vegan: ice cream (!!) and cheese (!!!). On my birthday a few days ago, I went to a vegan Italian restaurant that did some amazing cheese-like things with cashews, so perhaps there’s hope.

Since it’s only been a day, I can’t say that I feel any different – though Alicia Silverstone promises I will soon – but what I can say is that this is really going to test my ability to function as an adult human capable of cooking food, which is intimidating.

You might think that this blog’s title implies a fondness for cooking. And you would be wrong. I like to bake. But, when it comes to feeding myself my defaults are:  eat whatever is leftover from the last time Oliver cooked, eat whatever fruit is sitting around, or eat popcorn.Sometimes I’ll make toast. That doesn’t really cut it for this kick start which focuses not just on eliminating animal products, but also on actually being a healthy person. Damn it.

This will be a stretch, but possibly a good one, and if it goes well, maybe I can leave popcorn for dinner behind with my 20s.

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June 13, 2012 · 7:23 am

The worst thing about cupcakes….

Is the damn time it takes to frost them! Ugh.

The coolest thing about cupcakes is that I basically just used the same ingredients to make the filling, the actual cake and the frosting. Weird how you can combine butter, milk, flour and eggs to make so many different things. Man, chemistry, you blow my mind.

I’m definitely not going to convert to team cake any time soon though. It’s so time consuming. That saying “easy as pie” really means something, I think. I just chose cake tonight because I needed a time consuming project to keep me busy – staying up late tonight hoping to catch my brother in Helsinki on Skype. That 10 hour time difference is rough.

The result: sticky fingers and these:

White cake, lemon filling, vanilla/banana frosting.

 

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June 10, 2012 · 5:25 am

Quick and dirty (the post, not the food.)

Today was National Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie day. Guess who has two pounds of strawberries and four stalks of rhubarb slowly going bad in her refrigerator.

Today was also National Play Outside Day. I went running on a treadmill.

There’s a metaphor or a joke in there somewhere, but I can’t find it.

The day wasn’t a total bust though – after my run, I decided to make granola. (Did so before I showered after the run. There was definitely a smelly hippy making granola joke in there and, unfortunately for me, Oliver did find it. Multiple times. I’m glad he amuses himself…)

I like making granola because it’s easy and you can throw all the almost gone, random spices and nuts you have in the cupboard in to clear out clutter.

I might have gone overboard. We definitely don’t need five jars of granola.

Here’s what went into mine:

  • 8 cups of dry oats. (TOO MANY CUPS! I would have been fine with four.)
  • Pumpkin seeds, like 1/4 cup.
  • Walnuts. Half a cup I think.
  • Two tablespoons of flax seeds. 
  • Some random poppy seeds I found in the cupboard.
  • Two tablespoons of cinnamon. 
  • A tablespoon of nutmeg. 
  • A cup of agave syrup. 
  • A cup of vegetable oil. 
  • Two tablespoons of vanilla. 
  • NO SUGAR! So many recipes call for sugar and I don’t see why you’d need any thing more than the agave, personally.

Here’s how I made it:

  • Step one: Bring the oil, vanilla, agave, cinnamon and nutmeg to a boil in a saucepan.
  • Step two: Mix all the dry goods (oats, nuts, seeds, whatever other randomness you decide to throw in) together in a big bowl.
  • Step three: Pour the boiling contents of the saucepan into the big bowl of oats and nuts. Mix it all up.
  • Step four: Spread the granola mixture onto a couple cookie sheets (that you’ve greased up so the granola doesn’t stick.)
  • Step five: Bake the granola for 20-30 minutes in an oven that you’ve pre-heated to 325 degrees.
  • Step six: Have way too much granola on your hands. Enjoy!

As revenge for all the “smelly hippy” jokes at my expense, please enjoy this adorable photo of O snuggling with our cat, Nacho:

I’m seriously so lucky… both that I have these two in my life and that Oliver doesn’t read this blog…

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