Faux cheese

The other day I decided to take a shot at making a vegan cheese, looking around in the kitchen, and remembering some other vegan cheese recipes, I collected some ingredients, and mixed them together. It tasted pretty good, but it was a paste. The next time I made it, I decided I would mix in some coconut oil, to see if that could give me a firmer cheese. And oh my, it definitely worked. It's a bit salty, and very strong, but I really like it, and my mom loves it.

It is very strong, a bit salty, fairly similar to a very fancy, sharp cheese, and since it's so strong, I'd suggest not making any double batches.

Anyway, on to the "Recipe" I hesitate to call it that, because I didn't measure at all, so these are extremely rough estimates. I'll try to measure next time. I tried to have the estimates be a little on the short side, because you can always add more, but you can't take it away.

About 1/2 teaspoon white/mellow miso

About a tablespoon nutritional yeast (Regular will not do! If you must, you can probably use brewer's yeast)

About 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

About 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

A little sprinkle of garlic powder

A tiny, tiny bit of horseradish

About 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini

Melted coconut oil

Mix everything together except the coconut oil, taste it, and adjust to however you like. Then add about three-four times that full amount of melted coconut oil. More for a firmer, milder cheese, less for a softer, stronger cheese (I'd go closer to the four times as much)

Re-adjust seasonings if you need to. If it's not mixing well, add some more tahini. Once it's all mixed and tastes really good, chill it for a while until you can shape it, then shape it however you want. (I made a little wheel, sort of) Then wrap it up in foil or something, and chill for at least an hour until it's firm.

Then get out some cracker, apples, or whatever you like, and enjoy! (Be sure to slice it thin though, it really is very strong!)

I won some cookies!

I won some Intention Cookies! I've never won a giveaway before, so this is really awesome! Also, these cookies sound absolutely delicious. I will let you know what I think when they arrive. I'm especially excited about the Love, and Well-Being cookies. But they all sound great.

I'll probably do another post later in the day.

Breakfast bagel

Here's breakfast one day. Much fancier than my breakfasts usually are (I am definitely not a morning person).

It's a lightly toasted bagel, spread with lots of hummus, then with soaked and sliced sun-dried tomatoes, and sliced olives. It was really good, especially while it was still warm. Yum!

Christmas gifts

Sorry I didn't post this before Christmas, I was going to, but I didn't want to ruin the surprise for everyone I'd be giving them to. And then I would have posted around new years, but my grandpa couldn't make it here on Christmas, so we had a late mini Christmas yesterday, and I didn't want to ruin the surprise for him either. But anyway, I can post about it now!

I made some soaps. You can find big things of soap at crafts stores, and then you just melt it, add fragrance, color, and sometimes add-ins. Like to the lavender soaps I added in some real lavender. Then you mold it, (I use those disposable loaf pans because they're a good size and shape to make good soap slices, and because they're flexible so I can take the soap out easily) let it cool, and then slice it. I made lavender soaps and cucumber-melon.

Then I made some candles, just melt some wax, add a tiny tiny bit of crayon (For color), and fragrance, then put them in whatever mold or container and add a waxed wick.

I made rose, (The pink ones), lemongrass (Th yellow one), pine (The trees), and cucumber melon (The green ones)

And then of course I made some truffles.

I made a bunch of different kinds, and on each kind I drizzled on a different pattern in dark chocolate. For the lemon ones I did a zigzag, for the orange ones I did a spiral, for the coffee ones I did a waffle, and I left the mint ones plain. And then I also had chocolate covered crystalized ginger, and chocolate coconut balls.

I wrapped some of them in the same bags I wrapped the soaps in, and some in cute little boxes with hearts on them. Somehow I didn't get a picture.

I also made some almond bars. So pretty!

And peanut butter fudge! Recipe from a friend.

2 cups peanut butter (Sorry, not natural!)
3/4 cups margarine
2 cups powdered sugar
3 cups (one 14.4 ounce package) graham crackers, crumbled
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Beat 1 1/4 cups peanut butter and all the margarine in a large bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in 1 cup powdered sugar.
With hands or wooden spoon, gradually work in remaining cup of powdered sugar, graham cracker crumbs, and 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Spread mixture into greased pan.

Melt remaining 3/4 cup peanut butter with remaining 1 1/2 cup chocolate. mix, then spread over graham cracker crust. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Not exactly healthy, but tasty!

I also made a whole wheat pancake mix for a few people, which I put in jars with instructions taped to the jar.

I considered also making some sauces, or seasoning mixes, but I was too busy.

I also made some gingerbread, and pumpkin-oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies (No walnuts or raisins, but with added chocolate chips) and put them in cute bags with ribbons. Which I apparently didn't take a picture of. Probably because it was really really late.

You guys can come back to this post around Christmas time if you want, otherwise, maybe this will be useful for a birthday gift or something.

Curry stir fry

I was all out of teriyaki sauce one day, but really wanted some stir fry. This is from December 8th, so I might not remember it all.

The sauce was ginger, garlic, curry paste, curry powder, lemongrass, galangal (Optional), soy sauce, vegetable broth, and flour to thicken it. (And maybe a few other things)

I pan-fried some tofu, and for the veggies, I hadn't gone to the store recently when I made this, so I just used a frozen veggie mix instead of fresh. It was a mix of broccoli, yellow carrots, red bell pepper and green beans. All of that served over some quinoa. It was a bit more work than my usual stir fry, but definitely a lot yummier, despite the veggies being frozen. I will definitely make it again.

I received a Happy 101 Blog Award!

Kelli at Animal-Friendly Eating nominated me for this award. Thank you! I would nominate you too if you weren't already nominated.

Here are the rules: List 10 things that make you happy. Try to do at least one of them today, and tag 10 bloggers that brighten your day. For those 10 bloggers who get the award, you must link back to my blog.

10 things that make me happy: (In no particular order)

• Animals (Cats, dogs, bunnies, rats, etc)
• Cooking
• Eating
• Gardening
• Time with friends and family
• Parties
• Blanket forts
• Making crafts
• Snow
• Learning

Blogs I nominate:

(I will try to list 10 I haven't seen with the award.)

• Choosing raw
• Eat'n Veg'n vegan food and recipes
• Happyveganface
• The Sunny Raw Kitchen
• The Vegan Mouse
• This Is Vegan
• Vegan Dad
• Vegan Crunk
• Vegan Eats & Treats
• Veganlicious

And.... Here's a contest!

Have a great week!

Rice noodle soup

For a while, I really liked those Simply Asia instant rice noodle soups. Just rice noodles, flavor packet, and dried vegetables. I didn't get them very often though, because they're pretty expensive. But then one day, when I was considering getting some, I realized that it's such a simple thing, I could easily make it myself. So I did, and every time I make it it gets better and better. The flavor has gotten pretty far from the Simply Asia soups, but I think this tastes even better, and is just as quick, but a tiny bit more work.

Frozen vegetables of choice (I use a frozen mix of peas, limas, corn, small pieces of green beans, and tiny carrot bits)

Rice noodles (Rice vermicelli)

Tofu (Optional)

Wakame (Optional

Green onions (Optional, but preferred)

About a tablespoon of white miso

1 cup vegetable broth

Water

Splash of soy sauce

Splash of lemon juice

Seasonings of choice (I generally use garlic powder, lemongrass, ginger, nutritional yeast, and black pepper)

Sesame seeds (Optional, for garnish)

Put whatever amount of noodles, vegetables, and tofu and wakame (If using) you'd like in a pot with enough broth and water for a large bowl. Put it on high, and wait for it to boil.

While you wait, add the miso, soy sauce, lemon juice, and seasonings in your bowl, and mix it all together, and add the green onions. Once the pot boils, add it to your bowl, stir, taste, and adjust if you'd like. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, and enjoy!

I was out of vegetable broth yesterday, so I just used water and extra miso and seasonings, and that worked great too.

(Sporks are the best utensil for this soup, luckily, I have a titanium spork!)

Jasmine

Hello. I'm sorry I haven't really posted in weeks. I was really busy with Christmas, and then my bunny passed away, and then we had a new years party, so I've been busy. For this post, I'm going to skip out on food, and just post some pictures of my sweet little bunny Jasmine, who passed away recently. I'll post some food and talk about the year in the coming weeks.

(Earlier this month)
Jasmine was a Netherland Dwarf rabbit, and as sweet as can be, I took her everywhere with me, my grandpas house, my friends houses, etc. She was an indoor rabbit, and lived in a cage most of the time, but she played in the living room or snuggled with me almost every day, she loved hopping around in the living room, or my bedroom, or outside, but she was also really social and liked snuggling or playing together.

(Earlier this month)

She liked playing with old CDs, she'd use them like frisbees and throw them around the room, she liked chewing baskets, she liked snuggling, running around, and she even knew a couple tricks. She knew "Come", "Go play" (meaning that she doesn't have to stay on my lap, she can go run around now) and she could stand up on her back legs on command.

(November 2006)
She was really social, and sweet, and really adorable. With a cute little smooshed looking face, and short ears.

(November 2006)

She got along with most people, she got along with dogs, and although I wouldn't let her, she would have been happy snuggling with some cats.

(November 2006)
I won't go into length about the death, I'd like to keep this post mostly about how wonderful she was, not how sad her death was.

(November 2006)

The vet was really nice, and did the best she could, and offered an autopsy free of charge (That we declined) and she even wrote us a really nice card yesterday.

(October 2009)
It's really hard, but I'm glad I got to have her as a friend for five or so years, and that I got to be there at the vet so she knew she was loved when she died. I'll miss her a lot, and I hope she's happy wherever she is.

Another giveaway!

I really like giveaways. I never win, but they're fun and exciting. And this one sounds really tasty.

So if you're interested, go ahead and read this one

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. And it'll probably be a while more before my next one. I'm just busy with Christmas. I've hardly done any shopping yet...

Raw for the day

So it seems that I can't be raw for a day as often as I'd like, (Once a week) because I tend to want to make things that have a variety of vegetables, so I can really only be a raw foodist for a day within a week of going to the store, which I don't do every week. So it will be less often than I'd like, but it'll still happen when I can. Maybe I'll do more raw meals to make up for it, rather than whole days.

Anyway! This week, for breakfast I just had a huge pile of sliced strawberries. It was really good.

For lunch I made raw sushi. Filled with carrot, red bell pepper, and green onion. I was a little upset that all of my avocados weren't ripe. But oh well. Cucumber or sprouts would also be tasty in the sushi. I'll tell you about the pate below.

Raw sushi is definitely not as photogenic as regular sushi, but it sure tastes good!

For dinner I made some raw wraps. Filled with nut pate, green onion, basil, carrot, red bell pepper, and tomato. All wrapped up in collard greens. Cucumber, sprouts, and avocado would also be a nice addition.

For the nut pate, and the pate for the "rice" for the sushi, I soaked a cup of cashews, and half a cup of almonds for an hour. Then I put them in the food processor and chopped them up pretty fine. Then I took away about half, and with the remaining half in the food processor, I added lemon juice, basil, tamari, a tiny bit of garlic, water and a little onion, and blended it up. At first I was worried, because it seemed really heavy, and just too fatty for sushi, and I was worried it would go horribly as sushi rice, and was regretting I tried nuts rather than sunflower seeds. Once I actually made the sushi though, it was totally fine. Then with the other half of the blended nuts, I added tamari, basil, bell pepper, and onion. I then added some of that to the "Rice" pate because I needed more of that, and to give it a little more flavor.

The nut pate for the wraps was really, really good. The pate for the sushi was also good, but not especially great. Although using nuts worked, I think next time I'll use sunflower seeds.

I have so many posts to do! I should start posting like crazy. But I'll probably be too busy to, being Christmas time and all.