Cinnamon Rolls

I have not had cinnamon rolls since before I went vegan and it has been worth the wait.
They're my sister's creation with a little help from The Joy of Vegan Baking.
She filled them with a concoction of walnuts, cinnamon, brown sugar and vegan butter and dressed them with a rich vanilla icing.

Note: The pictures do not do justice to the reality of goodness felt by my taste buds this morning while eating one for breakfast.

Soup: Roasted Butternut in broth of Coconut Milk

If I could, I would eat homemade vegan soup every day for lunch and dinner. (Soup for breakfast weirds me out) I'd dedicate an entire blog to soup.

One of the greatest things about soup is that it is so versatile. Often times, it's best when unplanned: you have something in the refrigerator (squash in this case) that needs to be used so you spontaneously make some soup of it.

This soup was made using the Roasted Butternut Squash recipe from Vegan World Fusion. It has a coconut broth and is spiced with a hint of cumin. It's great for a cold, drizzling day because not only does the soup's warmness neat your body and soul but the spices leave their heat within long after being consumed.

Like Girl Scouts - only better

I've been wanting to make these Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Cookies for quite some time and finally had the chance now that finals are over and break has begun.

I used this caramel recipe instead and it worked out fine. The cookies were ridiculously messy and absolutely delicious.

Would you like some Apple with your Caramel?

Yet another dorm-style creation- I wouldn't recommend using plastic forks as sticks unless you absolutely have to.
The whole process was actually pretty low maintenance, easy and a lot of fun. I didn't have a candy thermometer so used a caramel recipe that didn't require one. The recipe calls for one cup of the sweetened condensed milk. I used the recipe provided for the sweetened condensed milk but added all of it to the caramel mixture which worked well.
Toppings may include chocolate sauce, pretzels (my favorite), walnuts etc. I encourage you to be creative.

Needums: I guess its a Maine thing...

My neighbor from the east coast recently introduced me to a Maine delicacy.

Not only are needums delicious, they're also a simple and extremely low maintenace treat to create.

Simply combine potatoes, sugar and cocount and you've got goodness. Traditionally they're cut into squares and dipped in chocolate... however she did it dorm style in which there's no double broiler in sight and the closest thing to a jelly roll pan is a disposable pie plate.

Winter Flowers

Camp Food

As a pre-orientation to college, I participated in an environmental service project with 12 amazing people. We lived together for 9 days in the depths of a temperate rainforest, 9 miles in, camping along the Hoh River in Northern Washington state. In addition to the amazing people the trip involved some amazing trees, sunsets and food!

Towards the end of the trip we were left with an assortment of miscelaneous items: 6 tubes of pesto, one onion, a few peppers, lots of spices, tomato sauce, oil and bread in crumbles. The bread crumbs were lighly stir fried and spiced. Meanwhile, the onion and peppers were chopped and sauteed oil. The pesto and tomato sauce was added until hot and then served over the bread crumbs. MSR Dragonfly stoves were used as heating agents while rocks were used as cutting boards.

One of the planned meals was a Thai dish that was really quite simple but wonderful. Rice noodles were cooked and then stirfried in a lightly spiced curry sauce with cashews.

Review: Anthony Bourdain's 'Kitchen Confidential'

Anthony Bourdain is an asshole. With that said, however, I enjoyed reading this book...or well most parts anyway. Bourdain takes you into the kitchen frenzy of New York's culinary scene.

His text ignited my inner desire to become a vegan chef and left me wanting to know more about great cuisine and go cook something vegan and delicious.

I think reading this book as vegan ensures a completely different perspective than that of non-vegans. Such a great concentration is placed on feasting upon the dead, french delicacies such as fois gras, veal, and amazing creatures from the sea (which is really quite saddening). These "delicacies" are tradition, passed down from generation to generation but a transition is definitely being made. Some are stiff about their food preferences but it's becoming quite trendy to eat more natural- delicious food that maybe raw and significantly contributes less to the warming of planet earth.

(This have went from review to rant/rave) I feel my English skills slipping away as a the summer passes. Thankfully I'll be continuing my English and writing skills this fall.

Confessions of a Chocoholic

Velvet Cake from How it All Vegan

filled with

Caramel Filling From Vive Le Vegan

covered in

Chocolate Frosting

Gnocchi

In an attemp to cure stomach cramps that I swear are out to kill me, Imade some gnocchi.

It seemed to do the trick however, gnocchi is best made with the one you love.

But it's Sunday night and the only date I have is with the stack of homework that seems to have grown over the weekend so gnocchi alone must suffce.

Note: Itailicezed because I mock alone. In actuality I'm not alone but rather in my sister's presence as she plays Moby's latest song over and over and over on myspace. Well her space.

The preparation of gnocchi is really very simple. You don't even need a recipe ,just flour and potatoes or yams or sweet potatoes. Tonight was the first time I ever did it with yams which were fine but I still think that I like potatoes better.

To prepare the dough you can really cook the potatoes any way you like.

Boil them. Cook them in the oven. Roast them over a campfire. Bake them with a recycled cardboard box. Steam them.

Just make sure they're soft.... or your trek to gnocchi may become a difficult one.

Smash the potatoes and start combining with flour. For about six small potatoes or two medium to large yams, I would recommend about 2 cups. But add the flour in parts just until you have a doughy glob that you can roll- just like when you made snakes with playdo as a child (or still do).

Then cut into inch sized pieces.

The next step is ridge making.

(Ridges help sauce stick to the pasta)

You can invest in a gnocchi ridege maker or the fork.

Press rideges gently into gnocchi.

Then drop the gnocchi into salted boiling water. When they're done they'll rise to the top. (About 2 or 3 minutes)

Remove from water with a slotted spoon and enjoy!

A Few Gnocchi tips-

• Don't let the name scare you. Its really quite delicious to say and eat
  
• Salt the water well and make sure it's boiling like crazy before you drop in the gnocchi
  
• A ridge maker is absolutely necessary, well not really but it's more fun


• Gnocchi is way better than boxed pasta


• Just a little pepper on top will do or go for some pesto or marinara or roasted red pepper sauce