Soup in Summer?

A little while ago I came across this recipe for Pumpkin-Butternut Squash Soup with Kale.  It looked so yummy - with a lot of my favorite flavors all mixed into one bowl of goodness - that I knew I wanted to try it.  But the recipe's author, Tina, wrote her post in March, when a warm bowl of soup always sounds just perfect.  It doesn't seem to make as much sense in summer ... especially when said summer is the sweltering heat of DC. 

 

But it looked so good I decided to crank up the AC and give it a try anyway.  Fortunately, unless you've just been outside for a steamy run, a bowl of soup is still quite nice in summer.  It's a bit like a shower - sometimes making your body warmer actually makes your surroudings feel that much cooler! 

 

I tweaked the recipe just a bit by nixing the ricotta, cinnamon, and nutmeg, (of course) substituting soy milk for cow's, and increasing the milk a bit - probably because I also used a lot more kale to make the whole thing more filling.  I'd say I ended up with proportions more like: 1/2 cup butternut squash, 1/2 cup pumpkin, 3/4 cup milk, 1 1/2 cups kale, salt and pepper.

 

Definitely a winner in my book.  It's so simple to throw together and low in calories but still substantial enough to serve as a main course.  I made it three times in one week (until my pumpkin ran out).  Plus Panda enjoyed helping to make sure every bit of pumpkin got used up.  I'm sure this soup will be that much better once it gets cold again - can't wait!

Back on Track With Healthy Dinners

After ten days of overindulging in Scotland, both Josh and I were eager to get ourselves onto a healthier routine as soon as we got home.  We arrived into DC late Monday night, but fortunately I took Tuesday off from work so  that I could get myself back on US time, and take care of things around the house like unpacking more and getting groceries.  But of course the first order of business was to retrieve Panda from Josh's parents' house and cuddle a ton.  Even though she gave me the cold shoulder when I first picked her up, she warmed up eventually and spent most of the rest of the afternoon snuggling.  She definitely missed us while we were gone! 

 

I quickly made a dinner plan to get us through the rest of the week with a bunch of healthy meals (plus one meal out for me for Thursday evening's book club).  To start things off on Tuesday night, I made a healthy salad of romaine, grape tomatoes, pine nuts, cucumber, vegan Parmesan, and olive tapenade which served as the dressing.  I also toasted some sliced bread brushed with the water from a jar of diced garlic - instant garlic bread! 

 

I kept to the salad kick for dinner Wednesday night by mixing up a Southwestern-inspired salad of romaine, black beans, canned corn, grape tomatoes, avocado, leftover Southwestern salad topping that we didn't finish on the trip, and a "dressing" made from vegan sour cream, lime juice, and Chalula.  This one was so delicious I made it again last night for dinner too! 

For Friday night I made an oldy-but-goody, Thai tofu with broccoli and edamame.  This one is so simple, but healthy and delicious!  Just press tofu then pan fry it a few minutes on either side.  Toss in broccoli and frozen edamame for a few minutes at the end, and serve over bean threads that have been softened then tossed with red pepper flakes and sesame oil.  I could eat this meal almost every night!  

Panda Visits the Vet

Happy Friday!  TGIF, right?  Not so much for me because we're moving ONE WEEK FROM TOMORROW!!!  Yeah, I'm pretty much freaking out.  We have so much crap, and so little of it is packed. 

 

To make matters worse I had to take Panda to the vet yesterday.  She hates strangers and the vet is the worst stranger of them all.  My sweet little girl just disappears at the vet and she turns into a homicidal maniac.  They actually have a note on her chart warning them that she's nuts. 

 

They were able to pacify her for most of the examination using wet food on a little plate.  She happily chomped away with only a few growls while they poked and prodded - even when she got her temperature taken you-know-where! But after a while she caught onto the trick and proceeded to have none of it.  They wrapped her up in a towel for the needle part, with a strategy they called "burritoing".  I'll never look at a burrito the same way again.  Poor Panda ...

 

But she survived and they said she looks good and isn't even too overweight.  Yay for small victories! 

 

Now I can go back to concentrating on packing and cleaning ...  I already killed 1/4 of my brain cells this morning using the super oven cleaner foam. 

Sailing the Chesapeake

Friday evening Josh and I were invited to a friend's house in Annapolis to go sailing.  I wasn't sure what the food situation would be, so I decided to make banana chocolate chip oatmeal cookies to share ... and to make sure I would have something to eat myself.  Panda was more than happy to help make sure the bowl got all clean. 

 

These cookies are pretty easy (as long as you already have all the ingredients on-hand), and everyone always loves them.  I've brought them into work without ever telling anyone they were vegan, and people just raved about them. 

For this version I used pecans (because that's the nut I had), but usually I use walnuts or you could go without nuts at all. But that would be nuts! (See what I did there?) 

 

It was a beautiful day for sailing.  It was really hot on land, but with the lovely breezes on the bay it was quite comfortable.  We stayed out for a couple of hours enjoying the sights and the company.

And I'm glad I brought the cookies!   We stayed out until sunset, with nothing but cheese and crackers, cookies, and champagne.  I munched on a few plain crackers, but that definitely wouldn't have been enough to hold me until dinner.  When we finally came in we took a bit before heading out to a Mexican restaurant where I enjoyed an avocado salad with no cheese.  By that point I was starving.  Good thing I'd had a few cookies to tide me over.  (Ha!  Too many puns today ...) 

Crazy Morning and Vegan Goulash

Tuesday morning started out interestingly.  I was woken up by the sound of Panda trying to cough up a hairball.  I stumbled out of bed and tried to chase her into the kitchen so she could throw up on  the tile instead of the carpet.  Of course she took this to be an act of hostility.  She started running around the apartment with her tail poofed up, hissing and growling.  Oddly enough with all the running around she seemed to forget that she ever intended to cough up a hairball.  Or at least I never found one ...

Since I was up so early I decided to take the opportunity to get in a good morning workout. Once I was finished and cleaned up I got to work on my morning protein shake.  This one was going to be good - using the Silk dark chocolate almond milk.  Of course no sooner had I made it then I promptly spilled the whole thing all over the kitchen counter.  This wouldn't be such a problem if we were more organized people, but my boyfriend and I have tons of junk mail covering the counter.  Which then ended up covered in chocolate protein shake.  Yuck!  It took forever to mop up all the shake.  So then of course I barely made it on time for work.  Ugh!

Mid-morning I snacked on some pistachios.  I've always heard these are a good snack because they're slow to eat (because you have to shell each one), which keeps you from downing too many.  That doesn't seem to be the case for me.  They might have slowed me down, but not so much that I didn't still eat about a million of them. 

For lunch I had delicious leftover lasagna.  Lasagna's one of those foods that's just as good (if not better!) the next day.  It's perfect for lazy mornings when you don't have time to make a lunch.  Or maybe for those mornings when you have a few other things on your mind ...

Mid-afternoon I needed another little snack, so I munched on some dried mixed berries. 

When I got home from work I was in the mood for a more involved dinner preparation, so I decided vegan goulash was the perfect dish. 

 

 Everything you need for delicious vegan goulash ... The crucial missing ingredient in this picture?  Marsala wine!  I forgot to take it out of the fridge before I took this photo and didn't get it out until I'd used up or put away the other ingredients.  (Just picture it sitting in that empty space next to the paprika ... )

The goulash turned out amazing, as usual.  Rather than the egg noodles I used to use, I decided to try using shell pasta instead.  The substitution was great, and made the whole thing vegan! 

 

After dinner I needed just a little something sweet, so I had a small bowl of chocolate tofu.  This stuff is seriously addicting.  I know it looks just like ice cream, but it's more like a firmer version of chocolate mousse.  And it comes out of the fridge looking like that ... Weird, huh?

I'm a Baking Machine (Part 1)

Monday morning started out not bright but early with a chocolate banana protein shake.  In fact, it never really got bright all day.  It was pretty much raining, storming, or about to rain literally all day.  Not too fun.  But fortunately I made things a bit brighter inside by spending a lot of my day baking for a work lunch that happened today. 

 

Panda loves it when I bake.  She spends the whole time stalking around hoping I'll let her lick something.  She's not all that stealthy about it.  Mostly she circles my feet, rubbing up against my legs, and then springs up into the sink if she sees me drop anything in there.  I know it's not good for her, so I try to rinse things off as best I can, but she always seems to think there's still lots of good flavor to be had.  She'll even drink the water!  '

I planned to make two different treats for the lunch: the horchata cupcakes I mentioned yesterday, and these thin mint cookies.  Since the cupcakes were a new recipe, I wanted to hedge my bets by making the cookies too just in case the cupcakes were a disaster.  Luckily, they weren't ... so I ended up with two delicious vegan treats to share! 

 

I also planned to make both desserts over the course of two days to cut down on the workload.  Monday I made the cupcakes and the cookies themselves, while Tuesday I made the cupcake frosting and chocolate cookie coating.  Lots of work, but these desserts are worth it! 

 

For lunch I ate the rest of my eggplant parmesan sandwich and fries that I had saved from dinner at Lost City Diner ... yuck!  Even worse as leftovers ...  But I hate to waste food. 

 

To make up for all that grease I snacked on some fruit salad after lunch.  The fruit salad was actually leftover from my friends' going away party.  They ordered way too much food for the party, so I was more than happy to help them get rid of some of it! 

 

 

Then once I'd started snacking I couldn't stop.  For the rest of the afternoon I snacked like crazy.  First some pistachios ...

 

And then some cherries ...

 

And finally I went hard core and grabbed the dark chocolate dreams peanut butter! 

 

Plus of course I'd sampled some of my baking creations as I went along ... a spoon lick here, and big chunk of cookie batter there.  Hey, there's no eggs, so no worries! 

 

For dinner I decided I needed something pretty light and fresh, so I whipped up B.A.T. sandwiches - bacon, avocado, and tomato.  It's fake bacon, of course, but I can't very well call them F.A.T. sandwiches, can I? 

Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake

I started Thursday morning off bright and early with a small glass of watermelon agua fresca.  Followed by a protein shake, of course.  Thursday's protein shake of choice was banana mango with vanilla protein powder, flax seed, and vanilla soymilk.  Yum, yum, yum. 

Mid-morning I snacked on a chocolate pumpkin pie cookie.  Still delicious a few days later! 

For lunch I enjoyed leftover sesame noodles.  Unfortunately, these don't hold up quite as well as leftovers as some other recipes.  The sauce dries up a bit and even sprinkled with water and microwaved a bit, they just aren't the same as that first night.  I guess the lesson is ... eat it all when you first make it! 

Mid-afternoon I snacked on some apple mango applesauce.  Guess it was a very mango-y day! 

Of course that little apple sauce wasn't enought o hold me over, so still later in the afternoon I snacked on some oatmeal mixed with peanut butter.  Can't get enough of this stuff! 

Dinner Thursday was another B.A.T. sandwich - super easy, and super yummy. 

 

Meanwhile, Panda watched closely from the comfort of one of her daddy's slippers.  She's so hilarious.  Not sure why she likes to try to snuggle into these when she's celarly way too big for them, but she ends up there all the time! 

After dinner I decided to try to use up the pumpkin puree I had leftover from making chocolate pumpkin pie cookies.  I didn't follow a recipe, but started randomly mixing ingredients together: pumpkin puree, vegan cream cheese, vegan sour cream, sugar, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. 

The mix was so good I could probably have eaten the whole bowl straight as-is. 

 

But what I'd created looked like the makings of a tasty no-bake pumpkin cheesecake, so I decided to pour the mix into a Wegman's pre-made graham cracker crust.  

I stuck the pie in the freezer for a couple of hours for it to set up, but then of course I had to try my creation.  Just as predicted, my first try at vegan pumpkin cheesecake was a success!  It hadn't frozen all the way, but the semi-thawed texture was probably even better than if it had been frozen.  I could probably have gobbled the whole thing up, but I managed to stick to one slice ... for now! 

Almond Cupcake Mega Fail

Saturday morning we were out of bananas (tragedy!) so I had to go without my usual morning protein shake.  Fortunately, I had picked up this caramel apple crunch cereal on my trip to Target Friday, and I was really excited to try it. 

I'd been especially careful to check the ingredient list closely, given several bad experiences with not reading ingredient lists lately.  I didn't think anything with "caramel" in the title would be vegan, but it was! 

 

And it turned out to be delicious with vanilla soy milk.  I realize most people would use plain soy milk for cereal, but I never got in the habit of buying plain soy milk unless I need it for a specific (usually savory) recipe.  And since I always end up using vanilla soy milk in things like cereal or to make chocolate milk, now I feel like plain soy milk tastes too soy-y and I don't have a taste for it. 

After breakfast I had decided I wanted to try making a batch of almond cupcakes using this almond cake recipe but subbing out the eggs and butter.  I've made the recipe twice before - once using a spring form pan as the recipe intends and once as cupcakes using silicon molds.  I thought the cupcakes went much better because the large cake ended up under cooked in the center, so I planned to go with cupcake-size again. 

 

The intense almond flavor of the cake comes from almond paste and almond extract and tastes amazing.  It tastes great plain, but when I made cupcakes before I made a chocolate glaze and then sprinkled coconut flakes on top to make Almond Joy-inspired cupcakes.  I always imagined this cake would be good with canned peaches as well.  There are just so many possibilities! 

 

I started busily preparing the recipe and things were going pretty well.  I don't have a food processor or stand mixer, so I was left to use a hand mixer and my bare hands to prepare the mix.  But mixing the sugar, flour, and Earth Balance butter into a sand-looking mixture by hand went well and I felt like I got the consistency I was supposed to have. 

 

The recipe calls for 6 whole eggs, so to sub out the eggs I turned to Ener-G egg replacer. 

 

The Ener-G egg replacer powder mixes with water and creates a frothy, bubbly, white liquid that looks a lot like slightly beaten egg whites. 

I continued mixing all the ingredients together and the final mix looked like I expected it to. 

Panda helped clean off the mixers, and she seemed to think the batter tasted right too.  (Plus no worries about salmonella!) 

Unfortunately, when I checked on the cupcakes half-way through baking I saw that things didn't appear to be going that well.  I don't know if it was my vegan substitutions or that I had overfilled the cupcake wells, but the batter overflowed dramatically and then sunk down leaving big holes where cupcakes should be. 

I let them keep baking still hoping for the best, but this is what I ended up with:

The edges were like way overdone cookies, while what was left of cupcakes in the center had deep depressions and overcooked sides.  They looked like a terrible failure!  I cut away the overflowed portions hoping to salvage what I could. 

Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about the deep depressions in the center of each cupcake.  Or about the overcooked sides that made it almost impossible to get a cupcake out of the pan.  (And this was a non-stick pan that I had sprayed and floured!) 

 

The cupcakes still tasted good (and I will post more about that later), but they're certainly not anything I would want to serve to a guest!  And worse still, I don't know for sure what went wrong, so I will just have to make them again to see if I can correct it.  At least I know the egg replacer didn't hurt the flavor at all.  Maybe I'll be making almond cake again next weekend ...