Cooling Rack Full of Love

It's cold here. It's 41 degrees (Fahrenheit) according to my computer. I haven't ventured outside to feel it, because 1) I don't have to, and 2) It's raining.

I bought groceries yesterday and stocked up one some canned pumpkin. It's a generic brand, but I think it will be okay. So after eating my soup for lunch, I decided I needed to do some baking. And wa-la - I Stumbled Upon this website, which has this recipe.

Ah, pumpkin and chocolate. One of my all-time favorite combinations. Does this call for some afternoon coffee? I believe so...

Next time I am leaving out the almond extract. The almond flavor should be more subtle than it is. But they are still great muffins, perfect for the oncoming of a Minnesota winter.

Pumpkin Time Again!

I guess it's pretty obvious by my lack of posts on either blog that school has started, and I am back to work. It's not like I work really hard while I'm there. It's just that it takes up so much of my time! This leaves so little time for anything fun, like blogging, trying new recipes, or even cooking a decent meal some nights. I am bogged down by meetings, finding time to write my articles, cooking supper, keeping up on laundry, helping both boys with homework, filling out forms and writing out checks for the school, packing lunches, doing dishes, and sometimes remembering to take a shower.

I also had a party this last weekend that I had to clean and prepare for. I DESPISE cleaning, so this was a challenge for me. My friend is now selling bags, purses, and accessories so I invited a whole bunch of people to come over. I decided to make three different kinds of mini muffins, so people could try different kinds. The kids asked for chocolate chip. I wanted to make them all homemade from scratch and vegan, but life got really freaking stressful (we're talking tears here), so I bought box mixes for the chocolate chip, and found a box of brownie mix for 88 cents.

I did, however, make one kind vegan and homemade. I L.O.V.E. The Best Pumpkin Muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance, because they truly are the best.

I have recently learned to get everything ready before I begin. After all these years, I may become organized yet!



They were easily the best in the bunch (I'm sure) because they were homemade. But all the muffins were so cute and tiny! I bought a package of 100 mini liners and used all of them.



Three people showed up. Well, four, if you count my cousin's little girl who tagged along. Well, five if you count my mother-in-law who came early to look at the stuff, then took off. And one was my mom, who pretty much has to come.

I was thinking it would be fun for a change to host something, to make something for people, to have all these people that I like frolicking around my home, visiting with each other, laughing, having a great time, loving my muffins, saying things like, "These are vegan? Really?"

But it was not in the cards. I did have several outside orders which means I will get some good deals when I buy myself a new purse. And I am not mad at anyone who did not make it to the party. I understand there are a million legitimate reasons people couldn't be there. We had a good time anyway, and I had a LOT of muffins leftover! These four in the picture (three now, I just ate one) are the only ones left. This is a good thing because I am going to gain some weight if I keep eating these things!

There's nothing like pumpkin...with cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger, molasses, and all that....om nom nom nom...


Happy Autumn - full of pumpkins, squash, baking, Halloween, sweaters, beautiful leaves, soup, and scary movies. Hopefully I will be able to make something blog-worthy soon.

Baking in the Heat

This week has been unreal as far as temperature and humidity go. Most days I stay in the house where the AC keeps things nice and comfortable. But every so often I venture outside and sit and feel the sauna-like air, try to breathe it for a while. It makes me appreciate the central air even more when I go back inside.

Yesterday I was a total idiot and did a lot of baking and cooking, even though the temps were in the 90s. I recently bought a GIANT zucchini from an Amish farm and needed to do something with it. Thankfully, VegWeb decided to email me a bunch of zucchini recipes, anticipating an issue I'm sure many people have right now: an overabundance of zucchini.

The recipe for Superfantastical Banana Carrot Zucchini Muffins looked wonderful, so I went to work, with my little baker girl right there to help, of course.

I used like a cup of zucchini for these things. I am going to need a LOT more zucchini recipes, or else make a whole bunch of these and put them in the freezer. Hey, that's a good idea. Because they are really, really delicious!

I had to post this picture because it's a rarity these days. Grace tends to go into screaming fits when I pull out the camera, which breaks my heart. But after a little persuasion, I was able to snap this one of her filling the muffin pan.



These muffins were pretty low fat, made with half whole wheat flour, and full of veggies and fruit and happiness. Mmmmm....

In the background my tofu is pressing. I also spent a ridiculous amount of time and energy and heat making the Indian Baked Tofu I love so much. I make it not only because it's crazy awesome, but because Garrett loves it and begs me for it. "Ooh, make those little yellow things!" he says. Then he whines all night wondering when they will be done, because I don't start the pressing, marinating, and roasting early enough and we never get to eat until 8 p.m. But it's all worth it. I also boiled some tiny little red potatoes from the Amish, and threw what veggies I had left into a pan and steamed them. It was very satisfying.

True story: While I was dicing up the tofu, I had to stop Grace from eating all of it. RAW. "See, it's not gross, mommy!" Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Another true story: Grace so desperately wanted to help grate the carrots, even though all I had was some baby carrots. I was afraid that she would cut her finger. She said she didn't care if she cut her finger, and went to get a Band-Aid so she would be prepared. She worked her tiny little fingers hard. Thankfully, nobody was hurt.

Sunshine for Breakfast

Yesterday I made my first recipe from Vcon, and it was a success. I haven't made muffins for quite some time, and the recipe for Carrot-Pineapple Sunshine Muffins looked really tasty, and semi-healthy. And, as a bonus, it had crushed pineapple in it. I have found many ways to use up those 5 cans I found in my cupboard, all of them delicious.

I made the muffins, and ate one when it was still warm. It was kind of mushy in the middle and I was afraid that I had not cooked them long enough. I have a tendency to screw up muffins for some reason. But this morning I had one (okay, two) for breakfast and they were perfect. I was going to use applesauce instead of oil, but my applesauce was moldy, so these are the real deal. And mostly whole wheat flour, but they don't have that dry "healthy" taste to them. I left out the raisins because Garrett didn't want them in there, and then he didn't eat them anyway. Ugh! Garrett and Grace love to help, and Garrett was very happy to grate all of the carrots for me while I talked on the phone with my grandma. They made a mess, but they had fun!

Yum!