Wednesday, August 31, 2016

...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...I do have an F.O.

...The Triangle Shawl for the N.O.A.H. group at Church...

...I would have shown it to you already...I thought that I already had a photo...but I left it at the Church after the group met the last time...then I couldn't find a photo of it finished...so then I meant to go back and take a photo...but when I looked in the closet where we keep our prayer shawls...it was gone...

...and I'm happy about that as it means that it has a new home...
...and then I found the F.O. photo...so there you go...
...and the little pink baby blanket should be finished...but it's not...
...I did get all of the squares made...just no border yet...
...and I ran out of one of the pinks I was using...and had to try and match it from my stash...
...this is what I came up with...so 2 squares are just that much different...can you tell the difference?
...I'll put them right in the center of the blanket...

...so next week...there should be another F.O. ...I love that...

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

...Tuesdays with Julia...

...today is like a bonus day over at The Vegan Version...three recipes for one dessert...

...so first you make VEGAN PÂTE À BABA ET BABAS...and that's the Master recipe...
...then you make a syrup and you have Vegan Babas au Rhum
...and finally you decorate them and you have Vegan Babas au Rhum, Classique

...they were fun and tasty...and we had them for dessert with Mom...

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, August 29, 2016

...Mom's visit and the ongoing Birthday Celebration...

...my Mom came for a visit over the weekend...

...we had so much fun!
...and since she didn't see me on or around my birthday...she brought some pressies with her...
...a lot of presents...
...and then...since I wouldn't be seeing her again before her birthday next month...

...we went ahead and gave her her birthday present too...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

Saturday, August 27, 2016

...Vegan Tofu Pomodoro...

...man...I was wishing I'd made this Wednesday...because it was really just a quick as the meatballs that I wound up making because I was in a hurry...and it was so delicious...and so pretty...

...it's a wonderful main dish for company or just when you want something a little special without a lot of fuss...
...start by cooking your tofu in a little bit of olive oil until nice and golden...
...remove and salt...
...and pepper to taste...
...then deglaze the pan with some vodka...
...cook until the alcohol evaporates...
...add some lemon juice...
...and vegan chicken stock...
...put the tofu back in the pan...
...add some fresh chopped tomatoes...I sure you can use canned if you don't have fresh...
...add some cashew cream...
...heat through...and you're ready to serve...

...seriously...like 15 minutes start to finish...
...it was so (SO) delicious!...
...and very pretty too...

Vegan Tofu Pomodoro


Ingredients

one block of extra firm tofu
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1⁄4 cup vodka
1⁄2 cup vegan chicken flavored bouillon
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1⁄2 cup tomatoes, chopped and seeded
2 tablespoons cashew cream
1⁄3 cup scallion, minced

Directions

Heat oil in skillet.
Saute tofu in oil till golden then remove to a platter.
Season tofu with salt& pepper.
Remove pan from heat and add vodka, stir, return to heat and cook stirring until vodka is nearly gone to deglaze the pan.
Add broth and lemon juice to pan.
Return tofu to pan.
Add tomatoes and cream to pan.
Heat through.
Sprinkle top with scallions for garnish.

~Have a lovely day!

Friday, August 26, 2016

...Frugal Fridays...Leftover Flaxseeds...

...y'all remember the other day when I made that delicious Vegan German Chocolate Cake...

...well...I made my regular Flax Seed Goo Egg Replacer...
...well...as always happens...there are leftover cooked gooey flax seeds...
...I froze my leftover goo in little pyrex cups...1/4 cup for one egg...and 1/2 cup for two...

...but then I still had my goopy flax seeds...

...and I thought hhhmmmnnnn...if I dried them out...and ground them up...I could still use those...in cornbread...in cereal...yogurt...somewhere...I'd use them...
...so that's just what I did...

...I spread them out on my dehydrator sheet...
...and dried them back out...
...and ground them up in my old coffee grinder...
...waste no want not...as Nanny used to say...

...what frugal thing have you done recently?...I love frugal things...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your weekend!

Thursday, August 25, 2016

...W.I.A.Y. ...

Breakfast - Toast with Vegan Cheese and Coffee with Vegan Creamer...
Lunch - Black Beans with Rice and Rice with Salsa...both leftover...
Dinner - Meatless Meatballs with BBQ sauce, tater tots, and fresh corn...we'd had a busy day...and I had to push the easy button...

...so...since that wasn't a very inspired menu...maybe you can inspire me with W.Y.A.Y. ...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

...W.I.P. Wednesday...a sweet pink granny square blanket...

...I gathered up several shades of pink and cream...
...and just started making sweet little pink and cream granny squares...
...my goal is to make 4 a day...for 5 days...and then sew them into strips...and add a border...and have a sweet little pink granny square baby blanket...

...what's in your work basket this Wednesday?...

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

...Tuesdays with Julia...

...I made the Clafouti aux Poires...and we all thought it turned out really pretty...
...and it was really really good too...I just love Clafouti...

...do you?...

...all of the particulars are over at The Vegan Version...

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, August 22, 2016

...Camera Fix...

...how to fix a Sony DSC-WX9 digital still camera screen...
...did I mention that Scout broke my sweet little point & shoot camera in France...he dropped it on concrete in Normandy...and the screen shattered...

...well...the little camera is getting pretty old...technologically speaking...but it still took perfect photos...you just couldn't see them on the shattered screen...and you also couldn't adjust any settings for nighttime photos...or flash...because you couldn't see the menu...
...and since it was so 'old'...we got it before the big Grand Canyon trip in 2011...we ordered the replacement screen from Amazon...but it actually shipped from China...so we had to wait a little while for it to arrive...
...I was so happy when it arrived...I still use my Kodak...but this little guy is very handy...

...but...it didn't look quite the 'same'...it had a metal border that I didn't see on ours...and so I was worried that it wasn't quite the same model...

...and I watched several videos to get an idea of how to proceed...but none for this specific camera...
...first I unscrewed every little screw I could find...and put those off to the side...there's nothing worse than going to put something back together and being unable to find all the screws...
...then I just popped the cover off...
...and gently and carefully flipped the little control panel to the outside...revealing what I needed access to...the ribbon to the screen...
...so I flipped the screen over to access the connection point...
...and do you see that little grey piece...I broke it because I didn't know how to remove the ribbon connector...

...there's a little black plastic bar that has to be lifted...first...arghhhh!...

...then it was just a matter of putting the new ribbon connector in...and pushing the little black bar down...

...I snapped the little broken grey piece back in place too...and it held...I think it's an insulator of some sort...but it would of course be better if I hadn't broken it...
...did everything else in reverse...put the cover back on...and screwed in all the screws...

...and ta-daaa!... it worked...the new little screen...with it's silver border works perfectly...bright clear images...I couldn't be happier with my $20 camera fix...

...what have you 'fixed' lately?...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

Saturday, August 20, 2016

...KitchenAid Mixer Out of the Gates...

...I love having back and forth conversations with my internet friends who post comments...

...well...my dear friend Elizabeth (who blogs at Bits of Sunshine) and I were chatting back and forth about my beautiful Kitchenaid mixer that I got for my birthday...

...and I mentioned that I'd not EVEN used it yet...and she asked me what I was going to make for it's inaugural employment...and I said that I thought I'd make a German Chocolate Cake...

...and so I was searching the internet for vegan recipes...and I found out a lot of trivial information about German Chocolate...did you know that it was originally German's Chocolate...way back in the 1800's...and that it had a low cocoa content...hence the milky coloured German Chocolate cakes of my youth...anywhoo...fascinating Wiki article here...

...but Elizabeth who seems to know me all too well...suggested this one...from The Pretty Bee...

...now...I didn't have any gluten free flour in the house...so I just used regular flour...and it turned out perfectly...

...I had looked at several other recipes...and chose this one because of the rich, dark looking chocolate...I love dark chocolate...
...I made the sauce first...as I didn't want it to be boiling hot when the cakes were ready...
...I didn't have the Trader Joe's coconut she specifies...so I just used regular ol' grocery store coconut...it worked fine...
...and then I broke out the new mixer...so much fun!
...one more substitution...I make vinegar cakes all the time...but decided to go with my trusty flax seed goo/EnerG egg replacer for this one...
...the batter was darker than regular German Chocolate Cake batter...but probably not as dark as devils food...it was delicious though...one of the best things about vegan baking is being able to taste the batter...YUM!
...and the Man had the bright idea of swirling some of the icing into the cake...like a streusel...I was skeptical...
...but it turned out really pretty...
...so much so that I was tempted to just put the rest of the icing in the middle and leave the top bare...
...see...isn't that pretty...
...but...in the end...I went the traditional route...
...and iced the top...
...but not the sides...and arranged some hole pecans around the top...
...this cake is so delicious...what a perfect way to initiate the Kitchenaid Mixer....

~Have a lovely day!