Miss E sleeps over (and has a birthday)

Last Friday, our little granddaughter had her first sleepover at our house. She's used to spending time with us so when she arrived in the late afternoon, she removed her shoes and socks, and settled right into a comfy chair with a bowl of popcorn and a good book. (Little did she know that the book she was "reading" — an old favorite of mine called "Mr. Gumpy's Outing" — had once belonged to her Papa.)



For supper I made mac & cheeze with quinoa pasta and We Can't Say It's Cheese Cheddar Spread. After mixing the hot, cooked noodles and cheese in a baking dish, I sprinkled it with Parma and baked it briefly. I served it with a stirfry of silken tofu, shiitake mushrooms and broccoli seasoned with the miso topping from our recent Japanese cooking class. We also had salad with dijon dressing and seasoned croutons (tester recipes). The photo is of my plate. Miss E has her meals in a collection of small, unbreakable bowls. You know, just in case. She's a brilliant and beautiful girl but her table manners are ... undeveloped. Although she does say "please," as in "more mushrooms, please. More croutons, please. More broccoli, please."



Miss E was excited to come stay with us but I don't think she really quite understood the concept of "overnight." As she was getting ready for bed, she expressed the desire to go home, but I cheered her up with thoughts of waking up in the morning to have breakfast with us. "Would you like pancakes?" I asked her with sincere enthusiasm. We were good to go after that. So, in the morning I made pancakes with agave syrup, and I have to say they were delicious. I didn't use a recipe but the whole-grain cakes came out light and delicious. I added rice vinegar to the non-dairy milk and a bit of baking soda to the mix to approximate buttermilk pancakes. Miss E enjoyed her 'cakes with a side of organic grapes and a glass of almond milk.



After Miss E went home, I got to work making cakes for her two-year birthday on Sunday. She was born on Valentine's Day, and her parents had a party planned for about 30 adults and kids. I made two cakes — my standard chocolate cake with bittersweet frosting, and an almond-lime cake with rosemary-lime glaze that I was testing for Mihl of Seitan is My Motor. Because it was Valentine's Day, I made the chocolate cake in a heart-shaped pan. I split it into two layers, filled it with raspberry jam, and frosted it. The almond-lime cake was baked in a 12-cup Nordic Ware bundt pan that I was amazed to find at Goodwill for $2.99.* I really wanted a 6-cup pan but secondhand shoppers don't often have the luxury of choice.


Poppa Ken (A.K.A Grandpa holds the cake)

The party was a great success with lots of eating, talking, painting, a real bubble machine(!), shaving cream and other amusements. When it came time to add cake to the celebration, Miss E got a little overwhelmed. With all the guests belting out Happy Birthday, little Miss E didn't know where in that gaggle of legs to look. She did, however, thoroughly enjoy her cake, after the singing ended.



For her present, we gave Miss E a YogaKids DVD, a book about yoga and her very own yoga mat. She's fascinated with yoga and can do quite a few poses. She also received a pair of pink socks with hearts because, after all, her birthday is on Valentine's Day!

* While I was bopping around the net looking for info on bundt pans, I came across this handy hint for making cakes easy to remove from the pan. Grease the pan with a mixture of equal parts shortening (I used Earth Balance), flour and oil. One teaspoon of each should be more than enough. Don't use so much that you end up with white spots on your cake. It also said to set the pan on a steaming hot, wet towel in the sink for 10 seconds just after you remove it from the oven, then invert the pan over a cooling rack and the cake should come right out. I didn't want to end up with a big, wet towel so I put a small amount of hot water in the sink, set the pan in there for 10 seconds, and voila! The cake came right out.

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Etc.



This is a potato and beet salad my son made (and photographed for me) for the birthday party. The recipe is from "The Urban Vegan Cookbook." There was also an aioli from the cookbook that I didn't photograph.

Below are a bunch of tester recipes for Celine and Joni's upcoming cookbook.


Creamy Dijon dressing and seasoned croutons


Quiche


Quiche slice on a plate


Parmesan sprinkles


Western bacon cheeseburger


Seitan bowl

Wayfare Foods review | honest scrap award

The kind folks at Wayfare Foods sent me several samples of their product, We Can't Say It's Cheese. I was pretty excited to hear that this "cheese" is made from oats, and curious to try it. When my kids were young I made a lot more cheesy sauces than I do now, and one of our favorites was from Joanne Stepaniak's "The Uncheese Cookbook," and it was made mainly from oats and nutritional yeast. Also, my favorite soft serve ice cream, OatsCreme, is made from oats so I figured there was great potential here. I received four samples — Cheddar-Style Spread, Cheddar-Style Dip, Mexi-Cheddar-Style Dip and Hickory-Smoked Cheddar-Style Spread.


Very cute double-dipper with cheese stains

I tried the Cheddar-Style Dip first, and my initial reaction was that it reminded me a little of Cheez Whiz, though it's been an awfully long time since I've tasted that, so I could be wrong. I liked it but not as much as some of the other reviewers seemed to. I took the Cheddar-Style Dip and another sample — Mexi Cheddar-Style Dip— to a family dinner that included vegans, vegetarians and omnivores. My 2-year-old granddaughter loved the Cheddar-Style Dip, and had to be given her own dip in a bowl. (Even very cute people double-dipping is kind of unsavory.) She used a baby carrot to scoop it up and suck it off, and referred to it as "hummus." Everyone else ate it but to my surprise, no one was extremely enthusiastic, and there was a lot left over. Leftovers are unusual in our family. The Mexi-Cheddar-Style Dip was less well received than the Cheddar-style, and it sat relatively untouched. This is a group of people that LOVES spicy food so I was surprised by their reaction.



Today I tried the hickory smoked spread, and I really liked it. My husband thought it was good, too. I had some plain, and then used some to make a grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough bread. It had a pleasing, smoky-cheddary flavor, and the sandwich was good. Because the spread is already soft, it doesn't need to melt — just heat. In addition to spreading on crackers or bread, I can see using this product to conveniently add a cheddary flavor to sauces, baked goods and casseroles. I haven't tried the Cheddar-Style Spread, yet, but assume it's similar to the dip only thicker. I was kind of hoping for a mozzarella flavor but these dips and spreads are pretty dependent on nutritional yeast for their cheesy taste, making them more like cheddar.



Here is the promotional and nutritional information from the company:
Wayfare Foods has created incredible cheese alternative spreads and dips, and we’re just crazy about them! We Can’t Say It’s Cheese is not only absolutely delicious, it’s made only from simple high-quality ingredients, making it our favorite new brand for creamy, spreadable vegan cheese. Made from whole-grain oatmeal (though you’d never know it!), this unique and healthy product is unlike other vegan cheese spreads and dips in that not only does it taste like real dairy cheese, it’s actually good for you and isn’t loaded with artificial ingredients. We think it’s one of the best vegan cheese developments in years, so be sure to try it today and you’ll be a fan, just like we are! We Can’t Say It’s Cheese is available in 4 varieties – Cheddar Spread, Hickory Smoked Cheddar Spread, Cheddar Dip and Mexi-Cheddar Dip. Each 8 oz. (226g) container is $3.49.

Cheddar Spread ingredients: Non-GMO Whole grain oatmeal (water, oats), vegetable oil blend (may contain the following: safflower, olive, and coconut oil), sesame, pimentos (pimentos, water, citric acid), nutritional yeast, sea salt, calcium carbonate, onion powder, evaporated cane juice

Hickory-Smoked Cheddar Spread ingredients: Non-GMO Whole grain oatmeal (water, oats), vegetable oil blend (may contain the following: safflower, olive, and coconut oil), sesame, pimentos (pimentos, water, citric acid), nutritional yeast, sea salt, natural hickory smoke flavor (water, natural hickory smoke concentrate), calcium carbonate, onion powder, evaporated cane juice

Cheddar Dip ingredients: Non-GMO Whole grain oatmeal (water, oats), vegetable oil blend (may contain the following: safflower, olive, and coconut oil), sesame, pimentos (pimentos, water, citric acid), nutritional yeast, sea salt, calcium carbonate, onion powder, evaporated cane juice

Mexi-Cheddar Dip ingredients: Non-GMO Whole grain oatmeal (water, oats), vegetable oil blend (may contain the following: safflower, olive, and coconut oil), sesame, pimentos (pimentos, water, citric acid), nutritional yeast, sea salt, calcium carbonate, onion powder, evaporated cane juice, spices

Spread nutritional information:
Serving size – 2 tbsp. (28g)
Servings per container – 8
Calories per serving – 60
Total fat – 5g (3g saturated, 0g trans fat)
Sodium – 190mg
Total carbohydrate – 3g (1g fiber, 0g sugars)
Protein – 2g

Dip nutritional information:
Serving size – 2 tbsp. (28g)
Servings per container – 8
Calories per serving – 50
Total fat – 4g (0g saturated, 0g trans fat)
Sodium – 180mg
Total carbohydrate – 3g (1g fiber, 0g sugars)
Protein – 2g

disclaimer: I was provided with free samples of this product. I did not have to write a review, nor did I have to write a positive review.

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Penny (A.K.A. Scottish Vegan Homemaker) has given me an award, and I thank her for that, but now I have to share 10 honest things about myself, and present this award to 7 others. I'm particularly bad at choosing favorites, and usually avoid this by not participating, or by choosing everyone. This time I'm doing it — choosing seven blogs that I enjoy reading. Mostly they are blogs I've discovered fairly recently. Of course, the minute I transcribe this list I immediately feel terrible guilt about not picking all the other blogs I read and think are great, and which are equally deserving of recognition, even if it's only from me. On the other hand, I also feel guilty asking people to do what I just had to do. Oh well. If I don't just get on with it I'll never get this post written.

I've had to write 10 things about myself in the past (these honors used to be called memes instead of awards), and I'm thinking there might not be 10 more things to write. (I'm feeling a bit boring lately.) Anyway, since this is a food blog, I'll restrict myself to 10 food-related honest facts.

1. I love peaches. I mean, I really love them. When we lived in Madison we used to buy whole cases of peaches from a fruit and vegetable store. My husband would always ask if I thought we could really use up a whole case, and I'd murmur, "mmhmm." I felt bad about buying all those peaches because they weren't organic, and peaches are always on the "only buy organic" list, but they were so GOOD. All that pesticide residue, though. I won't disclose just how many of those peaches I could eat in a day, but let's just say if I were standing in a garden, all the insects that landed on me would probably die.

2. I really HATE the taste of fennel, anise, black licorice. Sometimes it makes me throw up. Sometimes I just feel very agitated. My husband only added anise to a dish once, and he was sorry.

3. The very first vegetarian dish I made was a vegetable loaf; I used a recipe that was filled with brewers yeast. Actually, I think every recipe in that early vegetarian cookbook was filled with brewers yeast. I pretended to like it even though it was vile because I wanted my husband to like being a vegetarian. And he didn't. (In case you're wondering, brewers yeast is NOT the same thing as nutritional yeast flakes. Not at all.)

4. I was very young when I got married, and I had no idea how to cook. Most of the vegetables I'd eaten were frozen or canned or salad ingredients. I had to ask the farmers at the farmers market what the vegetables were, and how to cook them. It was humiliating but informative.

5. I got to drink the liquid from a branch of cat's claw in the Amazon Rain Forest. Yes, this is true.

6. I once brought carob brownies to a party, and when my friend took a bite of one, he gagged and spit it out. He was upset that it wasn't chocolate, and I was very embarrassed. I would only bring chocolate, now. Only chocolate.

7. I've never been able to eat nuts in things. I like them well enough alone, but not when they mix in with other food. I'm trying to get over this because it's such a bother to pick the darn nuts out. I can eat them in salads and casseroles now, and I recently managed to eat them on TOP of cake. Still can't quite deal with them in baked goods or ice cream unless they are ground up fine.

8. Before I became a vegetarian, at a time when I was seriously considering changing my diet, I said, "I'll never be one of those weird vegetarians who asks, "what's in the soup stock?" Yes, I said that. Out loud. I'll go hide behind a rock now while you throw tofu balls at me. (This is the sort of thing I try to remember when dealing with "clueless" omnivores.)

9. I was macrobiotic for a few years and followed the macrobiotic diet pretty enthusiastically. Because we lived in the Midwest, this meant avoiding tropical fruits and veggies like bananas and mangoes. We avoided members of the nightshade family such as potatoes, tomatoes and peppers. One evening we went out to dinner, and our young son said to the waitress, "I think I'll try the mashed potatoes, I've never had those." The waitress rolled her eyes and snorted, "Where do you keep him, in a closet?" The nasal twang of her voice was not friendly, and it still buzzes in my ear when I think about it. Ouch.

10. I keep a jar of coconut oil in my bathroom to use as a moisturizer.

I'm forwarding this award to:
The Airy Way
Chow Vegan
The Crafty Kook
Haiku Tofu
Here's What You're Missing
Mitten Machen
Seitan is My Motor

Here are the rules. Do as you see fit:
Thank the person who bestowed the award and link back to their blog. List 10 honest things about yourself, and link to 7 blogs you feel embody the spirit of Honest Scrap, and which you find brilliant in design and/or concept.
(Also, I suggest being very careful how you pronounce the name of this award.)