Oatmeal - Because I am Bert of Bert and Ernie

Ahh! Oatmeal, after yesterday's sugar rush I felt more than ready to get back to basics. I resorted to my old standby: quick cooking rolled oats. Two minutes in the microwave, add some almond milk and brown sugar and Voila-- the breakfast of champions (or of an overly tired mom whose kid doesn't like cold cereal very much).

Truly, with the exception of toast and cold cereal, there is no easier breakfast item to veganize.
As much as I like the convenience of quick cooking rolled oats, I even like them cold, but my family thinks that is just wrong, about five years ago I fell in love with steel cut or Irish oatmeal. In the wintertime it is hearty and filling and has a nutty flavor rolled oats just can not compete with. However the little suckers take around thirty to forty minutes to cook. I simply do not have that kind of time in the mornings unless I get up super early. Crock-pot oatmeal to the rescue! This is brilliant, I say brilliant! Put the desired amount of oats in a crock-pot, add enough non-dairy milk or water to cover, set the crock-pot on low overnight and wake up in the morning to the comforting smell of cooked oatmeal perfection. One word of advice: Do not put raisins, or dried cranberries, or any other dried fruit in until the next morning. The liquid re-hydrates them so they like little alien egg pods, and nobody wants to eat alien egg pods!

Kim

P.S. Next week will be vegan lunches -- which was the hardest category for me.
P.P.S. Last night I started on Nana's scarf 162 chains! Whew! And for those of you who are wondering: No, I have not finished the stress sock. Arrgh!

Breakfast Interrupted

This vegan MoFo breakfast post will be brought to you by my birthday. I was going to post about oatmeal and wax lyrical about steel cut versus quick-cooking rolled oats, but then I realized I had something more exciting to write about: cake! That's right, I made my very first vegan birthday cake for myself with the Bumper's help. I wanted chocolate, but the Bumper wanted strawberry so I figured I would give the cake she wants for her birthday a trial run. I used this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie: (http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2013/06/12/healthy-cake-recipe/).

The finished product tasted kind of like a giant pancake, not overly sweet, but very yummy. The frosting was where I got into trouble. I wanted to use the coconut milk frosting that Katie suggested, but the cream did not rise to the top. In desperation I used the recipe on the back of the confectioners sugar box and veganized it. I used Earth Balance brand vegan buttery spread, and used the coconut milk. I threw in the strawberry slurry I made and mixed it all together. The frosting was a hit. The Bumper loved it and so did Nana. I thought it a little too sweet so I will be playing around with it a bit more.

Here is what I did:
1/4 cup of vegan margarine
2 cups of powdered sugar
3Tbs coconut milk
4 frozen strawberries
1tsp vanilla
1Tbs powdered sugar.

First blend frozen strawberries, vanilla and the Tablespoon of powdered sugar.
In a seperate bowl beat together at low speed the powdered sugar, margerine, and coconut milk.
Pour in the strawberry mixture and beat again until peaks begin to form. Refrigerate for 1 hour then frost your cake.

Happy Eating
Kim

p.s. Sorry about the picture quality, but three year old's and frosted cake in the same room do not last long!

Something New

Today was just as hot as yesterday and by the time we got back from Taiji class, neither the Bumper, nor Nana, nor I felt like eating anything warm, but since we had had smoothies the day before none of us were particularly enthused by that prospect. So the Bumper and Nana ate cold cereal and I had chia pudding for the first time.

Blog-land has been abuzz with chia recipes so I thought I would give it a whirl. I found a simple recipe :http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2014/03/30/chia-pudding/ from Chocolate Covered Katie (http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/). Last night I followed the instructions for soaking the seeds and this morning before class I checked on it. It was watery and the some of the seeds had stuck to the bottom. I gave the mixture a quick stir before going to the gym, and when I got back it had reached pudding like consistency.

 I used agave for my sugar and added nutmeg and cinnamon. Eagerly I gave it a taste. It was... different. I am not honestly sure I liked the taste, or the consistency. The Bumper liked the seeds raw, and she also liked them in pudding format.  I put the pudding in a blender and I liked the consistency better (plus the seeds did not get stuck in my teeth).

Overall I am glad I tried the chia pudding, and I think I will make it again for a treat using the chocolate version, but it will not be a breakfast staple for me.

P.S. Note to self: do not put the bananas in the blender with the pudding. The pudding tastes better with the bananas on top.

Kim

Keep it Cool

Ready to Go!

When the weather outside is hot and humid, like it has been the past few days as summer sends its last salvo, even the thought of cooking a hot hearty breakfast makes my stomach turn. Smoothies to the rescue. I like that smoothies are fast and easy, and with the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables this time of year the possibilities are endless. This morning I made the Bumper's favorite smoothie: Banana-Blueberry . The smoothie is super easy to make and you can't taste the Kale -- which is a bonus when you are trying to get a suddenly picky toddler to eat her leafy greens!

1-2 cups of Kale  (2-4 large leaves washed and stems removed)
1/2 cup non-dairy milk of choice -- I used Vanilla Almond Milk
1Tbs Almond Butter
1Tbs Ground Flax
1 -2 Bananas
2 Cups Frozen Blueberries

The Smoothie tastes way better than it looks

Put everything into the blender and blend until smooth. I like my smoothies on the thick side so I tend to use less milk. Enjoy!

Kim


P.S. Tomorrow I will be casting on the chain for Nana's scarf.
P.P. S What vegan smoothie do you like?

The Bumper liked it!

Meatless Monday and the Start of Vegan Month of Food

I don't really have a theme for Vegan Month of Food, but I will be focusing on one meal per week, the meals will be quick, easy and with as little processed food as I can manage  so there won't be many veggie burger, Tofurky, or cheese substitute type recipes). When I first tried to go vegan a few years ago I thought being vegan was far less healthy than being vegetarian, and that vegans ate nothing but soy burgers and fake cheese.  I have learned otherwise and this month I hope to share what I have learned. This week is Vegan Breakfasts, then I will feature Vegan Lunches, then Suppers, and lastly, my favorite, Vegan Desserts. Happy Eating!

Today for breakfast is Cream of Wheat-okay not terribly exciting, but yes it is vegan. When I was growing up my mom would always make it with milk and egg added in. These days I use plain soy or almond milk and omit the egg. Today I chose banana and blueberries as toppings. It only takes about ten to fifteen minutes to prepare and the Bumper loves it.

Kim

P.S. All is quiet on the sock front.

Friday Focus - Crafts

Sock Thing

 I don't  consider myself a "crafty" sort of person  neither in the formal sense, clever in usually a deceptive or dishonest way, nor in the informal sense of being adept at the making of decorative objects and other things by hand. When I think of the former I think of sly espionage agents or crooked lawyers, when I think of the latter the marvelous Lucy at Attic 24, her crochet designs are gorgeous, or my friend Jenny, who can take a plain piece of fabric and make a window valence or pine-cones to make Christmas ornaments, come to mind.

I on the other hand don't even think of stuff like that, until last year I had never even used a hot glue gun! So the other day when I was in the doctors' office laboriously working on what my family has lovingly dubbed the "stress sock", when I heard a lady exclaim oh I wish I could do something like that! I'm just not a crafty person, I immediately looked up, narrowly avoiding poking myself in the eye with one of my knitting needles, wanting to see who this wonderfully crafty person was and if she/he could help me with this muddle of a project I am working on.

The lady gestured to the mass of yarn I had on my lap, "What are you making?"

"A sock," I told her, because that is what the pattern says it is supposed to be even though it more closely resembled a bloated boa constrictor.

She smiled at me, shook her head, "That is wonderful! I could never knit, I am no good at 'crafty' things."

Then she walked away leaving me dumbfounded, because the person she had been talking about was me!

Even though I  crochet, knit, and am learning to sew, it never occurred to me that any of these things counted as being crafty. I always thought a "crafty" person was one who made perfectly frosted cupcakes, and cute snowmen out of cotton balls, one who painted decorative frames to give out as party flavors, someone who does a myriad of things I am too scared to try because I fear I won't do it perfectly the first time. I love playing with yarn, it makes me happy and I love watching the things I make being worn, eaten, and read by others. Maybe being crafty has less to do with natural artistic ability and more to do with a willingness to try and fail and try again. What do you think?

With that in mind am going to keep slogging on the sock and cast on for the scarf Nana wants for Christmas.

Have a good weekend!
Kim
P.S.
I will be participating in Vegan MoFo (Month of Food) this year so starting Monday look for yummy eats and recipes.

Wishful Thinking

The Bumper goes back to school, how odd that sounds given she is only three and a half, on September 8th. She and I are both excited, but for very different reasons I suspect. We met with her new Teacher today, but the Bumper was more impressed with the classroom toys! Much to the Bumper's delight many of her classmates from last year are with her in the new class so she already has lots of friends. There will be some changes this year as she will be attending three days instead of two (one more day is quite a lot in the the eyes of a child). This year she gets to participate in the Thanksgiving play and the Nativity play, plus her class will be taking trips to the local gymnasitics studio, the zoo, and the dentist.
Now that we have only two more weeks to prepare the pressure is on to re-establish some routines that were left by the wayside during these carefree summer months. The Bumper will have to start getting up early again, which means (insert dramatic drum-roll) she will go to bed early and I will have some extra free time in the evenings.  At least that is my plan, we shall see because last year the
only thing I felt like doing during that extra time was sleep.
Of course I can not help planning all of the wonderful things I want to do with the six hours a week I  will have to myself: work on my novel, finish the housework in a timely fashion, write my graduate school essay, actually have time for morning prayer and Bible reading, blog, knit, crochet, finish, my two pending short stories, bake bread, sew, do the grocery shopping, finish the books I have been reading, meal plan, eat my breakfast without interruption -- ooh I get giddy just thinking about it all! Or I might just catch up on some sleep.
At the moment though all these plans will have to wait as I am on my way out the door, Bumper in tow,  to go to Yoga and Zumba class.

Kim