Grown-Up Perks

Sometimes being a grown-up has it's advantages. You can eat whatever you want for dinner!! It was a special treat when I was a kid (in my mind) when we got to have pancakes for dinner. So last night that's exactly what I did. Plus, I got to try out my new double burner griddle pan. Look at everything that fit on there! (and I could have squeezed more) Four pancakes and two veggie breakfast sausages. Please ignore the dirty stove top....

Not only did I have pancakes, but they were totally unhealthy pancakes. No wheat flour here tonight. I liberally tossed in some chocolate chips. I suppose there was a banana in the batter, that's good for me at least. And I ran out of regular soymilk, so I used some of the Silk pumpkin spice soymilk. Extra sweetness! I used the very simple recipe for Banana Walnut Pancakes from La Dolce Vegan (minus the walnuts).
Here's my pancake and veggie sausage sandwich, drowned in maple syrup. Even though the pancakes were sweet, the saltiness of the sausage helped balance things out. And I have to admit, the white flour made these so light and fluffy.


Okay, I promise to eat something green tomorrow (okay, today, I'm being bad and posting this in the past....). Or at least a vegetable.
More VeganMoFo later....

Blog Food

Saturday, we dined purely on blogworld food! After a long morning walk (it's actually getting a bit more bearable outside now), I made Bazu's buckwheat pancakes!! I had bought buckwheat pancake mix ages ago for a vegan fried chicken recipe that failed miserably (not sure why since it had so many great reviews!), and I knew that pancakes could never fail! My only change up was to add some cinnamon (which I'm not sure I tasted in the end) and served the pancakes with a mixture of maple syrup and agave. These were a tasty change up from regular pancakes, and will certainly be added to my breakfast repertoire! (plus I love to make extra to keep in the fridge as snacks, just slather on some pb)



All week I have been trying to find pre-cooked polenta to make Polenta Lasagna. Finally while making a stop at Central Market to get apple cider (John's going to start a batch of hard cider and not many stores carry this quite yet...), I hit the jackpot! So we came home with some basil & garlic polenta as well as sun-dried tomato and garlic. Instead of kale, I used spinach (yay, it's still on the shelves!) and also added in plenty of zucchini. As you can see it came out of the pan a bit of a mess (check out Susan's pic), but we both still scarfed it down just the same.



Okay, I can barely contain my excitement for my early birthday dinner celebration with my family tonight!! Rumor has it there will be cupcakes involved. This is one of those instances where I'm making an exception to my little "diet". Oh, I am just salivating thinking of them!!

When the Cat is Away...

The mouse will ..... go to work, do some yoga, bake, cook, eat dinner with parents, emboss, sleep, and of course, blog! John is returning home tonight from a short business trip, so I've had some extra time on my hands. Tonight I went over to my parents house for dinner. My mom experimented with a new recipe, quinoa risotto from vegetarian times. The verdict was it was alright, but not our favorite (or easiest) quinoa dish. On the side was some roasted asparagus, my mom's amazing homemade bread, and a yummy fruit salad with toasted almonds. Plus my mom made some more of those Best Vegan Brownies Ever which we topped with some vanilla soy ice cream. Yum.




After dinner, we did some embossing for the wedding favors. What fun, I think I may just start embossing everything. And it's so easy! I'm not exactly the crafty type (thank goodness my mom is!), but I managed to pick this up. I'll post sometime soon about specifically what we were embossing, it's a part of the wedding planning activities that I'm very proud about.

Last night I had breakfast for dinner, which I always loved growing up. I made blueberry banana oatmeal pancakes. Basically used the same recipe for VWAV banana-raisin-oatmeal waffles except no raisins and added blueberries. These were delicious, and made plenty to munch on for later. On the side my favorite breakfast faux sausage by Gardenburger.

And finally I was a good fiance (that sounds funny still!) and baked for my future husband. A week or so ago in his drugged daze (he's on painkillers for a slipped disc, ouch), he cried out for goldfish. And what a coincidence that Celine over at Have Cake, Will Travel just posted her recipe for Cheezy Quackers! I bought some cute little animal cookie cutters and made a bunch of these cheezy little critters.

It was tough not to munch on them before he returns. I thought they turned out wonderfully, very addictive!! Here they are following each other one by one in a little shadowbox....

Hopefully John will enjoy them! Okay, enough playing, the cat will return in a few hours, so I'd better go clean up all those dishes I've piled up!