Lentil Chili and Cheddar Garlic Beer Bread!

Cheddar garlic beer bread! I found this recipe at the Daiya website and I printed it out. I don't think it's on the site anymore but I posted a pic of the recipe at the bottom of this post.

It's tender and chewy and really flavorful! I added a clove of crushed garlic to the recipe for more flavor.

Lentil chili on the stove.

Cashew date pudding.

Cashew pudding made with cashews, dates, banana and cashew milk. Layered with blueberries. I stuck it in the freezer for about half an hour to chill out.

Super creamy.

Recipe!

2 cups raw cashews, soaked in hot water at least 30 minutes

8-10 dates, pitted and soaked in hot water to soften

1/2 frozen banana 

1 TB coconut oil

1/2 cup or more cashew milk or any non dairy milk

Drain cashews and dates. Blend with banana, coconut oil and milk until smooth. Add a little more milk if too thick. Chill for an hour or so before serving.

The Vegan Pantry Diner Pancakes.

I'm always up for trying a new pancake recipe. I got The Vegan Pantry cookbook for Xmas and there is a recipe for making bulk pancake/biscuit/waffle mix. It's a very simple recipe which was a cinch to make with only a few ingredients. I made 2 large pancakes from 1 cup mix. I ate my fluffy soft pancakes with a good layer of melty Earth Balance margarine and a generous drizzle of sweet and delicious Lyle's Golden Syrup. Yum yum! You can find this syrup at a specialty British food shop or Indian market.

Vegan cosmetics review: Shiro custom lipgloss!

A package was waiting for me when I got home today. I ordered from Shiro Cosmetics again, this time to try out their custom lipgloss service. So basically you can choose any eyeshadow, blush, bronzer, or face powder shade (as long as they're the "lip safe" colors) and get a gloss in that shade. You can choose either sheer, moderate or opaque and also get it flavored for a dollar more. Fun!

My choices. On the left, Queensguard (Game of Thrones inspired) in moderate opacity with pink frosting flavor. A really pretty orange brown. On the right, A Regular Bears Meeting (Hobbit inspired) in moderate opacity with French vanilla flavor. I wanted a chocolatey brown gloss to evoke the 70's Biba vibe. This one does that and it's also very pretty. There is a tiny amount of gold shimmer in it.

Swatches. Really warm and quite natural.

Some eyeshadow samples in purples.

Top to bottom: Eeny Meeney Miney Burn, Lets Use All the Colors, You Want These Lumps. Over Elf glitter glue.

Same colors in indirect light.

And here's a tiny pic of me trying out the brown gloss. I like it!

Rice Paper Bacon

I tried the crazy rice paper bacon recipe that vegans have been raving about. Sorry guys this was not for me. The texture was papery and plasticky with a slick of oil that didn't work for me. The flavor was ok but not smoky enough. Didn't make up for the texture unfortunately. I made a BLT for dinner which was ok. I felt slightly queasy afterwards. I'll stick to my coconut or tempeh bacon.

And another big sandwich!

This time with avocado. It's been so hot that it's the only food I want to prepare and eat right now.

A Big Sandwich for dinner.

Last night I just wanted a big ass sandwich. So after work I stopped by the store and got some Tofurky and Tofutti cheese. I made some olive salad too. This was so good that I'll be eating it again tonight.

So I made dessert...

I made Pouding chômeur, the most delicious québécois dessert. Cake on top, brown sugar sauce underneath.

When you serve it, you must pour extra sauce all over. This will put you in a sugar coma! It's worth it though. Recipe here.

Fries, Grilled Veg, Salad.

Easy Sunday cooking. Love it all. Wish I would have made dessert though...

Enchilada Chili Casserole.

For the filling, I made a pinto bean and sweet potato chili with zucchini and peppers. I let it thicken up before making this casserole. I layered corn tortillas with the filling, red chili sauce, enchilada sauce, Daiya cheddar and topped with more sauce, blobs of Vegenaise, more Daiya and olives.

Also made a side of mexican rice. Yummy!

Burgers and Baklava.

You can't see it because it's covered in dressing, but it's a delicious black bean burger served with homemade thousand island and grilled onions. I also made battered mushrooms and buffalo cauliflower.

For dessert, baklava! This recipe comes from the Tables of Lebanon cookbook. Instead of butter I used Earth Balance.

Layers and layers of flaky filo pastry and ground nuts soaked in sweet sugar syrup flavored with orange blossom water.

Cheeseless Bbq chicken pizza.

Last night I thawed out my pizza dough from Trader Joe's and made this delicious pizza. I spread a thin layer of bbq sauce on the dough then cooked up a bag of Gardein bbq chick'n wing and cut it up into pieces, then added red onion, grilled piquillo peppers, garlic and almond miso parmesan sprinkles. After the pizza came out of the oven, I sprinkled fresh chopped cilantro on top. Yum!

Avo Toastie and Epic Salad!

Breakfast is very satisfying with a slice of buttered toast topped with avocado, grilled piquillo pepper, cherry tomatoes and sprinkled with Hawaiian smoke salt and pepper.

Behold The Epic salad I made for lunch!

Romaine topped with grilled zucchini, portobello mushroom, red onion, piquillo peppers, artichoke hearts, avocado and vinegared beets. Yuuuum.

Drizzled with two dressings: French and poppyseed/caramelized onion.