Chickpea Melt and other stuff.

Delicious chickpea melt I made today for lunch using Daiya cheese. 

Thai noodles I had yesterday with leftover vegan turkey.

Snack: good old pb and pickle. No, this is not a pregnancy craving. Got the idea from Sue Grafton's detective novels.

Office Xmas dinner at local Italian restaurant Matteo's. This is the spaghetti pomodoro.

My boss threw me a baby shower at work. Food was caterer from Crimson Mediterranean.

And for dessert, cupcakes from Rising Hearts bakery that specializes in vegan and gluten free desserts.

Isa's chocolate chip cookies that are always welcome!

Chicken Nachos!

Was in the mood for chicken nachos yesterday so I came home and made them. I fried up some Gardein chicken and chopped it into little pieces. I melted Earth Balance margarine, added plain soymilk, hot sauce, and Daiya cheese and simmered over heat to melt it into a cheese sauce. I layered tortilla chips, refried beans, cheese sauce, chicken, more taco sauce, jalapenos and Vegenaise to make the perfect plate of nachos. It was soooo good!

Happy Crimble Food 2016.

Got my hands on one of these! I knew I wanted to make it for Christmas Eve dinner with our friends.

Sliced up beautifully. It was delicious!

Christmas Eve dinner with our friends who made Delia Smith's Yorkshire puds, vegan style. Recipe below. Replace egg with ener-g egg replacer and beef fat with  oil.

Holiday baking with my dear friend Hope. Chloe Coscarelli's lemon olive oil cupcakes with coconut glaze and toasted coconut. A++++!!!!

Isa's Gingerbread cupcakes with lemon buttercream. Mmmmm!

Christmas morning, I woke early to make Crack cookies. They have oatmeal, coconut, chocolate chips and grated dark chocolate. Addictive! (Hence "Crack" Cookies!)

Vegan Brunch's Broccoli quiche with zucchini.

Vegan Brunch's sausage pastry puffs using Field Roast Italian sausage instead of tempeh.

Happy Christmas!

"Crack" Cookies, Vegan Style

In a small bowl stir together:
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups quick oatmeal

In a larger bowl cream together:
1/2 cup margarine (Earth Balance), softened
1/2 cup shortening, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp vanilla

Then add 1/2 cup of unsweetened apple sauce and stir.

Add in the flour mixture little by little and stir as you go to incorporate all ingredients.
Add 12 oz. chocolate chips
Add 1 cup shredded coconut
Add 1/4 of a bar of grated chocolate (I used 70% dark). Grate the chocolate right into the bowl. (EDIT: USE A FULL BAR OF CHOCOLATE! IT WILL TASTE BETTER!)
Stir together all ingredients and drop by the Tablespoon onto parchment papered cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 F or until golden brown. Remove cookie sheet from oven and slap it down on the counter. This will flatten cookie a bit. Let stand for a few minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.

Goodbye Sparky, the Lemon Chicken.

Our little lovely bird has gone to heaven. It's a sad Christmas this year. Rest in peace sweet lemon chicken. We love you Sparky. 9 years with you wasn't long enough. 😢

More Colors!

Thought I'd get busy swatching these colors for you. The colors really do cheer me up!

Deluxe sample jars from Aromaleigh. They were each under $3. I also got 2 free sample baggies and one free full size shadow in Europa.

Look at how much you get. Enough for plenty of uses. http://www.aromaleighcosmetics.com

I got a 30% off coupon from Printcess Makeup and decided to grab a color that I've had my eye on. http://www.etsy.com/PrintcessMakeup

This is what I got: One full size shadow in the color "Droog" which is described as a plummy redwood. A sample of The Wild Hunt which is an Egyptian violet blue. The other two were free with my order.

A Clockwork Orange reference!

Love a good plum color!

Bright natural window light. 

Far left: The Wild Hunt. 

Top row L to R: Crime, Changeling, Europa, Rubicante, Uktena.

Bottom row L to R: Complication, Droog, Unorthodox, Farfalla, Calcabrina.

Under dimmed natural window light. So pretty! Close ups below!

Lasagna and cake craving.

My go to lasagna with cashew tofu ricotta, veggies (spinach, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, onions), Trader Joes vegan mozzarella, and tomato basil marinara.

Soooo good.

Kittee's vanilla cake with shop bought frosting. 

More makeup swatches.

Got a few samples from Fabled Fragrances and a full size shadow from Femme Fatale. Finally got around to swatching them.

Gorgeous colors!

This color is called Slippery Slip and it's a beautiful duochrome.

In front of some light from a window. top: Clockwork Pistol, Eldritch. Middle: Peridot Smoke, Delirium. Bottom: Nightmare, Slippery Slip. All swatches over Milani eye primer.

Different lightings...

You can see the shift in color with Slippery Slip. It changes from violet blue to auburn brown.

Current Breakfast Of Choice and Baby Mouse stuff...

Love a bowl of Weetabix (2 bars) crumbled with vanilla soymilk and bananas. I've been trying to drink more soymilk because the protein content is so high per cup. I believe it's around 7 grams.

I'm 30 weeks and 6 days pregnant and I can't believe it's going so fast and how well I'm doing. I never had morning sickness during the first trimester, only a llittle queasiness here and there but I did not throw up once! Second trimester was a breeze and now in the third it still feels great. The baby is head down now and moves a lot. Had a doctor visit on Friday and he's 3 lbs. and 7 oz. As far as my weight goes I'm doing good. I've gained a total of 11 lbs. so far which my doc is happy with. So I have about 10 weeks to go! 

Ultrasound pics are a bit creepy I know, but here's our little boy's face. He's got big eyes like his dad and long legs (doc measured his long thigh bone) and chubby cheeks.

This pic you can see his eye half open. He even smiled but we didn't get s pic of that. Pretty amazing huh?

Pizza and gingerbread.

Picked this up on sale. 

It was ok. Loved the cheese but I'm not a fan of the gluten free crust. Wish they made them with regular crust.

First time trying this. Used 3 TB chickpea water for 1 egg. 

Didn't rise much at all but very moist. Taste wise, I thought it was too over the top with the ginger, a little too strong and almost bitter? I like gingerbread a little more subtle than this.

Got the ornaments out to decorate the tree.

Newest addition.