there's always room for pizza

i couldda been a ramone because i love pizza so much. i like my music short, loud, and to the point. i'm always brushing my bangs outta my face, so i'd have fit right i think, even with the booze, women, and drugs. then i might have gotten sick of that after a while, but i'm pretty sure i'd still love pizza and punk rock. this was a very simple pizza to make: pillsbury (chemical but vegan) pizza crust, baked plain for about 10 minutes, then i piled on toppings of sauteed zucchini, roasted red peppers, and orange bell peppers. cooked it for another 7 minutes and broiled it for about 2 minutes. yes--there's the sauce underneath and it's so simple to make i swear you'll slap yourself:

i wanna be your joey ramone pizza sauce

1 can tomato sauce
1 big ol' T of ms. dash sundried tomato and basil blend
1t granulated garlic
1t crushed red pepper flakes
dash o' salt
1t olive oil

yep, that's it. mix the ingredients together and spread on yer dough. if you use an 8 oz. can o' sauce, you'll have enough for two pizzas. or you can make some bread sticks and dip them in the remaining sauce too. pile that pizza with the veggies you love and watch rock n' roll high school.

late note: about the mac n' cheez post from a few days ago--that is the very special meal that we eat to remember my spouse's sister melanie (OBM). you're supposed to pile the beans on top of the mac n' cheez and eat it that way.

what are your favorite pizza toppings?

awwww, fudge it!

these are THE fudgey-wudgey blueberry brownies from veganomicon. these are very fudgey and very wudgey. i wasn't sure how a blueberry and chocolate combo would work, but the flavor mixing is amazing. these are quite pleasing on a hot day eaten cold outta the fridge, but i prefer mine nuked in the mic for about 15 seconds.

getting crunk in the kitchen again!

it's been a while since i've tested one of bianca's recipes for her southern cook book. anything i cook of hers is a big hit in our house, and while i've whined with exasperation how i'm not going to buy any more cook books because i don't get good mileage out of the ones i have, my super-spouse says, "we're still buying bianca's when it comes out because her stuff is really really good." so there, bianca--you happy? of course you are. shown above and below are some blurry shots of the her mac n' cheez and boozy beer beans. i can't disclose the recipe, but the mac n' cheez recipe is the only vegan one i'll eat. all the other recipes i've tried over the past year taste like blech.
i felt something was missing from the meal so i rounded it out with a simple nutty salad, which is my recipe but it's so easy i don't feel like it really needs one. if you're curious, here it is:

simple nutty salad

• 1 yellow pepper cut into thin strips
• 1c chopped english cuke
• 1/4 c. chopped pecans
• 1/4 c. dried cranberries

toss all the above ingredients in some kraft raspberry vinaigrette and yer done.

heil seitan! jambalaya, that is.

i'm not one to worship food, but--well hell's bells, who am i kidding? i love food. if i had to pick another faith, i'd hands down worship seitan-(giggling). how evil can wheat meat actually be, unless you're gluten intolerant? these are pics of the seitanic red and white bean jambalaya from veganomicon. everyone at home thought it was sooooo awesome, that we decided to put it into our regular meal rotation! *note: if you are allergic to wheat, you could easily use tofu or tempeh in this. if you're allergic to soy and wheat, you could just stick with the beans. if you're allergic to soy, wheat, and beans--i might just cry if i were you. that has to be horrible!
it's a cinch to make and it makes a metric butt load of food, so you better be going to a potluck or have some tupperware handy so you can throw a few servings into the freezer. note: i cheated on the recipe a little and used some store bought seitan i scored at the food pantry plus i pre-cooked the rice in a rice steamer, and added it in the pot with the veggies, tomatoes, beans, and seitan. that way i didn't have to use vegetable stock, i omitted that and just stuck with the canned tomatoes and tomato paste. i also upped the cayenne pepper for an extra punch. it was mighty spicy, but i still couldn't resist eating this with some frank's red hot.

weekly product review: you gotta have some good karma to go to health valley

last saturday, momma was cravin' something frozen and something sweet. this hit the spot! i bought it at my local co-op instead of kroger's, and paid more than i wanted-($4.39), but it was so good i didn't really care. in my pregan days i was known to spend that much on a fancy blizzard at the DQ. so, to answer the question: is it as good as other frozen non-dairy desserts? the answer would be no. i really prefer the truly decadent series and soy delicious compared to this--but if you're looking for a nice change of pace from your regular non-dairy ice cream, good karma is not a bad solution. i give it one and a half turntables and a small microphone.

remember my diablo dog post? i used this brand of chili for the dog. the actual label said "three bean chipotle" but i couldn't find a google image for it, so this will have to do. don't bother buying it unless you need a vegan chili solution super fast. naturally, when i see the word chipotle, i expect to feel some amount of heat with a smoky aftertaste. not so here. it was bland at best and i had to doctor the shit out of it with frank's and ms. dash chipotle flavor. verdict? kids, this is just a crappy vinyl record. no turntable. no microphone. some people might tell me, "but jen, with a name like health valley, shouldn't you have known better?" not really, because healthy food can actually (believe it or not) be really tasty. at $3.59 per can i should have cried, but i didn't.

happy weekend, y'all!

cucumber sammiches=awesome summer dinner

here's a shot from one of my weekend meals: a cucumber sammie with the potato spinach squares from vegan brunch. i know that the squares shouldn't really be topped with anything, but i like my taters with some ketchup and fakin bacon bitz, can't help it. the sammich was to help a fellow ppk'er honor his/her mommas memory. that is one of the things i lovey love-love about the post punk kitchen: the forum is much more about cooking awesome vegan eats. i utilize the "playground" section for parenting resources, kvetch politics in "the parlor", nerd it on up in "the living room", and talk about whatever is bothering me in "the foyer". someone did this too and brought up that their mother had passed 10 years ago last saturday. he/she asked us all to do this simple act to help him/her grieve on that anniversary. i immediately called home and left myself a message to "eat a cucumber sammich". my spouse was confused.

in the jewbacca household, we also do this to honor our loved ones yartzheits-(anniversary of death) as well. my spouse's sister OBM-(of blessed memory) is often observed by eating a special dish, in which i will post about at another time.

cuke sammiches=perfect summer meal. it's impossible to eff one up. i personally like toasting my bread of choice, putting just a hint of EB on each slice, a smear of veganaise, some mustid, and thinly sliced cukes. some people get all fancy with this sammich and serve it on special bread cut out in obscure shapes. that's fine if you want to impress someone at a tea party, but it's a shame to complicate such a simple beauty like the cuke sammie.

so while they're in season, get a cuke or two and make yourself nice sammie. know you'll be eating to someone's wonderful momma.

i've been kicked out of the kitchen!

well, that's a tad dramatic, eh? how did i manage to get kicked out of my own kitchen? easy. i knicked my finger on my mandolin while doing some meal prep. y'see--i rely on the hour or so i have to myself after my son goes to bed so i can do prep work so i can cook meals/desserts on monday, wednesday, and friday mornings. that's my BIG secret to making all the yummy food i can--i have that special plan in place. anyway, the menu for today was/is a nice vegan panang curry. last night, i was popping the mandolin blade in place-(yep, it's a cheapie $7 one) and didn't even feel the julienne side knick my middle finger-(it WOULD have to be that one, right?). i pulled my hand out of the soapy water and saw the blood gushing out. yuck. i started to cry. not because i felt any pain, but because the kid was already in bed, i was tired and ready to go to bed myself, and i knew a trip to the ER would be at least a 2 hour wait. if i wasn't pregnant, i'd have gone all old skool, thrown some flour on the wound-(ick, yes. it was an approach to medical care used by my daddy), and toughed it out. but since i am preggo-(20 weeks!) i didn't want to risk a blood infection and went to the ER.

2 1/2 hours later, i was sent home with an RX for an antibiotic and the wound had been cleaned with medical grade super glue. the procedure took about five minutes. can't get the ol' finger wet for 24 h. so no dishwashing. you'd think i'd be happy, but i'm not. i don't like dishes collecting in the sink. mr. spouse was awesome and cleaned a ton up today, thank the dishwashing heavens.

sooooo, i'll end on a happy note and show you pictures of my favorite vegan brunch recipe:

that's right, it's the east coast coffee cake! oy, i'm getting all linda richman here, fanning my face and becoming verklempt. this stuff is like buttah. i used fresh blackberries in this batch, and doubled it. i used a really big pan and even after a looong time, the middle still didn't cook, so if you ever want to double batch this-(and it's that good--YOU WILL), use two separate 8x8 pans and not a huge one. this freezes well, but it might not last long enough to make it to ye olde freezer.

i'm gonna try a combo of banana nut and a separate batch of chocolate chip in the future. this is the perfect thing to make for someone who has had a shitty week or those stupid co-workers that think you're silly for being vegan. make it, take it to work, and don't label it vegan. see what happens. you're liable to start a vegan conflagration.

not every recipe can be a winner

i asked fellow readers of vegan brunch what their favorite recipes were and i had many replies for the "puttanesca scramble" being a real winner. well, i made this dish--and i didn't like it. i really, really tried to like it, but it just didn't work, and after a few tries i sadly added what was left to the compost heap. it certainly looks good and has things i really like: tomatoes, fresh herbs, garlic, and awesome olives. perhaps the capers were the culprit in the dish not working, i dunno. it was just too savory for my mouth-(is there any such thing as too savory?).

i'll just stick with my own tofu scramble. i really like it and i get it right every time. i know it's kind of stubborn for me to say so, but i don't really bother with anyone elses recipe.

tomorrow, i'll post my favorite vegan brunch recipe so far...what will it be? ((((tenting fingers))))

question: what is your favorite vegan brunch recipe? have you ever tried a recipe that you thought was gonna rock and didn't? tell all!

getting my cookie quota

soooo, no one on this blog gave me any cookie suggestions when i asked for them. someone call me a whaaaaambulance! not to fear, i went to the post punk kitchen and started a thread in the kitchen called "help me jeebus, i'm in a cookie rut!" and got over 20 suggestions. the one shown above is from elouise: her peanut butter chocolate cookies. they were awesome and the best part is this: you probably have all the ingredients at home, right now. i mean it--go check, i'm sure you do.

these are very chewy flat cookies PERFECT for making ice cream sammiches. ms. elouise, did you ever think of that? you seem pretty smart so i'm betting a hot order of french fries and a cold pop that you have. i used soy delicious in mine and ((((((drooool)))))))) these were even better than eating them by themselves. i got 10 huge cookies out of the recipe and i think my spouse only got 2 of them. if you're not a piggy like me, and want to actually store some, i suggest using layers of wax paper between them because they will stick into one giant cookie glob, and you'll be forced (guffaw) to eat them in one lump sum.

happy weekend!

coming up next: more photos from vegan brunch

looks like this ain't ever gonna happen on a friday...

so i'm changing my "product review fridays" to a floating day, once per week. i'm doing this because i'm technologically inept and don't always have food porn to post. tonight is that night.

gardenburger used to make something like this, and like all things i love dearly it **poof!**disappeared. i wasn't vegan then, but i didn't eat pork either and found it to be a nice kosher alternative to ribs. well, i was delighted to see that morningstar farms was carrying them, but the price for two riblets $4.59 was a little too much for this penny pincher. they were on sale last week, so i snagged a box.

they are vegan and they taste exactly like the gardenburger ones. deeeeeeelicious! the sauce is sweet and smoky, absolutely perfect. they're fine for nuking if you're in a hurry and need to use the microwave, just cook one side for a minute, then flip, then another minute, then flip again. i had mine on a grilled bun with pickles and onions just like a certain unmentionable evil fast food chain limited time only sammich. it rocked. so good job, morningstar farms! you're my first product review to get a full two turntables and a microphone. even at full-price, i'd buy these again.

tip: eat yours with a nice big baked potato and some cole slaw. yum!

three things that i know to be true

there are three things that i know to be a guaranteed fact. actually there are a few more, but i thought i'd be humble and limit myself to only three:

1) i will never finish everything i want to get done. never.

2) it is a good idea to stay away from people who are known to bite. note the photo of dennis from the movie cabin fever. biters can't really be reformed. they bite, and let's say you become friends with someone like that--they will surely fool you into a lull of comfort and strike when you least expect it. true dat. haven't you ever heard the story of the scorpion and the frog?

3) i will always love pancakes. lovey-love-love them. note the photo of the pumpkin pancakes from vegan brunch:
these were very good and my only regret was not having any cranberry sauce to smear on top of them. i'm so totally making a thanksgiving themed brunch this year, but probably not around thanksgiving because i'll be way too pregnant and way too uncomfortable by then. i'll make someone else make them for me.

perhaps i'll ask dennis. has anyone else ever seen this movie? there's one scene where he goes ballistic and shouts, "pancakes!" and goes all karate on someone. very funny.

what is this diablo dog you speak of?

yeah, yeah. something they don't talk about in the book of genesis was on the 8th day how the great and almighty you-know-who got a really good idea for a vegan hot dog. we all know that real hot dogs are made of a bunch of icks and gags, but vegan hot dogs are heavenly. well, there's a way to make them even larger than life--by making them completely evil. good-evil, that is.

kids i'm gonna be vegangelical and do some preachin'. lemme tell you the good news about the diablo dog. (insert southern baptist narration here) the diablo dog won't take you away from what's good. the diablo dog is a miiiiiiighty force, that puts the plain ol' chili dog to shame. can i get an a-men? amen! and what clillin's are coney dogs? a hot dog with sloppy joe meat? oh, no--oh laws of mercy we can't have that. we need to cleanse our souls with a comfort food so mighty that it brings us closer to the divine.

you don't write about no diablog dog from summer camp, oh no laws of mercy. you wear a teeshirt with I ATE A DIABLO DOG silk screened in ALL CAPS to show the world that you been sanctified by the power of a vegan hot dog masterpiece. you always drink a cold beverage with the diablo dog because it is SPICY, and you don't need no dessert after you eat one chillin's, no you don't. what you need is some prayer and a few antacids.

oh okay, i can't do the preacher dialogue. back to jewish jen. anyway, a diablo dog is a vegan hot dog on a grilled bun served with vegan chili, vegan cheez sauce, horseradish, chopped jalapenos, onions, pickle relish, hot sauce, and don't go stingy on the fakin' bacon bitz. i got the idea from an episode of strangers with candy where jerri blank is getting a diablo dog and says, "don't go stingy on the bacon bits." you never really got to see what was on it, but i had a vision to go and make one. i was not vegan back then, so the real diablo dog was the stuff of the nitrate gods and heart attack angels. i wondered could it be made vegan? of course it could.

you can't slap a bunch of shit on a bun and call it a diablo dog. you need to follow these directions to invoke the almighty lord of the vegan hot dog heaven AND underworld to get just the right flavor. look at the pictures:

1) grill a hoagie bun-(because they are larger) with earth balance or your fave vegan margarine. the kroger brand hoagie buns are vegan.

2) take your vegan hot dog-(2 OF THEM because the bun is bigger and this is the diablo dog we're talkin' about) of choice and grill it or pan fry it. don't ruin the magic of the diablo dog by boiling or nuking it. you will ruin the sacred nature of this special treat. i used yve's brand vegan dogs. lightly spread some horseradish on the toasted bun. don't use too much because you want the other flavors to shine through. the horseradish is but an accent, y'all.
okay, then you put on your favorite vegan chili. usually, my spouse makes this from scratch, but we were lazy and used a store brand. bad idea. this made the diablo dog slightly sub-par from others i've had. i had to doctor it with some chipotle ms. dash. anyway, put on some chili, vegan cheez sauce of choice-(*i have a recipe at the end of this entry), chopped jalapenos on one side, and dill relish on the other side.
NOW top it with some chopped onions, hot sauce of choice, and fakin' bacon bitz. DON'T be stingy with these.

this dog goes well with an ice cold beverage-(red cream soda in my case), tater tots, chips, or french fries. the diablo dog is a messy mistress and you'll need something to wipe yo face and scoop up the excess that falls on the plate. i prefer potato chips or corn chips with my dog.

the heartburn can be kind of intense after one of these, and you'll more than likely say to yourself, i'll never eat this again. when you go to sleep at night, the most amazing thing will happen. you will dream of this vegan dog. you will have another one the next day. after you've exhausted a pack of vegan pups, you'll wanna stay away from them for a while. six months later, you'll look at your loved one and say, "man, i could go for a diablo dog right about now." and it'll be on like donkey kong.

jen's cheater vegan cheez sauce:

1 tub tofutti cream cheeze
1/4 c. taco sauce
1/4 c. nooch
1T mustard
1/2 T frank's red hot

in a saucepan under med. heat, soften cream cheese. add taco sauce, then nooch, then mustard, then frank's. whisk. it'll look (and taste) like cheez whiz, i swear to the vegan cheez gods. remember, i'm not that great with measurements, so you might have to start with smaller amounts of the taco sauce, nooch, and frank's--and keep adding until you get that just right taste.

have fun and good luck!

magic. cookie bar. pancakes.

i like a good challenge, so i thought i'd enter chocolate covered katie's pancake bonanza contest. you say you wanna know what's in the money shot above? that kids, is a close up of my very own creation: magic cookie bar pancakes. don't you remember the bake sales of your childhood? those dreamy gooey bars that brought on a sugary tsunami to your taste buds, the delectable squares of chocolatey goodness that made the recess aide curse your name because you were so dang hyper? well, maybe that was just me--but i loved these things.

so i used my vegan superpowers to make them into a breakfast treat. these were so awesomely sweet, after the first bite mr. wilford brimley appeared before me and demanded that i get checked for diabetes and buy my supplies online. the spouse loved these so much he wanted to divorce me and remarry the pancakes. i politely explained to him that a relationship of this nature wouldn't be recognized in most states and wouldn't work out in the long run because he'd eat the new bride. silly dude. i only allowed my son a few bites because it was 6:45 a.m. and i didn't feel like scraping him off the walls before work.

i know whatcher thinkin': no one should eat something this sweet for breakfast. look, i don't eat this way every day. and tell me, how much different is this from cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, or coffee cake? not that much different. that's why you need to cut the sugar overload with a nice black cup o' joe or a tall cold glass of your favorite non-dairy milk to wash it down.

so, are you up for the challenge? of course you are. here's the recipe. now go make 'em!

magic cookie bar pancakes (makes 4 nice sized pancakes)

you'll need:

a mixing bowl for dry and wet ingredients

dry ingredients:
1/2 c finely ground graham cracker crumbs (check for vegan brands)
1/2 c whole wheat flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t cinnamon
pinch of salt
3/4 c shredded coconut
1/2 c finely chopped pecans
1/2 c chocolate chips (kroger valu brand are cheap and vegan)

wet ingredients:
1 c soy milk +1/4 c water
2T canola oil
1t vanilla

the syrup:

• 2/3 c silk creamer
• 1/4 c turbinado (or organic sugar)
• baby rice cereal

to cook the syrup, heat the silk creamer, add sugar and whisk carefully under med/high heat. add 1 T of baby rice cereal at a time until you get a syrupy texture. you could probably use a smaller amount of corn starch if you desire, but i was lazy and used this instead. the syrup will look like cooked condensed milk.

mix wet and dry ingredients together. the batter will be pretty thick. using a 1/2 measuring cup, glob the batter on a non-stick pan or griddle on medium heat. cook one side for about 3 minutes then flip for another couple of minutes. serve lightly buttered with the syrup. note: you don't need a lot of the syrup, but the condensed milk like quality really ties the pancakes together.

i'm a winner! plus garden porn!

welcome to my ghetto garden. this ain't no better homes and garden-garden, this is a hodge-podge of stuff held up with sticks and raised beds made from kiddie pools with holes poked in them. before i give you a tour, i just wanted to shout a quadruple "yay!" for winning river's appliance doohickey giveaway on her blog, wing it vegan. it truly made my day. and here i was feeling all sorry for myself thinking i never win anything! my first project will be making soy yogurt and dehydrating watermelon-(which i hear can be used in some yummy variations of very creative sushi rolls!) note: i did win a juicer from miss v's vegan cook book a while back, but haven't used it because a) i didn't realize it was a manual juicer, and b) i'm intimidated by a manual juicer and don't have much access to wheat grass. sorry, miss v! i'll try to score some at the farmer's market or find someone else who can use it.

now, let me take you on a tour:
these are cherokee purple tomatoes. you can't tell yet because they are babies, but they'll grow to be big, plump, with red and purple streaks where they almost look black. they'll be great meaty tomatoes, perfect for sammiches.

i have no idea what kind of tomatoes these will be. i was not very good at labeling things this year. i amended the southern indiana clay soil with worm castings-(i maintain the worm bin at work) and used the castings for fertilizer. i think someone fed tomatoes to the worms because i have a TON of renegade tomato plants growing everywhere, just look at all of them!
the cabbage is starting to get a head on it. i planted marigolds around them to keep bugs away. the gardening world refers to this as companion planting. nasturtiums are really good to eat and keep pests away as well. i have some growing, but didn't take any pictures. you can also use nasturtiums flowers and leaves as spicy pretty additions to your summer salads! marigold petals can be used as "poor man's" saffron.
the beautiful start of my green peppers. i also planted marigolds around them. every night i give all the plants a gentle misting of hot pepper wax, an organic insect repellent. if you look really close, you can see some of the bugs still have a time at the buffet!
i gave up trying to grow squash because of those dang squash borers. but low and behold, look what has been growing out of my compost pile! some sort of squash. what kind will it be?


what are you growing this year? need gardening tips? don't forget i work at a gardening store.

coming up next: another contest! just for kicks, i'm entering chocolate covered katie's pancake contest. lemme tell you sumptin. i made my own recipe that will totally take your taste buds back to a child hood bake sale!

depends on how you look at it: late or early product review

before i launch into my reviews, i just gotta ask: where are the cookie suggestions? thanks for the abundant congrats, i'm mega excited about our baby cookie--but i also feel like i'm in a cookie rut and am relying on you the reader for some good cookie recipes to veganize or existing vegan ones to try. ((((whining over)))))

what is it with me and amy's products? i guess it's because her product line is almost always on sale at the grocery store. about my reviews: i have to buy what i review. i'm not some lucky blogger that receives care packages from various companies with lots of goodies to review and give away. boy howdy, i wish that were so. if any of you fall into this category, i beg of you to share with little 'ol poor me how i can make that happen. i promise i won't tell anyone how i got hooked up. and if you're a company that is looking for an adorable, poor, and pregnant vegan blogger to give stuff to--you need to look no further.

so, depending on how you look at this, i'm either really late with a product review friday or early for this week. i'll let you choose. my most recent convenience food ingestion was the teryaki bowl by amy's. the portion was right, and the food was filling-(10g protein 4g fiber). but it wasn't really all that spectacular, i think the teryaki flavor wasn't enough. i give it a rating of a turntable, but no microphone. c'mon y'all, it's a frozen meal.

i won't have this category every week under product reviews, but i thought i'd mention a new section: close but no-dice products. these are products that would like you to believe that they are vegan, but they aren't.


bear naked all natural trail mix-(continental divide blend) the ONE stupid ingredient that makes this not vegan is, you guessed it--honey! c'mon bear naked people. can't you make a friggin' trail mix without honey? it's in the little granola clusters. BOO!

oh soy? oh no they di-int! i ate an entire container of the peach flavor marveling at how much better this is than whole soy brand yogurt before looking at the ingredients to see that they put milk in it. milk in fucking soy yogurt. i didn't die, but i felt very cheated. why have a product with such a misleading name? shame on you stonyfield farm, but a bigger shame on me for being a such a schmuck and not completely reading the label. it was an honest mistake, so i'm openly discussing this so you won't have to make it.

some of my favorite cookies

well, today we went to OB-GYN-Kenobe and found out we're having a girl! we're both pretty excited. my spouse and i are big on nicknames-(our son's nickname is blasto after the blastocyst stage of fetal development.) prior to finding out the gender, we have been calling the little thang "dookie" or "dook" for short, as in #2 because we think poop jokes are timelessly funny. well now that we know she's a girl, we asked ourselves whether we wanted to give her such a crass nickname, and the answer was no. so we are calling her cookie. who in the world doesn't like cookies? cookies are sweet, can be dainty or huge, and can be tough if they need to be. cookie is the perfect nickname for a little girl.
but this is a food blog, and ain't no parenting blog-so since i'm outta food porn pics, i'm posting some pictures of favorite cookies i've made over the past year. above are sesame ginger peanut cookies from veganomicon-(or is it VWAV?) whichever one it is from , it's one of isa's recipes, and although isa is known for her cupcake prowess, her cookies are damn tasty. note: these cookies are best right out of the oven, but don't hold up well over a long period of time, so you have to eat them fast, or store part of the dough in the freezer. nomnomnomnom...
these are the chocolate chip cookies from vegan-a-go-go. not that i don't like the VWAV cookie recipe, i just think this is a better recipe as far as how the dough holds up. these cookies are such household favorites, they never last long. i prefer to bake these in muffin tins for a nice cookie cup. that way you can cut the sweetness by putting a scoop of vanilla soy delicous on top.
these are the sparkly ginger molasses cookies from vegan with a vengeance (VWAV). these are so awesome i could cry. they are nice and chewy and make very good sandwich cookies for makin' ice cream sammiches.

i could never get burned out on cookies, but i'm looking for new cookie ideas. everyone knows about my recent no bake cookie adventure, but i'm still looking for new recipes to try. tell me readers: what is your favorite cookie recipe?

stop pesto-ing me!

actually, you can pesto me all you want. i love the stuff. nothing says summer like pesto, but pine nuts are pretty dang expensive. so i make mine with walnuts, almonds, or cashews. now those nuts aren't really cheap either, but they are less expensive than pine nuts. if you live in the south and have a pecan tree in your yard, i'm totally jealous. i bet pecans would make an interesting and super rich pesto. i didn't grow basil in ye olde garden this year (shame on me!) but i did score a huge bunch at the farmer's market from my friend amy's stand. do any of you use the farmer's market in your area? it's a great way to spend a saturday. do yourself a favor and pre-write a list of what you'll need so you don't blow your money on a bunch of overpriced produce. i've noticed some stands have outright ridiculous prices on things just because they can, while the amish keep it pretty real.
jen's pesto sauce

you'll need

2 c of finely chopped basil, loosely packed
2 hand fulls (my hands are dwarf like) of walnuts (or nut of your choice)
2 cloves of garlic (smallish ones)
1t salt
1/4 c. olive oil
1/2 cup of vegan parm ( i make mine from a blend of 2/3 c. nooch, 1/4 c smoked almonds, and 1/3 c. cashews run through a coffee grinder)
3/4 c. water

can you guess how to blend? that's right--put it all in ye blender and puree the shit out of it. you'll have a beautiful thick bright green sauce. add extra basil, garlic, or nuts if that floats your boat. every one's basil range is different. i don't like to use too much garlic because i want the flavor of the basil and walnuts to shine through. add sauce to pasta, or use as a topping for pizza. i like making HUGE batches of this stuff and freezing them in ice cube trays so i can have a bit of summer flavor in the middle of winter. the individual servings via cube are super cute and super handy for single-serving pasta dishes.

bananas for beans

don't have much time to write. i'm exhausted. how do i make time to cook between being mom, spouse, and full-time employee? well i cut corners by prepping things at night: measuring dry ingredients, soaking beans, etc. when i wake up in the morning, i use the one hour i feel really energetic to cook. above are banana nut muffins from vegan-a-go-go. i like this recipe better than isa's banana bread because it isn't as sweet. i love isa so--but that bread is like crack. i can have a couple of these muffins and walk away without wanting to sell everything i have for more. so take my making muffins from another cook book as a compliment, ms. isa.

ahhh, another picture of use for the toot toot train to stinkytown beans--nachos! i was thinking of chelsea while i ate these and wondered how many times a week she eats nachos. btw, i'm glad y'all love the name--i've been toying with what to call that concoction. i've leaned on sprinkling things with nooch instead of making a cheez sauce because i've been kind crunched for time lately.

nighty-night!

open sesame!

i have been known to make a burrito out of anything, it's true. willy wonka says the following:

"invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple."

now if he could have taken all of that and put it into a burrito, i would surely have eaten it. pictured above is the closed version of my most recent burrito, but do yourselves a favor and look at the money shot below:
i took an ezekiel sprouted grain tortilla and filled it with my toot-toot train to stinkytown refried beans, home made salsa, sprinkled it with nooch, and added a couple dollops of tofutti sour surpreme. it was super tasty. i didn't make the salsa too hot because it was my first batch of the season and i usually go kind of mild on the first batch. by the end of the summer--woah, look out! the salsa is truly an ass-of-fire variety. i've posted a recipe for that before and i can't find it. so i'll give you something else--the power of farts.

here's the recipe for my toot-toot train to stinkytown refried beans. they are quite yummy, but aptly named for a very good reason:

you'll need:

2 cups cooked pinto beans (i make mine from dried beans, but you can use canned. just make sure you drain the gross juice they come in)

• 1T ms. dash chipotle flavor
• 2T frank's red hot
• 1/2 T liquid smoke
• 1T bragg's liquid aminos
• 1/2 t cinnamon (YES cinnamon)
• 1t cumin
• 1t chili powder
• squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice
• 1T canola or olive oil

take your freshly cooked beans (0r canned), all other ingredients and put it in a food processor. blend well, but not completely smooth. you want the appearance of refried beans, not a bean spread. use as filling for burritos, topping for nachos, or puree further for an awesome bean dip. if you like your beans hotter, add more franks and throw in a handful of pickled jalapenos into the processor.

when the gas strikes, trap the one you love under the covers for an awesome dutch oven. don't you wish i were joking?