This morning Piet spoke with a few friends back home in England. Hobnobs, a European biscuit, came up in conversation due to the fact that you can purchase them in the US at import stores, but they are incredibly overpriced. Temped by his friend Steph’s comment about home made Hobnobs, I got right to work making some of my own. They turned out just right! Recipe after the cut.
Today is a good day. My order of cotton came in, what will I use it for? Stay tuned!
Also, I made these delicious little stuffed potatoes the other night. Aren’t they pretty? Better yet no dairy involved! Just Broccoli, garlic and red pepper flakes! So good.
Last night and today has been a cooking frenzy for me. I really should be studying and getting caught up on reading, but apparently the kitchen calls! I started out last night making my first ever tamales! So yummy! Piet and I are going to a Cinco De Mayo party on Wednesday, and I shuttered at the thought of mounds of delicious food covered in cheese. I really wanted an alternative to eat guilt and bloat free. So I went out on a limb and made vegan tamales which will be served with Tofutti Better than Sour Cream.See this recipe and others after the cut below.
Next was Bran Muffins. This only came about when cruising the Winco bulk (our favorite place in the world) and discovered whole wheat bran, so I snatched some up. This recipe of course uses apple sauce in place of eggs and since they are on the healthy side, I decided to top them with a sprinkle of Sugar in the Raw mixed with cinnamon.
And last is another loaf of my French Bread. It is the newest addition to my bread repertoire and the most simple. I think everyone was getting sick of my rosemary olive oil haha.
Recipes and a note about veganism and me below.
Piet and I attending our St. Cupcake tasting today for the wedding. We really lucked out, and they have agreed to do a trade with Plywerk for the cupcakes. (Thank you Kim & Kjell!) So we dropped by their bakery in NW Portland to sort everything out. There are still a few we need to try out that they didn’t have today, however I fell in love with the Fat Elvis…mmm. We also got a goodie box to take home with us!
It was a great experience, and it will come highly recommended from us!
Friday I got a wild hair (or is it hare?) to bake some bread. Luckly I remember Kim & Kjell bought a bread machine, and I was lucky enough to borrow it. Well since Friday night i’ve baked 5 loaves of bread and gained 5lbs. The baking frenzy will calm, but i’m really excited about the idea of never having to buy bread again. The pictured loaf is a Jalapeno Cheese bread, the recipe is below the cut. Although my prized loaf so far is a delicious Rosemary and Olive Oil. I’ll get some pictures and post the recipe soon.
For Thanksgiving I made some candied cranberries which sampled and got the idea from Whole Foods. I’m pretty sure the bag of cranberries I bought were not ripe enough, so I would sample your cranberries before going through the whole process…like I did. They still turned out pretty though!
This is a fairly simple recipe to make an impressive main course. I’ve made it a few times and it seems to be a hit! Goes well with salad and roasted fingerling potatoes.
Friday evening we had some friends over for dinner, one of which is allergic to gluten and dairy. I had planned on experimenting with a craving for ravioli, so I went ahead and tried it gluten free and non gluten free. Both recipes included in this post.
If you haven’t checked out Ampersand located on 29th and Alberta in NE Portland, I urge you to stop in sometime, especially durring a Last Thursday event. The small shop specializes in books and retail committed to cultural preservation of historic and contemporary documents and collectables. You can purchase anything from vintage Playboy magazines, to hundred year old love letters written to long gone romantics.
