Welcome!

On this blog you will find... vegan recipes, products, and general info regarding vegan life. You will also find some art with the stories behind it, news of my shop on Etsy and someday hopefully some music.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

More tales from my sketch book...

This is a portrait of my daughter asleep but her pillow has turned into mountains from national geographic.

Elves a cat and some flowers

Fluffy cat and young girl.

Orange moon

When I was young I was in a polish dance class where I wore flowers on my head. I didn't mind I actually liked my flowers, however this girl does not.

Lilly Pads

Another cat and some melancholy women.

My friend Radka.

These are more pictures from my sketch books. These are from some much older sketch books.

Tales in Gel Pen











A long time ago I had a set of gel pens and a gel pen book. These are some of the sketches that came about as a result.

Failed dragon tears project...

This is a female dragon crying over her wounded mate. This was actually an entry for a doodling contest for the doodling team I am on. Unfortunately this dragon did not come out the way I wanted. When I put varnish over her she turned pink which isn't a very good color for a dragon, ah well. So she is a work in progress. When she is completely dry I am going to try to make her more elegant in a tough dragon sort of way and less girly.There is going to be some more art and a recipe later today.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Vegan pineapple upside down pancakes, these are good!

Pineapple upside down pancakes



This is a recipe for pineapple upside down pancakes. These are very easy and delicious. I have been making them for my daughter since she was very young. My favorite is pineapple but you can make them with apples or peaches as well. They are not good for you but, I guess that's not really the point with these. The recipe is as follows.

The pancakes...

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1 cup water, almond milk, or so delicious co-co nut milk beverage
1 TBSP canola oil

* The  pancake batter portion of this recipe is from How it all Vegan, written by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard.*

The topping...

Brown sugar
Margarine
fruit

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees*

1. Make the pancake batter by stirring together all the dry ingredients, then make a well, add the liquids and stir but not too much.
2. Coat 4  ramekins with margarine and leave a few pieces in the bottom.
3. Cover the bottom with brown sugar about a TBSP.
4. Put a few pieces of the fruit of your choice in the bottom on the brown sugar.
5. Divide pancake batter between the 4 ramekins covering the fruit and sugar.
6. Set ramekins on a tray and bake in 350 degree oven for about 25 to 30 minutes.
7. Turn them out on to a plate with the pineapple side up. While still hot. You can do this by setting a plate on the top and the bottom and flipping the whole contraption over one at a time. I just use a towel to hold it and turn it over but a plate might be easier.

*You may have to go around the side with a knife a little when turning them out.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Tales from my sketch book...


Walk
Princess

Dance


Cat and picture of cat
Trick
House


I  have been in kind of a mood lately. Usually I play the piano when I am in a mood because my moody piano playing usually comes out better then my moody drawings. These are some drawings from my sketch book. Some of which I made when I was feeling kind of down. I haven't decided what I want to do with them yet. But, my daughter thought they were pretty good so I thought I might share them with people.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Dirty mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and roasted beets with ginger

This recipe is for dirty mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and roasted beets with ginger. I didn't measure most of this so, I am going to give you rough estimates. I thought it was worth posting anyway because it came out really good.

Dirty mashed potatoes...

5 red potatoes
5 cloves garlic minced
1 or 2 jalapenos diced fine
1/2 a sweet onion diced small
cracked black pepper and salt to taste
white wine or almond milk

1. Wash potatoes, take out the eyes, do not remove skins and boil for about 25 minutes, until tender when poked with a fork.
2. When potatoes are done or almost done in a large pan get olive oil hot.
3. In oil or pot saute garlic, jalapenos and onion. Get onions kind of brown. Add salt and pepper.
4. Cut each potato into quarters and throw them into the pan with the onion, garlic and jalpenos with the skins on.
5. Saute and mash but not thoroughly mashed. Get potatoes kind of brown in the process.
6. Potato will stick to the pan and get brown that is okay. When everything is nice and brown deglaze the pan with white wine and scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon which will get the brown into the potatoes instead of on the pan and make them creamier as well as make them taste really good.  Just so you know you have to let them sit for a moment before you eat them other wise all you can taste is wine.
7. The other way to do this is add a little almond milk at the end and stir it in to make them creamier then  a add a little water and scrape the pan to get the brown up while the pan is still very hot.

This next one is an accident that came out surprisingly good. I was roasting beets and I meant to coat them with granulated garlic. I grabbed the ginger instead and had already covered a bunch before I realized what I had done. So I decided to just cover them all and add salt to see how it came out. The recipe is as follows...

ginger
salt
beets

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Peel and wash beets, cut into small cubes.
3. Coat in oil and sprinkle with dry ginger and salt.
4. Roast in oven for about 40 minutes until tender.

I don't remember which oil I used but probably it was olive.

The best part of this mac and cheese is that we made the pasta our selves. It is so easy I think I may never buy pasta again. The cheese sauce my daughter made. She did not measure it but I can give you a rough estimate.

The pasta

2 cups semolina flour
1/2 cup regular flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 TBSP olive oil

1. Combine both flours and salt.
2. Make a well, pour water and then olive oil into it.
3. Stir with a wooden spoon until it is a lump.
4. Turn out onto clean counter and knead for about 10 minutes until nice and smooth.
5. Rest under damp towel for about 1/2 an hour.
6. Divide into 3 or 4 lumps, roll out each lump until it is really thin. While you are doing this bring a large pot of water to boil with a dash of olive oil and salt in it.
7. Slice into strips with pizza slicer or knife or whatever you have lying around.
8. Boil for about 2 or 3 minutes. Drain and immediately coat lightly with olive oil.

The cheese sauce

3 TBSP Olive oil
2 1/2 TBSP flour
1 1/2 cup almond milk
1/3 bag Diaya cheddar
Salt and pepper

1. Put olive oil and flour in pan and start it bubbling.
2. Add almond milk get it a little bit hot.
3. Add cheddar and stir until it melts.
4. Salt and pepper to taste.

*you can use margarine with this if you want. I prefer olive oil for the taste plus, I think it is better for your health.






Saturday, August 6, 2011

Vegan cooking contest...on Veganville

Veganville is having a vegan cooking contest. Sounds fun and the prize is a whole box full of vegan things including one of my book marks. Yay! This contest really does sound fun. If you are interested you can visit Veganville for the details. Just copy and past the following address. http://gigi-2boomers.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-veganville-contest-for-carnivores.html