Can't...stop...baking...

It seems I either bake nothing or have a bit of a frenzy. Typical me, all or nothing. Yesterday I made sugar cookies. I used the recipe in The Joy of Vegan Baking by Collen Patrick-Goudreau. I've made sugar cookies before, but not very well. Have you ever made sugar cookies? They're perfect if you want to make a shaped cookie/biscuit to ice. Good for occasions (like baby showers - I saw a very cute onesie cutter the other day) BUT they are an awful faff. Very tasty, but a massive faff to achieve perfect results. There's shed loads of refrigeration and then some more refrigeration and some extra refrigeration just in case of dough warming. Not really being bothered about achieving perfect results, I have decided from this moment on to not faff so much, thus saying b*****ks to the refrigeration completely and not using a cookie cutter. I like them round & if I want shapes I'll make something else. Meh. Here are my attempted-not-perfect-but-delicious sugar cookies.

I haven't iced anything before and must say that it was great fun! I used unrefined icing sugar, hence the golden colour. The icing recipe was from the same book and was very easy. No faffing there you'll be pleased to hear. I didn't even know that some icing contains egg whites. WTF? Yes that right. Regal icing contains uncooked egg whites. Yuk!

Anyhoo. My second batch of baked goods were made earlier today and are vegan blueberry muffins. I Googled "vegan blueberry muffins" and got quite a few results (surprise eh?), but most of them were a right faff! (We know how I feel about faffing.) Or required ingredients I do not have. So, I chose this recipe from recipesforvegans.co.uk. I haven't tried anything else from the site. They were so easy and quick to make!  And delicious! Thumbs up! Not bad considering the blueberries needing using up.

I've also made a fruit salad (gotta love reduced fruit) & spiced lentil soup today. But they aren't baked so do not get a photo.

I hear my Little Man has woken up so off I shall go to get him. I love how he greets me when I enter his room:

:-)

Bread!

I've tried to make bread before. Well, I've made bread before, but it resembled a door stop or small rock. Not the sort of bread you'd like to eat unless you were the Rock Biter from The Neverending Story. Which I'm not. So, my lovely mother (at my request) bought us a bread machine for our birthdays. (Mine &  Simon's birthdays are within 4 days of each other). It's bloody fantastic! Even Simon thinks so & he hasn't even used it! Long gone is the arduous task of kneading & the first proving. The beautiful machine does it for me! I made a garlic focaccia the other day for lunch when some friends visited and today I made  something that was bloomer shape, but the recipe was forwhite bread roll dough so it had that texture, but a bit lighter. I'm quite big on food aesthetics (believing that half the battle is won if it looks pretty) so I clearly need to work on presentation, but it tasted great - really fresh and went perfectly with what-veg-is-left-in-the-fridge? and lentil stew for tea - yum!

Isaac liked it too :-D

No more store bought bread for us! I never thought I'd see the day...

Vegan dog biscuits!

As I'm gradually becoming more vegan I've been wondering recently if it was possible for a dog to eat a vegan diet. I've read quite a lot about it, as nutrition is not a subject to be taken lightly, and it seems that both cats and dogs can lead healthy, vegan lives. Here is a good place to start for a bit of a wake up call. There will be those of you who think it cruel not to give an animal meat based food, but seriously - have you read the ingredients list on the back of you canine friend's chow? Words like "derivative" do not appear on my food labels, so why should they appear on my furry baby's? Have you even thought about what it is and how it gets into that perfectly sealed plastic bag that so easily drops into your shopping trolley?

Over the past few weeks I've gradually changed Rinny's dog food to Yarrah - she wasn't so keen at first, but now we mix it with a little brewer's yeast in water and she loves it, more than her meaty dog food! This pleases me hugely because the ethics of the meaty dog food company are questionable. Yarrah's certifications and guarantees make me happy :-)

Anyhoo...les biscuits (please apply proper accent Français for maximum effect).

To replace Gravy Bones

To replace Markies

To replace Dentastix

I used the recipes in How It All Vegan. The quantities in the book made enough for about 2 weeks worth of each, which is doable for me, having a small baby and all. I was totally surprised at how easy they were to make and also how nutritionally balanced they are.  They're actually pretty tasty! Most importantly Rinny totally loves them. All. Lots. Two fantastic human benefits - they cost a whole lot less to make than buy AND considerably less doggie flatulence since implication of operation vegan-dog! No more nasal assaults! Or cries of "Rinny, you stinky-arsed bandit!" We hear them, but they just don't smell :-)

I'm so very glad that I'm able to provide freshly made, nutritious food for my whole family - hurrah!