Sweet Sneak Peek

Recently, one of my friends from our Bradley Birth Class was telling me how she is already planning for her son's first birthday party. *Gasp*, he's even a month younger than my daughter! I didn't laugh at her for planning something 1/3 of a year away, but that might have been because she inspired me...I realized that the earlier I start planning and preparing, the cheaper and nicer it will be, since I can have plenty of time to make things for my daughter's birthday instead of rushing around last minute and buying everything.

So. That being said, I started looking for a theme. I may as well say, I also despise licensed characters. Inasmuch as I have anything to do with it, my daughter won't ever have an "Elmo" or "Barbie" or "Hannah Montana" party, etc...of course, once she can speak her own mind, who knows? She'll probably ask for a licensed character party every year. But for now, the planning is up to me. *evil cackling*

I started my research by looking for a cake. I figured I could build a party theme around a cake, and I did! Naomi's first birthday party theme is officially: Owls. I did a lot of online research, but quickly realized that if I want her sweet treats to be as adorable as this one, and not wind up looking unfortunate, then I needed to practice! I saw some cute owl cake pops and thought I would try my hand at them. I think they turned out to be adorable!

Owl Cake Pop

And here's the whole mess of them. I used a ballpoint pen to poke holes in a cereal box to prop them up while they were drying. They were really a lot easier to make than I'd thought they would be!

Colorful Owl Cake Pops

Now, I'm glad I didn't make an entire cake's worth of cake pops. That would have been entirely too many! But from one box of cake mix, I made 12 regular cupcakes, 12 mini cupcakes, and 1 loaf pan's worth of the rest of the batter, which, when mixed with frosting, became 20 cake balls. Want to know how I made the owls? 

I lightened the photo to more easily show off owl-ey features.

What I did with the mini cupcakes was practice various icing techniques with my metal icing tips. The regular-sized cupcakes, I practiced making ball of yarn cupcakes which will hopefully be for my birthday party/Christmas party later this year. Here's a sneak peek:

I used Pocky with chocolate chips to make the knitting needles. 

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!

Autumn Oatmeal

Time to share a recipe again! It is just so utterly scrumptious I couldn't help it, despite the fact that it's a cold, blizzardy February day instead of Autumn, like the recipe's name suggests.

My parents invented this recipe as a sweet but not sugary vegan breakfast, extremely innovative (and extra yummy) in that they cook the oatmeal in apple juice instead of water or milk.

They haven't written it down, however, so now it's my turn to share this deliciousness with the rest of the world. And yes, I took this photo of our breakfast this morning!

Autumn Oatmeal

1-3/4 cups 100% Apple Juice (not from concentrate)
1 cup Oatmeal (quick-cooking OR regular)
1 apple, Gala or Macintosh
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
a dash of nutmeg

In a medium pot, bring apple juice to a boil. Core and chop apple, then add it along with the rest of the ingredients to the pot. Cook for the recommended amount of time for your oatmeal type. (I used quick-cooking oats, so one minute). Serve immediately. Makes 2 generous servings. Recipe may be doubled (or tripled, or...)!

Vegan Tuscan Soup

Just after I'd come home from the hospital with our daughter, we had many friends bless us with delicious meals. One in particular stood out, and it was Spicy Tuscan Soup. The recipe had come from the Pioneer Woman (thepioneerwoman.com). This friend, knowing I didn't eat red meat, substituted the sausage and bacon for non-spicy turkey varieties. It was SO good!


But this week, my family and I are participating in a fast based in the book of Daniel, which includes "no choice foods". For some of us, that means no meat, no sweets and no caffeine. For others, it means basically a vegan, no sugar, no leavening diet and nothing to drink but water or green tea. So I decided to try to adapt this recipe even further to attempt to make it vegan. It worked! I liked the new version, but thought that I could even leave out the Boca Burgers and still have a hearty soup. We all thought it was delicious either way, so I thought I should share my adaptation:

Vegan Tuscan Soup

• 3 vegan Boca Burgers, Defrosted and Chopped (optional)
• 1 whole Medium Red Onion, Diced
• 3-4 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 3 whole Medium Potatoes
• 1 quart Vegetarian Vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup Vegan Butter (I used Smart Balance)
• 4-6 cups Fresh Baby Spinach, lightly shredded
• ½ cup unsweetened Almond Milk
• Salt And Pepper, to taste

Chop onion; add onion and olive oil to a large soup pot. Heat over medium heat and cook until onions are clear. Add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Slice potatoes in half lengthwise and cut into 1/4″ slices. Add vegetable broth, vegan butter and potatoes to the soup pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until potatoes are almost done.

Defrost and chop vegan burgers, if using.

Lightly shred and add fresh spinach. Also add almond milk, salt, pepper and (optional) vegan burgers, and simmer for 5 more minutes. Let cool and serve with homemade tortilla chips.

Yummy Soup Leftovers!

Through this recipe (and from some of my Dad's culinary expertise), I learned that a "clove" of garlic is one of the buds from the whole, onion-like thing you get at the store. So the onion-like thing has SEVERAL cloves in it, and isn't a clove by itself. (There's probably a more technical term for that onion-like thing, but I don't know what it is.) Also, if you place the flat part of your cleaver on top of your clove of garlic, then hit it sharply with the heel of your other hand, the skin pretty much falls right off the clove. No peeling! It made for a much quicker mincing.

If you try this recipe, let me know! I hope you enjoy it!