Today I made pretzels for the first time! Not the first time as a vegan, but the first time ever. I used MamaPea’s Soft Pretzels recipe but made a few tweaks. Not only are we vegan, but we’re no oil, (nearly) no sugar, no white flour, all whole foods vegan. So I subbed out the unbleached all-purpose flour for whole wheat, the sugar for maple syrup, and the vegan margarine for an equivalent amount of apple juice. I have no idea whatsoever if the apple juice is something I read online and clued into, or if it’s just a flight of fancy (most probably the latter) but it seemed to do the trick.
Yes! We have a successful rise!
I would love to be able to tell you that that’s my seven year old’s pretzel-making skills seen above. But, alas, it is mine.
The finished product! The whole process was much easier than I’d expected it to be, and the pretzels were perfect! Both my kids were yammering for more, and my husband scarfed two before I had a chance to pack them away for school snacks. Good thing I trusted MamaPea and made a double batch!
I love reading through the vegan food blogosphere, finding delectable recipes and photos that look like art to hang on my wall. Here and there I’ll try a recipe, but I tend to return to our standard fare time and time again. Why? Because it works. It fills us up, keeps my kids happy, and I don’t need to run to the store to get some bizarre ingredient. Obviously during Vegan MoFo I’m going to push our boundaries a bit and try some new dishes. But plenty of our familiar comfort foods will be making an appearance as well.
You can’t get any more cliché than our lunch today. What did the kids eat?
Peanut butter sandwiches, of course. That’s natural peanut butter with a French pear jam (no sugar, sweetened with — get this — fruit) on homemade whole wheat bread, red peppers, and strawberries. My seven year old likes hummus, chickpea/tofu salad sandwiches, et al. But my four year old would start a revolt if I tried to pry the peanut butter out of his messy little paws.
As for my husband and myself? Just as cliché as the pb&j sandwiches, I’m afraid. Lunch is, almost always, a salad. A salad with beans. A salad with a side of soup. A salad with peanut butter and jam on the side 
During the darkest days of winter I’ll usually substitute a big pot of minestrone or some other vegetable/bean-based soup. But for right now, while the sun is shining and we’re not trying to chase off the winter chill? We’re eating as many fresh foods as possible.
Today I whipped up a quick batch of SusanV’s Vegan Buttermilk Dressing. This is my standard, every day dressing at home. At work, my husband prefers a balsamic I’ll link to someday. We haven’t bought bottled dressing in… I don’t know how many years. Long before we went vegan, I’m sure. Once you go fresh, you never go back!
Just a simple salad with kidney beans today, as the soup I was thawing out from the freezer was taking too damn long and we were getting hungry!
When @ZuckerBaby tweeted the above I was suddenly like, hey, yeah! I’ve got that cookbook! That’s one of the recipes I wanted to try! In fact, I’ve been wanting to try about 80% of the recipes in Appetite for Reduction. So I built this week’s menu around some AFR recipes that sounded like potential winners for our family. On the menu for yesterday was the previously-lauded Veggie Potpie Stew and Sweet Potato Pumpkin Drop Biscuits.
Oh. My. Goodness.
Words and pictures simply can’t do justice to this dish. Soothing and familiar flavors, but not boring at all. 100% comfort food. Hearty but not heavy. The only thing that would have made this dish better is if it had been mid-winter and we’d all just come in from building a snowman to a piping hot bowl. It was that kind of dish. The only change I made to the recipe was to cook the onion in broth instead of oil. Trust me, it cost the dish nothing.
To go with the stew I made the recommended drop biscuits, using some pumpkin purée I’d just made instead of sweet potatoes. I also subbed out the three tablespoons of oil for three tablespoons of applesauce.
The texture and general flavor of the biscuits was really good. But the nutmeg was overpowering. I’ll definitely be using the recipe again, as it might have been the best vegan biscuit I’ve ever made. But I’ll also be at least halving the amount of spice. In fact, let’s try it out right now and see if I’m right! We have leftover stew from last night. I just got back from a bike trip to the park with the kids, and I just don’t feel like taking the time to mess around with a new recipe this evening. Let’s try and tweak the one we’ve already got, shall we?
Step one: zap a couple mini-pumpkins in the microronde, seeing as I’ve already frozen the rest of the pumpkin purée. Normally I’d bake these instead, but in the interest of time and all…
Step two: DO NOT burn your fingertips removing the flesh from the skin. That would hurt and you would look stupid. (running fingers under cold water now)
Step three: Did you really think I was going to list out the whole recipe? Nah, I don’t do that unless I’ve significantly changed it. Buy the book – it’s worth it, have a little faith! Mix. Half the nutmeg. Bake.
Step four: Enjoy. And maybe try to convince your kids they want a piece of bread instead (answer: they do not). Next time make a double batch.
It’s been unseasonably warm here these last few days. 75, maybe? Walking the boys home from school today, stopping to look at every ladybug, every abandoned snail shell, and every interesting piece of gravel, took nearly twenty minutes. When we finally got home, all were hot, and all were in need of refreshment.
Ice cream? Yes, please!
yes, those are Ikea bowls. and yes, I realize the yellow one shows toddler chew marks. I realize that NOW.
In the mix:
- two ripe bananas, NOT frozen
- about 1.5 cups of frozen mixed fruit (strawberries, peaches, pineapple, red grapes, and honeydew melon)
