Vegan Bake-Swap!

A few months ago I joined the meetup.com group, "DC Vegans," and through that got invited to join a Google group called, "The DC Area Vegan Bake-Swap." One Saturday per month, the group leader picks a vegan cookbook and all the members select a dessert recipe from the chosen book to bake. We then meet at a cozy little cafe near U Street, stuff our faces with each others creations, & swap desserts!

The members of the group are very... "eclectic".... which makes the 2 hours we spend together each month very interesting. There are architects, lawyers, writers, military chefs, housewives, organic farmers, engineers, firemen, butchers, and hotel owners. (Note to readers- I made some of those up. Especially one in particular... guess which one!?)

For a past swap, I made these awesome lemon bars....

For the most recent swap we had, I made these chocolate peanut butter rice-krispie treats...

Another note to readers: This is NOT a recipe/cooking blog! (Just thought I should stress that again to reassure you all. Phew!)

Banana Walnut Muffins!

Please allow me to begin by saying that this is NOT a recipe blog! Although I do consider myself a master chef, (smirkity smirk), I don't think I have quite reached the age where it is appropriate to be writing a blog about home-cooking. (If anyone asks, the proper age is 33.... or 26, if you're Mormon.)

Today, however, I feel the urge to write a post about the wonderful creations I recently concocted. After perhaps dozens of failed attempts over the years, I have finally managed to bake a batch of decent-tasting MUFFINS! Some might even call them tasty... (One of my past failed attempts included "Blueberry Disaster Balls," as I fondly like to refer to them)...

Last weekend I succeeded in making banana walnut muffins w/ a recipe out of the Skinny Bitch Everyday Cookbook. The muffins were moist, sweet, slightly healthy, and crunchy, (because of the walnuts, of course). Here is the recipe so all you hungry readers can flock to your kitchens and bake your hearts out! Nom, nom nom...


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups soymilk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/3 cup Earth Balance butter
3/4 cups cane sugar
1/4 cup vanilla soy yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large bananas, mashed
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
2. In a small bowl, mix the milk and vinegar and let sit until curdled. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.
3. In a separate large bowl, beat the room temperature Earth Balance & sugar with a mixer until fluffy, (about 3 minutes). Add the yogurt, milk mixture, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just incorporated. Stir in the mashed bananas.
4. In a small bowl, add the walnuts, brown sugar, and remaining cinnamon. Set aside. Spoon the batter into paper, (or silver), muffin liners in a muffin pan until they are about 2/3 full.
5. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and add the walnut mixture to the top of each muffin. Return to the oven and bake 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool.
6. ENJOY!!

My Date with Kate!

Last night I had the unique pleasure of spending the evening with my 6 year-old cousin, Kate!

I picked Kate up from her house around 6:00pm, strapped her booster seat into my back-seat, and we were off to the mall to grab some dinner! I took her to Chipotle, a favorite of mine, where she proceeded to order one chicken taco with cheese, a side of steak, and 2 chocolate milks. Halfway through dinner Kate decided to have a costume change. She pulled out her handy-dandy purse and put on all new jewelry. She also put on about five layers of blush, half of which made it into her hair.

After dinner we were walking towards Cold Stone to get some ice-cream when we passed the little train that rides around the food court & movie theater. Of course, we had to ride it! So I dished out $5.00 for a four-minute train ride... (which I have to admit, was AWESOME!)

At Cold Stone, Kate ordered blue cotton-candy ice-cream with Reeses peanut-butter cups mixed in. She said it was delicious, but I was too scared to try it. We then went home to say hi to my parents & wipe half the ice-cream off Kate's face, (the other half landed on the back seat of my car). We took my dog on a quick little walk & discussed inch worms playing soccer, the fact that her brothers had small feet, the moon being full only at midnight, and Cookie Monster's new friend, Veggie Monster!

After our walk we put together about nine kiddie puzzles and built this awesome house out of Duplos. When we played with the house, I got to be the voices of the shark and alligator. Good times, people!

When it was finally time to take Kate home, she showed me every book in her room and gave me some Scooby-Doo gummy snacks to eat on my drive home. She also told me I should call my mom so she would know I was on my way back. (Thanks for looking out for me, Kate!)

Summer (Pros & Cons)

Due to the 95+ degree weather this past week, I think it's clear that summer has finally made its way to the DC area. With the dawning of the summer season comes many exciting and wonderful things! (As well as some seriously awful and disappointing things). The following is my personal list of the pros & cons of the summer season:

Summer PROS:

1) Extra long days: (The sun is up at 6:30am when I wake-up for work and doesn't set until almost 9:00pm. Gotta love that extra sunshine)...

2) Pink lemonade: (The greatest drink ever invented! Besides chocolate soymilk, of course)...

3) Corn-on-the-cob & Watermelon: (NOM NOM NOM!)

4) Trips to the Beach: (The beach is my favorite place on the planet! Yes, it may just trump Disney World. I freaking love the beach with the sand and the shells and the salt-water and even the selfish pooping seagulls!)

5) Fireworks: (OOOO, so pretty & shiny!)...

6) Outdoor Exercise: (It's nice not to be cooped inside riding a treadmill or elliptical like a freaking hamster. The great outdoors is calling to me & my running shoes!)...

7) The end to allergy season: (Spring sucks because of all the pollen & ragweed. Now that it's summer, I can finally breathe again & my nostrils are happy campers!)...

Summer CONS:

1) Excessive heat/humidity: (My fragile, temperate-sensitive body simply wilts in the heat. It also sucks walking into work all sweaty after lunch... gross!)

2) Baseball Season: (I don't care if it's the "Great American Past-time." Baseball is BORING and a lame excuse for dudes with no endurance to call themselves athletes)...

3) Kids out of School: (Watching kids play outside from my office window is extremely depressing. It just reminds me that I'm an adult now and am not allowed to have fun)...

But despite the few cons, summer really is a wonderful time. So get off your couch & go play some base... I mean, go enjoy the sunshine!

Back from the Shire!

Fair lads and lasses, I've returned from the great country of Ireland! And what a memorable trip it was. Where to start my great tale?...

The Flights: Never, under ANY circumstances, will I fly Continental Airlines again. Every single leg of our journey was delayed or royally screwed in some way. Bogus delays, incompetent customer service members, shutting down Dublin airport for Obama, having to fly into Belfast instead of Dublin, nothing to eat but granola bars and apricots... The flights were nothing less than a stressful mess. BUT....

The Ireland: OH, the Ireland! What a beautiful green country. I have never seen so many sheep and cows in my life. It rains daily so fertilizer is completely unnecessary and everything is SO green. Brian and I began our 6-day vacation in Dublin's fair city, "where the girls are so pretty!"... We walked around the whole city while I pointed at everything & made Brian take lots of random pictures. Like this really cool lamp-post...

We visited the famous Guinness Factory and got some free brews at the museum's Gravity Bar. Brian loved his Guinness! But, as I dislike all dark beers, I thought it tasted like dirt and tar.



The next morning we woke up and began our tour of southern Ireland. We rode around on this modest automobile for 3 days visiting all of the country's greatest attractions such as the Cliffs of Moher, the Blarney Castle, the Ring of Kerry, and the fields where Braveheart was filmed!

 

We kissed the Blarney Stone, met some penguins at a quaint little aquarium in the town of Dingle, looked at a fertility stone, (Brian banned me from touching it), & even sang karaoke w/ some crazy mates we made from Australia. We drank lots of beer, listened to some authentic Irish music, (Mumford & Sons), and enjoyed the fact that all of the natives looked just like us!



We stayed in some five-star hostels, (by that I mean there were 5 legs on all the insects in the showers), we ate our weight in potatoes, and enjoyed the commentary of our drunken Irish tourguide, Joseph, who always drove the Paddywagon 30 miles over the speed limit.

Oh, and how could I forget? Emma's Baptism! On our last day in Ireland, Brian & I bussed it down to the town of Wexford for the Christening of my new Chirish Goddaughter, Emma Lou Claire Smith. She is quite an energetic young girl who recently won a gold medal in gymnastics class, (such talent she has... she takes after her Godmother!)

And now, I am very happy to be back at home to recover from a dismal case of jet-lag. (And to feed my body nutrients that aren't found in potatoes and beer). May the luck of the Irish be with you on this wonderful long weekend!

Run for the Animals!

A few weekends ago, Brian and I ran a 5K "Run for the Animals." We paid $30 each to drive an hour into MD at 7:00am on a Sunday and get sweaty running up a bunch of hills. (Who doesn't love that!?)

The best part of the race was seeing all the dogs people brought to cheer on the runners! (OK, the best part was really the bounty of free snacks at the end... but the dogs were pretty cute)... One dog was 1/2 lab and 1/2 dachshund. That definitely led to some pretty interesting/unnerving images in my head.

ANYWAYS- Here is our finish line picture. Leave it to Brian to give a fantastic thumbs-up to the camera...

These are a few of my favorite THIIINGGGSSSS!

While ellipticizing a few days ago, I decided to watch the first half of The Sound of Music. (TV was sucking big time, and nothing gets my blood pumping like a good musical number! "The Hills are Aliiiivveee")... I've always loved The Sound of Music. In case I've never bragged about it before, I played Liesl in my 8th grade Junior High School performance! (I'm kind of a big deal)

To emulate Fraulein Maria this morning, I'd like to share with you all, "A Few of My Favorite Thingggssss!"...

1) My Princess Mug: A few years ago for Christmas, my grandparents decided to get all of their grandchildren mugs from Our Name is Mud. Mine said "Princess" & my brother's said "Genius." All of the other grandchildren just got mugs with their names on them. (Are we the favorites? I think so! Have our cousins resented us since? You bet!)

2) My Nasal Rinse Kit: Allergy season is upon us people. And this little writer needs relief! Claritin just doesn't cut it sometimes, so filling this bad boy up with saline solution and squeezing it up my nostrils each morning works WONDERS! Watching it leak out the other nostril is just an added bonus. (So sexy, I know)...

3) My Homemade Photo Booth Frame: Brian and I got these photo booth pictures at a bar in NYC a few months ago but I couldn't find a frame anywhere. ERGO: I constructed one myself out of random wood I found in my basement and lots of silver glitter! (Truth: the frame sucks & the picture falls out all the time. Posting this here is a plea for one of you to please buy me a new one).

"One of My UN-favorite Thiiinnnnngsss"

Dog Poop on the Driveway: Little Becky's gotten into a horrible habit of taking all her craps on our driveway. It's most unpleasant and embarrassing.

That's right, I'm talking about you, Missy! Don't just lay there looking all cute and innocent...