January 28- Flowers of the week

I make no strides to hide my love of flowers. Since our remodeling is under control- I've been buying fresh flowers, weekly, for the house. I thought it would be fun to post the flowers of the week...and they would be Spider Mums.

Has Spring Sprung???

We could only hope....but I think this Robin has been hanging around all winter. The cowbirds were feeding in the yard yesterday, so that is a good sign is intending to come this year.

Then this Coopers Hawk decided to visit the "bird buffet" in our yard today...
Sometimes it's hard to believe we live 10 miles from Detroit.

And one last thing to leave you with, an appetizer I made last night

Helen's Extraordinary Tofu Spinach Dip

This was a recipe I found on Fat Free Vegan site http://www.fatfreevegan.com/appetizers/tofu_spinach_dip.shtml

I pretty much followed the recipe for once. Except - I cut the recipe in half, THANK GOODNESS! Just half made a ton. Then I added some grated carrot and finely chopped red pepper. I also used the whole can of water chestnuts- because I love them. I would definitely make this again, but I would add some chopped onion, add more garlic, and maybe use the whole packet of soup mix. I give the recipe 3 out of 5 forks.

On the next addition - I will be serving Mangotinis. I just can't bring myself to write about that today - oy.

POMEGRANATE SUNDAY

I've had a thing for pomegranates recently. I've been wanting to make pomegranate martinis recipe that I printed off the Internet- AND COULDN'T FIND yesterday. Well I came up with a recipe from Oprah's site. I opened the bottle of pomegranate concentrate I bought at our local Mediterranean store- brown goo came out. Yes, it tasted like pomegranate but there was NO way I was drinking a foofoo martini that was brown. So I did what I do best- improvise- and it turned out delish! Just look at the delish-ness!

The improvising went as follows

juice of one fresh pomegranate
juice of one fresh lemon
juice of one blood orange
enough orange juice to make total of 1 1/2 cups of total juice

2 oz of Vodka
1 oz of Grand Marnier

Combine in shaker with ice- and of course- shake!
Serve in sugared rimmed glasses with few pomegranate seeds in the
bottom for an extra treat! Makes 2 servings.

So as I was enjoying the above beverage, I made dinner. And to follow the theme of things; I made BBQ Pomegranate Tofu (pg 149) and Coconut Rice with Toasted Coconut (pg 109) from Vegan with a Vengeance.

I threw in the tofu some veggies I had on hand - broccoli, red peppers, carrots and onions. Oh- I ate more then I have shown in the photo! Both Goods and I went back for seconds. It was not only delicious, it was fairly easy to prepare.

Overall rating out of 5 forks - if I could it would be 6 forks- but 5 it is!

Sweet Potato Burritos

Before you go ewhhhhh- read the recipe, try the recipe, you won't be sorry.
Both Goods & I have a love for sweet potatoes, so when I saw a few recipes on the net for Sweet Potato Burritos, I knew I had to make them. Along with the fact I had a container of baked sweet potatoes in the freezer left over from our Christmas feast.
So let's get to the goodies......

Sweet Potato Burritos

1 cup chopped onion
4 garlic cloves – finely chopped
3 or 4 jalapeño
Little oil for sauté

3 cups cooked sweet potatoes (skin removed)
1 cup kidney beans or black beans
1 cup of cooked corn
2-3 teaspoons cumin
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Salt & pepper to taste

package of tortillas

Saute onions, garlic and peppers in a little oil, until soft. Add potatoes, beans and spices. Simmer for 15 mins, making certain all is hot.While cooking mash to desired consistency.

Fill tortillas with potato/bean mixture.You can also add fake sour cream or fake cheddar cheese if desired
Or.....An excellent addition in the burritos is this following mango salsa...reading other recipes, someone suggested a Mango Salsa – but I modified the recipe for our tastes.

Mango Salsa

1 mango - chopped
1 roma tomato - chopped
1/2 c of dice cucumber (peeled)
juice of 1 lime
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
1/4 c of jalapeño or other chili pepper
Salt & pepper to taste

Mix all together in bowl. The more it marinates the better it is. Great with tortilla chips too!

What the stuffing looked like- very colorful

And here is an action photo of Goods rolling up his burrito

We both agreed, the fake sour cream is a must. We didn't try fake cheese on it, I didn't miss it either. As I searched my pantry for kidney beans or black beans, I found that I've been neglecting my bean stock and didn't have either bean, so I had to use Northern Beans. They were good in it but Black Beans would have definitely added to the flavor of the stuffing.

So because of my neglect, I'm giving this 4 1/2 Fork Rating (out of 5)

My first old recipe I successfully veganized

Black Cherry Coffee Cake

Cake Batter:
1/4 c. vegan shortening
3/4 c. sugar
1 tbls. egg replacer
3 tbls. water

1 c. rice milk (or soy)
1 ½ c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 heaping tsp. cinnamon

Fruit Mixture:
1 heaping cup of fruit - in this case I used chopped black cherries
(use any fruit - blueberries are what I usually use)
1/2 c. water
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbls. arrowroot powder

Topping:
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. flour
4 tbls. soy margarine soften (I'm a fan of Willow Run- bad me)
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Now lets mix stuff up-

We can start with the fruit mixture since it needs to cool a tad after cooking. a tiny bowl,
mix the arrowroot powder w/ a little water just enough to dissolve it.
In a saucepan, mix fruit, water and vanilla- heat to a light boil.
Put the arrowroot mixture in the saucepan and remove from heat.
(make sure the fruit mixture thickens, so you might have to add more arrowroot - your fruit might be juicer then mine)

OPTION 1: If you don't want to go through all this, just fold JUST THE FRUIT into the
batter at the end (do not add arrowroot, water or vanilla)
OPTION 2: double the fruit mixture concoction- I will be next time.

Cream shortening, sugar, egg replacer and water (I used had mixer)
Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into small bowl.
Add sifted ingredients to creamed mixture, alternately with rice milk.

Pour batter (and it will be thick) into 8 x 8 greased pan.
Smooth it out, then pour fruit mixture on top. I take a knife and fold over a few spots to
work gobs on the fruit mixture into the batter.

Finally the topping. Mix the topping ingredients in a bowl, and mix until crumbly.
Sprinkle the crumbly mixture ontop of batter.

Bake for 45-50 minutes @ 350 degrees.

Overall rating- 4 out of 5 forks
* So overall it turned out excellent, the cake part was nice a fluffy & very tasty.
* The topping is - oh so bad for you, but sooooo extremely yummy.
* The reason I'm not giving this a 5
* The fruit topping-really needed to be doubled, which I will deff do next time.