Cut It Out!

I have a love-hate relationship with sugar cookies. I love how adorable they can be, but I hate how long I take to make them. It's one of those things that I complain about from the moment I begin but by the time I am almost finished I wish I wasn't. Today I took a shortcut and used a packaged mix. I thought it would make it less stressful and more fun.

It still took forever and I swore I wouldn't do it again, until I was on my last bit of dough and wanted to roll out a few more. The directions didn't say to chill the dough, which seemed odd. I ended up adding a lot more flour to the dough since it was super sticky. I divided it into two balls and put one in the fridge, but still had to add flour to that one when I started working with it.

The leaves are cute and all but the stems were a real pain in the butt. The cutter is really small on that portion so they would break off or come out oddly and I'd just have to start over. I probably won't do that shape again unless I find a cutter with a wider stem on it. I tried to do red, yellow, and orange frosting but my red was more rose than anything. My niece had fun decorating and eating them, so it wasn't a complete loss. I am still tired from yesterday's marathon kitchen session so it probably wasn't the best time to do something that requires patience. I'll have to try these again on a whim, when I don't have other projects scheduled and I won't care how pretty they do or do not turn out. I'm going to have some beers, watch Revenge and try to get in a better mood for tomorrow's feasting.

Vegan Mofo IV Week 4 Schmanksgiving

Blog as my witness, one year I will do the 20 post minimum of mofo-ing. I'll have to double check but I don't think I've ever completed one. I think I did slightly better this year than last, but since this is my first post of the last full week, I'm a bit disappointed, but not ready to give up just yet.

I lost that mofo feeling toward the end of last week and just couldn't get it back. I could blame a small part of it on my cycle wiping me out, and then there was the rain which always puts me in slow-mo, but I really think I just got tired of cooking and all of the cleaning that goes with it. I did have fun trying new recipes and using ingredients I've never worked with before. I didn't have any major disasters, so even though I lost some days, this has still been a good experience. There are a few more days left so let's see what happens.

Tonight's dinner was simple and boring. I was so excited to make an amazing dinner at the beginning of the month, but as it drew nearer I was not very interested in Thanksgiving anymore. I always want to make too many things, last year I think I made t-giving three different times/ways. This year was almost an exact repeat of last year I think. Tofurky roast, mac and cheese bites, greens. At least dessert wasn't a letdown. I made my favorite cheesecake and the girls loved it. My niece said it was the best cheesecake I ever made from scratch. It chilled overnight so it was even sweating like real cheesecake, sounds gross but it was so good.

  

I also made a maple bundt, my first ever in my brand new pan. The whole house smelled lovely while it was baking, so waiting until after tomorrow's dinner to eat it will be quite a challenge.

you go grill!

i still don't know what i am making for thanksgiving, other than the obligatory starches (stuffing and mashed potatoes) and dessert (susan v's double layer pumpkin tofu cheesecake and another dessert tba). i need vegetables and a protein, i might try a few things from the GOOP email i got today (brussel sprouts!). i was going to test the faux turkey breasts from the real food daily cookbook today, i remembered wrong and i do not have all the ingredients. i only had one 8 oz package of tempeh, which i imagined was 16 oz, enough for the recipe. i didn't realize it was half that amount until i used it yesterday to make maple grilled tempeh from 101 cookbooks. i have not done a proper market run nearly all month, so i am more spacey about these things i guess.

at any rate, the 16, 8, now 0 oz tempeh would have been "best if used" by today, so i am glad i used it yesterday. i just wish i would finally get over my number one cooking mistake, which is not letting things cook (i know, right?). i'm a frequent flipper. even though i boiled the tempeh for ten minutes, marinated for half an hour and brushed marinade on while grilling, this could have turned out so much better if i left well enough alone.

mistakes aside i am proud of myself for grilling start to finish. other than a few burgers at company picnics, i am never the grilling gal. in the omni days my dad did all of the "outside" cooking and as we went veg, my sister took it up while i made the "inside" dishes to go with it. maybe i will have better luck with a grill pan.

i have new foods to play with, kale, acorn squash and yukon gold potatoes. they're not really new since i've at them all on different occasions but i've never prepared them myself. i have tons of cookbooks and food zines and blogs for homework to put together an excellent menu and make master list for trip to mother's tomorrow. yum!

talkin' turkey (vegan mofo day 7)

we haven't hit halloween but i'm already thinking of thanksgiving. growing up it was never my favorite holiday. i didn't really care for turkey since it would always be a bit too dry and i was too grossed out by gravy to try to remedy it that way. we didn't do cranberries either (see other blog for lack of veg/fruit enforcement). my childhood thanksgiving would be something like this: little bit of turkey,corn, maybe mashed potatoes (again sans gravy), biscuits and pumpkin pie. ask me why i'm a chubby vegan, right?

now that i'm doing the cooking and i'm open to more foods, it's a different story. the only reason not to look forward to holiday cooking now is the issue of kitchen scheduling. if my dad is making a turkey or we are the hosts, i've really got to scramble to make most things ahead or after all of the omni food is complete, hello huge waste of oven/counter space you poor turkey!

i'm not sure what i want to make yet. i used to always argue that we should just eat whatever we want and buck the traditional menu since the real point is to be together and give thanks, blah blah blah. on the other hand, i am thinking of trying some of the thanksgiving food from the real food daily cookbook or some dishes i wanted to make last year but did not. i've never made a main dish, just sides. i'm also trying to use less prepackaged/box mix kind of food so this is another push in that direction. it's really a great opportunity to challenge myself and i look forward to it. i just need to find a focus and then do a few tests that way i am not unpleasantly surprised by my results. in case i botch it, there must be pumpkin pie, and maybe sweet potato too. just to show i am a good sport, i will still have turkey at my table.

how do you all reconcile the holidays? what are your favorite dishes?

p.s. i am probably going to cook again tomorrow, after two days off. gotta hit the books, hopefully some of the cookbooks i put on hold magically show up and i can pick up tomorrow after work.