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.

Gobble Gobble Gobble

This Maple Pecan Pie was my first recipe from Vegan Pie In The Sky. I've never had pecan pie but have wanted some since last holiday season when my friend told me how good they are. I was always so content with pumpkin I foolishly did not give any other pies a chance. I think this is going to be the beginning of a life-long affair. In fact, I'm not sure I can wait two more days to try this gorgeous pie. The only thing stopping me is thinking of how tacky I will look showing up to my aunt's with just half a pie, or only a wedge for my grandma. If you don't have enough for sharing, don't bring it, right?

My sister and niece are allergic to nuts so I'll  have other options for them. I'm going to make two rounds of Susan Voisin's Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake. It's a favorite and I've made it every year since first discovering it. I want to have my niece help me make some sugar cookies with the harvest cutters I bought (leaf, turkey, pumpkin). I'm cheating with a packaged mix for those. I might to give the VPITS Chocolate Mousse Tart another try tomorrow. I've never done tarts before, but I think the biggest mistake was using a flan tin that had a really light bottom (almond colored). I have a square 9" quiche pan that might work better but I'm not sure it's deep enough, so I might just scrap the whole thing and try again when I get the right pan. I only made the shell and noticed it was uneven and burned in some parts so good thing I didn't waste the mousse ingredients too!

Anyhow, I am really happy with how my pie turned out. It was only my second attempt at pie crust so I know they will get better as time goes on. I can't wait to perfect my crimping skills. I can't believe I've been in the kitchen all day long today. I'm going to have some of the "Lotsa Veggies Lentil Soup" I made last night, walk Penny and take it easy for the rest of the evening. I have a lot to do tomorrow!

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.

where's the greens?

My half-ass holidays are not turning out as bad as I thought they would be. Last year I think I tried to hard to be too awesome. This year I had the holidays so far from my mind I didn't know what I was going to cook until it was time to go to the store. There are still tons of recipes I wanted to make from last year and the year before that and new ones I am also excited about but I will just have to work them in another time. There is plenty of feasting to be done.




We had tofurkey roast, stuffing, and for the first time ever, macaroni bites-which were everyone's fave. My uncle came over when we were nearly finished and I asked him to try one, which he did and he said it was good. I thought he was making fun of me at first since everyone in our family jokes about our veg-ness, but then he asked where they were and helped himself to a few more bites. I'm tempted to call them "shots" more than bites because it seems like you should just shove the whole thing in your mouth and go for it, but maybe that's just how I eat them. I could not roux for anything so I was afraid they were roux-ined, but everyone loved them. I did put more than a pinch of tumeric so that might explain the color. We were supposed to have some spinach as well but since I forgot to thaw the tofurkey we had to go get another one and it just pushed everything back. Even though spinach takes practically no time, we couldn't wait that little bit extra. Good news is there will be tons of it tomorrow to eat with celebration roast and the surviving macaroni bites. I am thinking to make a few more in the toaster oven tomorrow if the pan fits.

I am getting used to being banned from the kitchen on thanksgiving day due to the turkey and all, but since I am too tired to make dessert today I feel bad about not bringing one tomorrow. I like to always bring the veg-ness so we have enough to eat and also in case anyone wants to give it a try. I was going to make the two layer pumpkin tofu cheesecake and maybe some other goodies as well but I am just too wiped out, especially after cleaning the kitchen. My sister's boyfriend bought us desserts from a local veg restaurant but I don't think any will be left by dinner time tomorrow.

p.s. Thanks to Get Sconed for the adapted mac and cheez recipe and to Mosetta Stone for inspiring the macaroni bites. Y'all made my dinner a hit! I am putting breadcrumbs and spinach next time.

p.p.s. Whisking really reminded me that I gotta start working out my arms again (along with everything else!)