Ethan is going to visit his parents this weekend, while I suffer with gobs of homework, so I made some cookies for Cathy & David. These are vegan chocolate chip cookies, which are just a veganized version of the Toll House recipe. So good! I make these all the time at work.
Vegan Toll House Cookies
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup margarine, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- egg replacer for 2 eggs (I use Ener-G)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups chocolate chips
- 1 cup nuts, optional
Preheat oven to 375*F. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, & salt; set aside. In a stand mixer, cream together the margarine, sugars, egg replacers, & vanilla; beat till light & fluffy, scraping down the side of the bowl a couple times. Add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl; mix until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips & nuts. Place 2-tablespoons-sized balls of dough on a cookie sheet, spacing them a couple inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, letting them cool on the sheets before removing.
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I had to get a few pictures of the garden. It's so sunny today & everything is growing like mad!
Here's some of the mint, hanging with its gnome guardian:
Begonia & Salvia flowers:
Violets:
Enjoy the day, wherever you are!
What a gorgeous Sunday!!! And it's International Workers' Day too! Workers of the world, unite! :)
I woke up @ 7:00, for some odd reason, & was so full of energy. Everything in the Universe was full of potential. This is what happens when the sun shows in Oregon, ha ha.
Ethan was promised a hearty, homemade breakfast, so he could finish his mid-term paper with proper fuel. It was delish, consisting of chipotle-roasted potatoes, whole wheat toast, maple-y tempeh bacon & eggs from Coral & Ryan's chickens (I'm not a big egg-eater, so I abstained).
Here's my plate of delicious brown foodz:
After doing some Spring cleaning, I headed to the nursery & got a ton of plants: tomato starts, pink sage, a curry plant, several succulents, lavender, rosemary, pea seeds, salvia, & a shit-ton of various flowers. I still need to get a bit more potting soil, as well as a few more large pots for the remaining tomato starts.
Rainbow flower pots:
Side View:
Some of the tomatoes:
Pansies & marigolds:
After all that gardening fun, Coral & my sister came over for a crafty night. Coral worked on a couple flower girl dresses for her upcoming wedding, my sister worked on a dress she was fixing up, & I worked on Mom's Mother's Day present---it's a surprise, so I can't have any spoiler pics. Here's a clue though...
Most of my life, I've had a weird love/hate relationship w/eggs. When I was little, Mom used to scramble them, then COVER them w/cheese & serve them w/toast, in order for me to eat them.
I'm okay if they're in food (I LOVE mayonnaise, to the disgust of my sister, who's also egg-phobic!), but I'm pretty particular about heavily eggy dishes. For instance, I love egg salad sandwiches, but only if I make them myself, & without any funny business, such as relish, or olives, etc. Hard-boiled eggs, mayo/Vegenaise, mustard, S & P. That's it! Crepes are pretty much a "no", although Coral got me to eat some wheat-y, strawberry crepes at the slumber party. :)
I've made plenty of quiche in my time, for a couple of jobs---a café & also at the preschool I worked at---but I always steered clear, myself. Too eggy & wiggly for me! Now I'm feeling like I've missed out on a lot of good food, simply from imagining (wrongly) what it must taste like.
Finally, before our TLC work retreat, we enjoyed a catered breakfast from a nearby café. They had an amazing spread of fruit, baked goods, home fries, & three quiches. I asked my friend, Joey, if I could try a bite of his. It. Was. Amazing. So rich & delicate! I've learned my lesson. Be adventurous! Try new things! (As long as they're vegetarian, ha ha.)
When my mom & brother were here last time, I cracked open my new favorite cookbook, The Grand Central Baking Book, & found a recipe for quiche. It had bacon in it, plus a few ingredients I didn't have on hand, so I improvised. It paid off & I was rewarded with one of the tastiest things I've ever made. Please keep an open mind & try foods you might not otherwise eat. Since I've been a cook all my life, I thought I could imagine what quiche would taste like, but I was wrong! If you don't like something, you can always spit it out & chug some juice or something, holding your nose all the while (which is a great tip that got me through childhood). :) Here's my version of delicious quiche:
Spinach, Onion & Cheese Quiche
- 1 pre-baked pie shell
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- handful of frozen spinach (about 1/2 a bag)
- salt & pepper
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup half & half
- 3 ounces grated Asiago
- 3 ounces grated Double Gloucester w/chives & onions
Preheat oven to 325*F. In a large pan over medium heat, sauté the onion & garlic in olive oil until translucent. Add spinach & cook until defrosted & no longer watery. Season well with salt & freshly ground black pepper.
Whisk together the eggs & half & half, with another good pinch of salt & pepper. Place the veggie mixture into the bottom of the pre-baked pie crust & spread evenly. Top with grated cheeses & then carefully pour the egg mixture over the top.
Slowly walk to the oven & place the quiche inside. Bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until the center is set.
Let cool a bit before digging in!
I wanted to show you what happens if you get impatient & don't let your pie crust rest before baking.
Before:
After:
D'oh! A lot of the pretty details get garbled & it shrinks inward a bit. Oh well! It was tasty & we were too hungry to wait any longer. Next time I'll begin earlier...In other news, I rescued this plant from the dumpster area out back, after Ethan told me about seeing it. It's cool, though I'm not sure what it is yet.
I brought it in the house when it started raining, then checked the soil a few days later. What the hell?! I took it back outside to photograph these tiny, neon yellow, penis-shrooms!
Yeah, there's tons of dog hair in there too. I ended up scraping out the first couple inches of soil because I think it was full of mold, fungus & dog hair, then topped it off with fresh potting soil. It seems happier already! Who knows what kind of mushrooms those were...
I also disassembled a rainbow wool sweater that I got from Ara @ the clothes swap/bbq that her & Drew hosted. The sweater wasn't flattering on me (too short & wide, plus chunky yarn=not the best look), but I LOVE the colorway. I think I'll make a few kinds of hats & maybe some headbands or something. It took quite a few episodes of The X-Files to get through it (we're re-watching them & are almost done w/Season Two!), but I'm excited for all the possibilities. 
