(Mostly) Vegan Baby Birthday Cake

Okay, so the husband and I are still trying to decide exactly what works for us food wise. We'd ideally love to be vegetarians, but we're working on trying to do a pesceterian diet, unless we're cooked for or there's no other option. It's been kind of rough, but we'll hopefully get there.


Anyway, the point of that is, if we can help it, we'd love to keep this kid...

...as close to the that diet from the get go. The whole idea being that maybe we can at least instill in him a love of healthy foods, even if we don't stay on this path or he chooses to deviate from it himself later. He's had heritage turkey and tried a tad bit of tuna salad today, but other than that, he's mainly been chowing down on good old grains, veggies, and fruits. So, when it came to making his cake, I wanted to do my best to keep it as far from animal products as possible (though, because we don't know of any nut or soy allergies yet, I decided to keep the milk as is with this recipe), so I did some more research on vegan/vegetarian substitutions. I guess I could have put in water or maybe rice milk, but I didn't think of that at the time. 

So, I knew I wanted to substitute stuff, but I still needed a recipe, so I went searching for some simple versions of a cake I remembered my Gran tell me about years ago, a 1-2-3-4 cake. Here's what I went with after I found this recipe on Cooking.com

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Mix together (preferably in a food processor/blender to blend the banana's thoroughly):

• 1 cup natural applesauce
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 3 cups cake flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 bananas (or 1/2 banana per egg, which was 4)
• 1 cup milk (or you could use the alternatives if you know there's not allergies in your feasters)

3. Pour into a greased pan.

4. Cook until the center is no longer jiggly. For cupcakes/muffins, this is only like 15, but it's closer to 30 for full cakes. I'd go 15 and then check every 5 minutes until it's firm and a fork comes out of it cleanly. 

I added some food coloring since I wasn't adding icing, but that was pretty messy, so I don't know if I'd suggest doing it my way. Either way, it's a delicious treat, one that, after tasting the cupcakes from the night of Adam's birthday, my young sister-in-law begged for the recipe so she could make them, which she did two days later. 

He did his best. 

Wanna-be Asian Stir Fry with Tofu Knots

Hey Everyone,

I was almost going to be too lazy to update this tonight, but my husband just supplied me with some post birthday Peeps on a stick and so, I think I've got enough sugar in me to whip this out really quick.

This week, I had my first ever trip to an Asian Market, where my friend suggested, among other things, these beancurd/tofu noodle knot things, which she said was just like the ones her mom had made for us on Chinese New Year, but a little easier, so they're generally what she gets for something quick.

Picture taken AFTER I had already dumped all of the knots out.

Well, last night was my birthday, so by the time it came to figuring out what I was making tonight, we did something we haven't done in a while and just stopped by Walmart to grab a bag of frozen veggies (a stir fry package with like water chestnuts, broccoli, carrots, snap peas, and that sort of thing), and some sauce to go along with it all.

So today, all I had to do was chop up some red cabbage and green peppers to go along with it all and steam the veggies up top as I cooked the pasta below (like I did a few recipes ago with the spinach if you need a visual). As the internet told me, the knots take about 30 minutes to really soften up properly and fully, so I let it all sit for a while, while I heated up a pan with some Smart Choice butter stuff and two cloves of garlic. The garlic was mainly because my husband got me a mortar and pestel for valentines and I was dying to use it....turns out garlic is DEFINITELY not the right consistency to be mashed in said tool. I'll need to wait, as I figured, until I have something that lends itself better to being smashed/ground to a pulp/dust. It was worth a try though. Garlic's good for you. 

Once that was all done I just poured the knots and the veggies into the pan, along with the sauce, and just let them mingle there for a bit in the heat.

I enjoyed it (and the knots have like 18 grams of protein each serving), though Thomas says he'd like it to be a little saltier next time. So, here's to next try!

My First Tofu

Hey again guys.

Sorry about last week. I failed my project last week pretty bad and just wasn't in the mindset to really talk about it and not get mad at myself all over again, so we'll just forget about that one and start new this week. I think it also makes the blog's missed posts a round month's worth, so I just might start doing two a week, for a few weeks, this week.

Putting all of that aside, there's one protein source I've shied pretty far away from out of sheer intimidation...and that's tofu. I've also only had it a handful of times, so I was very hesitant to take on something I had no real referencial foundation for.

Upon my asking, Japanese friend of mine told me a few times that one of his favorite ways was to just fry it up with a bit of soy sauce in a skillet. I'd always heard stories of how there's more to it than that though, so instead of taking his word for it, I went searching the internet (when do I not?)

I found an article on About.com that told me this long process of draining the tofu, wrapping it in paper towels and a dishcloth and then leaving it under a skillet to flatten it and squish out some more liquid, though I can't for the life of me find it right now.

I then sliced it up and left it to marinate for about 30 minutes in a mixture of soy sauce and ginger dressing.

(I wish some of the next few pictures looked more appetizing than they do)

Finally, I cooked each piece for 5 minutes on each side, as the site said (I don't know what done tofu looks like, so I didn't argue), and then left it to dry on a rack for 5ish minutes. 

Served with broccoli and an assortment of black rice, white rice, and quinoa, it turned out to be a pretty satisfying meal. Even my 12-year-old sister-in-law loved it, so that's definitely a plus. 

When I told my Chinese friend, who's mother is a fantastic chef/owns a restaurant, about all of the drying and what not, she gave me a pretty strange look, so I'm thinking I can do without some of this next time, now that I've done it at least once. So, here's to then! I can't wait. 

Little to No Hassle Vegetarian Pasta

Hey All,

I actually originally made this about two weeks ago, but I used an industrial-sized can of marinara sauce and the left over bit was about to go bad, so I decided to make it again for y'all (and for us of course).

It's pretty simple. You gather together all of the veggies you want in it; cut them to the size you want; mix them all on a pan and do what I do almost every time, coat them in olive oil and seasonings (this time I went with garlic salt and greek seasoning); and jam them into the oven at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

Oh, and I also chose to steam some spinach in the top of my pasta pot, which took just about as long as the pasta did, so it worked out perfectly. 

Then, I mixed it all together in the pot and got this beautiful creation (pictured without pasta sauce because after the spinach, my camera died and my phone's camera couldn't pick up any decent pictures of the final product).

Now, I don't know about you, but dishes like this just make me simultaneously amazed at the beauty of nature and full of yearning to scarf down every morsel that'll fit in my belly. Maybe that's just me. I'm a sucker for color.

Anyway, it's time I head to bed. Happy Eating everyone and Enjoy!

Homemade Pasta

So today was one of those days you hate because the Internet is dead (and still is, I'm tethering to my phone to be able to post this), but love because you're thrown and have to entertain yourself. 

How did I entertain myself (besides catching up on all of the stray dishes around the house)? Pasta. I've always been interested in making my own and now that we've started eating better and trying to eat less processed stuff, I figured today was as good a day to start as any. I did a search for simple homemade pasta on my phone and boy, did I find a simple one. 

For three servings, you mix together:

1 cup of flour

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons of water

(I added a tad bit of oregano too)

Doesn't it just look....ummm...never mind

Yes, there were a few more directions than that, but this is me we're talking about. I just mixed it all together with a whisk in a big bowl, floured the counter, kneaded the dough for 3-4 minutes (that I did follow), and tried to flatten the dough as much as I could with a rolling pin. 

Then came the tricky part. Oh yeah, you're supposed to just cut it into strips or rolls, but I'm always out to make things too difficult for myself, so I decided to make some weird, stuffed, crescent shaped cousin of the ravioli (if they have a name, do tell...or if they're just ravioli, I'd still like to know).

I took one of my favorite tools of the trade, the outer ring of a mason jar, and cut out a bunch of circles, which I worked a little to make larger, filled with this cheese and spinach concoction I blended up (seriously, blend cheese, spinach, and the smallest bit of water together until you have something a preferable consistency)--only a dab will do--, pinched them shut, and rolled the edges with the ribbed portion of the jar lid to give them a nice scalloped look. 

It definitely got a bit messy at this stage.

After I was done with all of that I made another batch (because it just didn't look like enough, though it probably was) and stuck them in the fridge for a bit to take a breather. 

I boiled them until they were pliable enough, coated them in some marinara sauce, and mixed in some freshly steamed yellow, red, and orange bell peppers. 

Over all, I know there's room for improvement, but the consensus from the whole family was that they were pretty delicious. 

This is a recipe that I'm sure would be a lot less time consuming and a lot more fun with a partner, so find someone and have at it!

This was my cooking partner, but he mostly just putted around and smiled. I guess we could say he was my emotional support (until he started crying, that is.)

The Questionable Choice of Roasting Brussel Sprouts

Hey Everyone!

How were your holidays? I know this is a little bit delayed, but I needed a week to get back into the swing of things after a solid month of family time, visiting with friends, and just overall holiday craziness. I hadn't originally planned to go away for a month, but it just got overwhelming trying to plan to write a blog post too (also I was being totally spoiled by my grandma's amazing cooking, so there wasn't much cooking happening on my part to blog about) so, to catch up for my 99 in 999, I'm playing with trying to do two a week for a bit....or maybe a whole week of blogging every day... We'll see what I come up with/decide on.

Okay, on with the cooking...

Unlike most people (some may say, most sane people), one of my husband's favorite veggies is brussel sprouts. My dad had personally decided as a child that he hated brussel sprouts and would never make his children to eat them, so I never had them until a few years ago....let alone ever cooked them (until this last weekend) As a lover of all things (or at least most things) cabbage, I found these sizably challenged cousins of my beloved to be pretty tasty, if cooked properly.

Well, since we're trying to cut down on our meats (hopefully all except fish), Thomas decided it was high time I cooked some of these little beauts (something he didn't say outright, but more or less hinted at by going to the store and purchasing a huge bag of them for me, along with the veggies I'd asked for).

Now, since we're a little low on money from all of our holiday present-giving, I needed to make all of these veggies count for our little one too. So, I researched how to make brussel sprouts for babies and saved them to my mental hard drive (though I found out later there was one major glitch).

According to BabyFood101.com, it's actually best to cook the sprouts in the oven because, not only do they retain more of their nutrients, they also become a tad bit sweeter. I was like, awesome, I'll do this and just keep off the salt and pepper they suggest (for his portion anyway) and we'll be good.

Well, I did every thing they said:

We think the easiest way to enjoy Brussels sprouts is to roast them. Heat your oven to 350 F. Cut off end and any loose leaves and then cut in half. Place Brussels sprouts in a rimmed baking sheet and add a few tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix up with your hands and roast until fork tender - about 30-40 minutes.

Try to cut the leaves in small bits that are easy for baby to chew, or puree them and mix with rice cereal or yogurt.

Except, get this, (and this is where that glitch comes in) I thought I remembered it being 400 something degrees and not 350 (which is what I needed already for my fish bah), so I cranked it up and guess what? Every single one of the brussel sprouts I had set out for him were burnt, some to a crisp. Good job Alaina! Interestingly enough, most of the ones for us were only singed....I think it has to do with how much oil I did or did not coat them in. I've decided that the problem was that I had also researched cooking oils the same day as the brussel sprouts and I think I had in mind the smoking temperature of like Grape Seed Oil or something. Oh well, I know for next time. Such is the life of a new(ish) mom--juggling more at one time than is good for her.

Happy Eating!

(P.S. I know I said pictures, and I have some of another recipe, just not any from today. Sorry.)

(Also, except for being singed, the adult set were pretty tasty!)