I'm Still Alive!

Goodbye Ohio!
photo by Elaine Sylvester

Hello again!

I promise I have not abandoned ship here. I literally was studying 24/7 until Friday night and had no space in my brain for anything besides papers, chemistry and memorizing dance history facts. I think I forgot what it was like to breathe. 

But guess what. I'm DONE. And I'm pretty sure everything went successfully!

Now, with a huge exhale, I am finally relaxing a bit, packing up my stuff and preparing to move in with my friend for a week while I stay on campus for graduation. I have a lot of friends who are seniors, plus I'll be working my waitressing job, so I'm really excited that I'm here for commencement week this year!

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I'll have a lot of opportunities to bake or cook anything special and if I do, photograph what I make. This may change, but just to be safe I'm warning you all that I may have to take a mini-hiatus until I'm officially on summer break. 

So, I will see you all in about a week with new delicious summery recipes, coming to you from my home kitchen. No more tiny college kitchen for a year! Crazy!

Seduction by Cookies

When it comes to men, there is always going to be the one that got away. In the real world, you can choose not to see him anymore and forget about it. However, in a college of only 3,000 students packed into one tiny town, it is guaranteed that you will see him. And when you see him you will probably be wearing sweat pants, have your hair up because you forgot to shower, look totally sleep deprived from studying, and be waiting in line at the student grocery store buying a huge jar of peanut butter and a bag of kettle corn. That is my life.

If life were fair, it would go like this:

You casually bump into him wearing your best outfit, looking awesome and carrying a big plate of these cookies. You offer him one, he takes a bite and suddenly doesn’t know what he ever did without you. Totally realistic. Seduction by cookies? Definitely possible. Especially with these...

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies 

makes about 3 1/2 dozen

8 ounces vegan cream cheese (I used Tofutti)
1/2 cup vegan margarine
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tsp ener-g egg replacer mixed with 1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat your oven to 350º and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Cream together the margarine, cream cheese and sugars until fluffy. Beat in the egg replacer and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Fold in the chocolate chips and try to refrain from eating the entire batch of batter then and there.
3. Scoop the dough in tablespoons onto the cookie sheet, leaving about an inch between each cookie. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden brown. The cookies will still feel squishy right out of the oven, but this is a trick. They harden a bit as they cool! Enjoy with a glass of soy milk and don't forget to share!

These cookies are my new favorites: incredibly simple and amazingly delicious. They are slightly cake-y with a little crisp on the outside, plus the cream cheese adds a little extra something to what would otherwise be a traditional chocolate chip cookie!

Just to warn you... I tend to go on cookie kicks around exam time. They are the perfect study food for you and your friends! Don't be surprised if there are more cookie recipes to come in the next couple weeks :)

Oops

Hey everyone, I'm sorry about this little hiatus I've been on the past couple of weeks. You see, there's this evil demon named midterms and he was keeping me under lock and key for a while, but after last Friday I was free! I've been on fall break in New York City for the past several days, seeing museums, shows, visiting friends, and of course trying delicious vegan food. There are some great places in the city. If you're ever there, go to 'S Nice Cafe- best vegan muffins ever.

Anyway. Long story short, I need to get back on my blogging game. I plan on having a new recipe for everyone tomorrow now that I have some free time to cook before classes start up again. See, I haven't abandoned you!

In the meantime, enjoy one of my all-time favorite artists/videos.

September Loves

My plans to bake keep getting squashed by so many things. First, it was just the fact that I was too busy, and now it's because I've caught the college plague. You know how that goes, everyone around you is getting sick and you're all like "Psh, I eat my fruits and vegetables, I'm not gonna get sick." And then you wake up on Monday with a fever. Oops.

Anyways, because of this I've been bedridden for two days, only getting up to go get smoothies and soup from the cafe nearby. I figured while I have some free time to sit in front of my computer (since I already finished a whole season of Mad Men...) it's about time to compile some of my favorite things from this past month. So here we go...

-This music video. It's so endearing and the little dance breaks are the best.

-This incredible looking pie. It's so far from vegan, but I'm determined to veganize it at some point.

-I'm obsessed with underwater photography, and this artist in particular. Her photos are so dreamy and stunning.

-Pears, apples and maple syrup. A perfect fall combination.



-That Book. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russel. I finally finished it recently and it was so intense, enlightening, beautiful and disturbing all at the same time. I would highly recommend it!

-This song. I saw him live last year at my school and he was incredible, but I just rediscovered it!

-These shoes. Too bad I'm too cheap to spend over $20 on shoes. Plus did you know Urban Outfitters gives a lot of money to the Republican Party? Booo...

-Last but not least, it's mildly embarrassing, but when I'm sick I tend to watch all 6 parts of this. It's as comforting as eating a big bowl of mashed potatoes :)

That's all for now! As soon as I can walk without getting dizzy, I will have some new recipes for you.

Fresh and Peachy

I wish I had a yummy recipe to share to go with this peach that I stole from my college's dining hall (shhh)... but unfortunately I have been too busy unpacking and moving into my dorm room to bake anything in the past couple of days. Let me tell you though, that peach was delicious. I think peaches are my favorite fruit. Hopefully I will get a chance to bake something with them soon!

In the meantime... I was feeling like my blog theme was a little bit too simplistic, so I've decided to change things up a bit. What do you think? I want some honest feedback here. I personally like it better this way. It feels more accessible, but let me know what you think!

Just to give you an idea... here's what my room has looked like the past couple of days....



A lot of half-unpacked boxes....



Desk space occupied by cooking supplies (my friend laughed at me for keeping canned beans in my on-campus storage)...



and here is my workspace for blogging! Hah. Temporarily. Until I clear off my desk.

New things are always fun. New school year, new room, new blog layout, new people, everything. I have a good feeling about this year. Now I just have to get myself organized before it officially starts.

Pizza and My Crazy College Life

This week is insane. I expected to have a nice, relaxing week on campus before classes began, but nope. The craziness started the minute I got here. I work for my college's independent online newspaper- Fearless and Loathing- as the multimedia editor, so I've been busy with those responsibilities like recruiting freshman and taking pictures. Then there's always trying to catch up with friends I haven't seen all summer... and on top of THAT I am a waitress at this really great family-owned artisan pizza restraunt, Magpie Pizza. Everyone there makes fun of the fact that I'm vegan and yet I work in a place where everything is slathered with meat and cheese. Despite this, my managers know how to make a pretty great vegan pizza when I get hungry.



This one had tomato sauce, mushrooms, black bean and corn salsa, spinach, roasted red pepper, black olives, green pepper, and some of our house-made hot sauce. Yummy. Whoever says vegans can't enjoy pizza too is crazy. I'm excited though, because one of my managers saw this very blog, and now wants to train me to make salads (maybe even pizzas eventually too) as well as waitress! It would be awesome to get some real kitchen experience under my belt.

Anyway. My goal for this blog eventually is to post something new every other day... but forgive me if that doesn't quite happen for the next week. I promise that once I have more time (and money for groceries) I will have some fabulous new recipes for you all. I have a couple that I've been meaning to post... but my cookbooks are all in boxes that are currently being shipped to me, so those will have to wait a few days.

In the meantime.... who else goes to a liberal arts school? Does this video remind you of anyone you know? Hah, it sure does for me.

August Love

This post is not exactly about food, but I did want to include some general things from my life in here as well, so here we go!



Who has been to the Minnesota State Fair? Well if you haven't, you are seriously missing out on a quintessential midwestern experience. I have been every year since I was born. We actually have an old photo of me as a baby sitting next to the state's largest prize-winning hog. I don't think I've gotten that close to a hog since then.... but the fair continues to be a great tradition. Food on a stick (I even found vegan options!), funny looking chickens, roller coasters, seed art...



and Johnny Depp look-alikes? Yes please.

Speaking of traditions, I've decided on a tradition for this blog. Near the end of every month, I'm going to do a wrap-up list of random little things that made me smile throughout the days. Hopefully they make you smile too!

So, here are a few of my favorite things from the month of August, food related and otherwise:

-This song. It is absolutely perfect for a summer road trip.

-This food blog. Cute and Delicious... the title says it all. I tried the orange muffin recipe a while back and it was one of the best muffins I've ever made.

-All of the My Drunk Kitchen episodes. She may not be able to cook for shit, but this girl is hilarious.

-The book Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl. It's a beautiful memoir about the way food can play a role in one's life. it can bring people together, tear them apart and teach them who they are. I recommend it to anyone, even if you're not a hard-core foodie.

-This song too... it's my guilty pleasure. It's just sooo catchy.

-Mad Men. I just discovered this TV show and I am in love. I secretly wish I lived in the 1950s... or at least that people still dressed like that.

-Any recipe that uses fresh fruit. I've just been craving it lately!

That's all for now! Let me know how you feel about having posts like this mixed in with the recipes and such. Being new at this, I'm still deciding what exactly my content should be. If anyone has any ideas please leave a comment!

New recipes and photos coming soon... stay tuned.