No Power Means No Cooking

Hello lovely readers. I've not forgotten you, I promise. It's just that we've been traveling (Vegas and Minnesota so far) and that means less cooking. In addition, over half a million people have been without power in Minnesota after a major storm went through on Friday night (which we drove through). Although power has been restored to well over 400,000 people, we're still without it, which also makes cooking difficult. My sincerest apologies.

The post "No Power Means No Cooking" originally appeared on Maggie's LesVegan Kitchen.

Vegan Fruit Pizza

A good friend had a baby shower yesterday! In planning for it, she and I decided a mid-afternoon shower, full of light snacks, no awful games, and some fun activities would be best. So, we played Baby Shower Bingo, Baby Shower Trivia, painted onesies, and had a competition to see who would not say the word "baby." Prizes of small indoor plants were given to the winner of the bingo, trivia, "don't say baby" activities, as well as to the person who had her/his creepy little baby-in-an-ice-cube melt first. Good times.

Another faculty member in my department and I did all the food for the shower. She made vegan cupcakes and mini non-vegan quiches. I brought veggies & dip, pita chips and pretzels with hummus, and fruit pizza.

with the glaze

Whole thing, before adding the glaze

The first time I made this fruit pizza was actually for my dissertation defense. I was incredibly nervous and decided to deal with my nerves by cooking things. Plus, since it's traditional to bring food to your dissertation defense at my school, I had stuff to bring with me. This fruit pizza got rave reviews (as did my dissertation - coincidence?), but I hadn't made it in so long that it was time to bring it out again. The baby shower was the perfect opportunity!

Vegan Viands #11: Sugar Cookies

Tonight I dug two recipes out of my cookbook (speaking of which, my cookbook is an amazing present that Shana gave me a number of Christmases ago and it's where the title of this blog comes from). The first one was this sugar cookie recipe.

A number of years ago, while I was still in grad school, my advisor and I planned a party. I have zero recollection of why we planned a party, or who came to the party, or really any details about it at all, aside from the fact that we were going to frost sugar cookies. My advisor's plan was to buy some sugar cookies from the store (I seem to recall that was because there were a ton of people coming, so to bake them would have taken ages), but we both knew that those cookies wouldn't be vegan. At that point, I decided I'd find a recipe for vegan sugar cookies so that I could frost cookies, too. I made the cookies a day before the party and they were awful. No joke. Since I still wanted cookies to frost, my next plan was to find a basic recipe that looked easy to veganize. I found one, veganized it, and they were perfect for frosting! I got to play at the party like everyone else (whatever party it was!).

I left this one sans frosting so you can envision what you'd like!

Simple Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Yesterday morning was the first normal Sunday morning Shana and I have had in a while. Last Sunday we were driving to Philly, the Sunday before that was in State College, and the Sunday before that I was in Jordan. I guess we'll actually only have one more normal Sunday before all of our summer travels start, too.

I love two* things about Sunday mornings. First, I get the local paper and Indianapolis paper delivered to my doorstep and I read both with a cup of french-pressed coffee. Second, I often make a fun breakfast for Shana and I (once she gets up, anyway). Usually the special breakfast is nothing more than pancakes or waffles, but we decided that we wanted to eat cinnamon rolls yesterday. Many recipes for cinnamon rolls require yeast and long rising times, but these are far easier! Although they don't have quite the tenderness of a yeast-dough, they are still soft and their ease makes up for any lack in tenderness.

Vegan Viands #10: Vegan Strawberry Shortcake

We're in Philly this week for an unplanned visit. When we come, we stay with my in-laws (Shana's brother and his family). In addition, we've got Shana's older sister in from California and tonight also had her mom and step-dad over for dinner. Given that we've had a lot going on, we needed to plan a simple dinner that would feed a crowd, taste good to omnivores and veg*ans and kids, and come together quickly. We decided that such a meal was my vegan spaghettios and grilled foil packets full of broccoli. I think dinner was a hit because my osum* niece made me a card about how much she loved it.

More importantly, nearly everyone in attendance has a sweet tooth, so we also needed a quick and easy dessert. Since it's getting to be close to summer berry season, the best, easiest, and tastiest dessert would be strawberry shortcake. The recipe below fit the bill and is super delicious, too!

With sweetened Mimiccreme - my favorite!

With a whipped topping