King Cake

Happy Mardi Gras! We celebrated Fat Tuesday by making a king cake. I left out the plastic baby -- too much of a choking hazard for my little ones. I guess that means I'll be making the king cake next year, too. Fine by me. It was fun to make.

 

 

I used the recipe from Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations. I substituted spelt flour because I didn't have any all-purpose flour. The spelt flour lent a rustic, "health foody" flavor that seemed at odds with the rich cream cheese filling and sugary multi-colored icing. It still tasted good, but next time I will make sure I use white flour. Mardi Gras is no time to cut corners. Here's a close-up of the swirled interior.

 

If you don't celebrate Mardi Gras, then happy Tuesday!

More Testers

Here are this week's testers for Joni Marie Newman's vegan fusion cookbook.

 

Sesame Tofu Fingers - a bit fancier than your standard roasted tofu, these little guys are fried, coated in a creamy sesame sauce, then baked.

 

 

Sesame Miso Ginger Garlic Dressing - delicious in a wrap with spinach and tofu fingers. Probably would be perfect with any greens.

 

Sesame Tofu Noodle Bowl - another use for the tofu fingers. Miso broth, udon noodles, and veggies make for a light, healthy dinner.

 

Cold Cabbage and Noodle Salad - this one really wowed me. How such basic ingredients as noodles and cabbage can taste so good that I end up eating two bowls, I'll never know.

 

Baking Blitz

I've been doing a fair amount of baking lately. The Apple "Waldorf" Bread from 1000 Vegan Recipes is studded with walnuts, raisins, and apple slices, and goes perfectly with pumpkin butter.

 

Another way to use up extra apples would be these Apple Crisp Muffins from the Happy Herbivore cookbook. I slather a couple of warmed muffins with melted butter for a breakfast that makes waking up a little easier. 

Here are two recipes I made from Let Them Eat Vegan!  I've become a big fan of Dreena Burton's cookbooks because she uses wholesome ingredients, rarely using white flour or sugar. These Krispie Chip Cookies were a little dry, but my measurements may have been off or something.

Tony requested that I make him some breakfast bars to grab on the way to work, so I turned to Dreena's Proper Healthy Granola Bars recipe. I have made it three times now and I love how versatile it is. She calls for sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, raisins and chocolate chips, but I've found you can sub in pretty much anything. Tony really liked a version I made with peanuts, almonds, cashews, coconut and raisins.

My mom and dad sent the kids some dot markers, tons of fun for little budding artists!

Thai Cuisine

If not for Groupon, I may have never tried this little Thai restaurant, hidden away in a strip mall off a busy road near my house. Thai Cuisine isn't the most evocative name, after all. But now that I've been, I will definitely be back.

I started out with a Thai iced tea. I haven't had one of these in ages. Sweetened condensed milk is drizzled into the iced tea. It's more like a dessert than a beverage.

The coolest thing about Thai Cuisine is their self-serve salad, appetizer and dessert bar. Unlimited veggie spring rolls and egg rolls, included as part of my $7.95 lunch? Yes, please. The peanut sauce was awesome, by the way.

I had the King's Curry, stir-fried tofu with green beans and red bell pepper, served with rice. Great flavors, and tasted even better when I reheated the leftovers that evening.

I had to sample this intriguing pudding from the dessert bar. Purple rice, swirled in sweetened coconut milk. When I stirred it, the whole thing turned purple. Thick, goopy, and very rich, I could only eat a couple of bites (blame the Thai iced tea!) but the kids happily finished off off their bowls.

And now, because I feel like it's never a true Busy Veggie Mama post without a picture of my kids being goofballs, here is our new puppy, Olivia.

Lick It Up Baby, Lick It Up

We have been having such excellent weather. I guess being able to play outside all day in February is why we put up with being stuck indoors throughout August and September, lest we melt under the sun's scorching rays.

 

We have a new favorite playground. The giant spider web is the big draw.

 

 

My little spiderman.

 

The giant orbs are pretty sweet, too.

 

They're also cozy. Wish I had one in my living room.

 

We took an ice cream break at Lick, which offers incredibly creative flavors, from Goat Cheese, Thyme & Honey to Cilantro Lime. Olivia was drawn to the ruby-hued Roasted Beets & Fresh Mint, while my wee gourmand Jackson picked Dark Chocolate with Olive Oil & Sea Salt. 

 

My choices were tame in comparison: Hill Country Honey & Vanilla Bean, and Pumpkin Pie.

 

 

 

Juicy

Here's my new juicer. Isn't he handsome? So far we have only made carrot juice.

 

Jackson and Olivia love it so much, they may have an orange glow next time you see them.

 

 

We tried making a green juice with kale, but apparently kale doesn't contain much juice. We got a trickle of juice and a lot of pulp. We're going to try some veggies with higher water content, like cucumber and celery.

 

Do you have a favorite juice blend? Please share!

Yeah, Science!

We recently headed downtown to the Austin Children's Museum to see a physics exhibit on loan from the San Francisco Exploratorium.

 

One display was meant to show how tornados work. Jackson and Olivia were entranced by the steam seeping up through holes in the floor. 

 

It was fun to roll objects across the turntable and see in which direction they spun out.

 

Jackson rode the momentum machine around and around until he got a little dizzy.

 

 

We also visited other favorite areas in the museum. We took care of the cows...

 

 

...built pirate ships...

 

and made pigs fly.

 

After expanding our brains, we expanded our tummies. I had some Gardein chicken tenders, which I served on baguettes slathered with mango guacamole. On the side, some pan-fried plantain slices dipped in chimichurri sauce.