Balsamic Vinaigrette and Braiding Sweetgrass

Hello dear readers, and welcome back to my blog.

I'm currently at my desert home in Nevada enjoying the warm spring weather, and a daily salad topped with my favorite homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette. To make, just whisk all the ingredients in a jar, drizzle over your favorite salad, and enjoy.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp stone-ground mustard

***

It's been almost three years since I lost my dear husband, who I still miss very much. But I've been trying to embrace this new chapter of my life, which still seems so foreign to me, and find peace and beauty in every day. Reading a good book in the warm sunshine under a bright blue sky is a favorite pastime.

 Right now I'm reading "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer. A gift from my youngest son and daughter-in-law. Braiding Sweetgrass is a beautiful book about the science of plants, and the history and stories of Native Americans and their reverence of the earth. I'm enjoying this book very much.

Until next time, I hope you have a warm and sunny spring,

Kim

***

"Even a wounded world is feeding us.

Even a wounded world holds us,

giving us moments of wonder and joy.

I choose joy over despair. Not because

I have my head in the sand, but because

joy is what the earth gives me daily

and I must return the gift."

- Robin Wall Kimmerer

Vegan Chocolate Birthday Cake

Hello dear readers, and welcome back to my blog.

Today I'm blogging from Juneau, Alaska where it's cold and clear, and beautiful. Look at the wind whipping the snow off the mountaintops... brrr!

I've been trying to eat a healthy WFPB vegan diet for several years now, but when an occasion calls for something sweet and special, I have a few go-to vegan recipes that are delicious and a treat.

One of those recipes is a vegan chocolate cake that I like to make for birthday parties. It's so good and chocolatty-rich, that you really can't tell that it's plant-based. There are several steps to making this cake, and it can be made in one day, but I find it simpler to make over two days. I bake the cake one day, then I make the chocolate filling and frosting the next day, or the day of the party.

This year, I made it for my middle son and his little family, who had never had it before. They enjoyed it so much!

My sweet little 2-year old granddaughter loved singing happy birthday to her Dada, and helping him blow out the candles.

Until next time, have a sweet and beautiful winter,

Kim

Vegan Chocolate Birthday Cake

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups All-purpose flour

1/2 cup Cocoa powder

2 tsp. Baking powder

1 tsp. Baking soda

1 tsp. Salt

1/4 cup Vegan butter (I used Miyoko's)

1 1/4 Granulated Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 Tbsp. Brewed coffee

1 1/2 cups Plant milk (I used Almond)

1 1/2 tsp. Apple cider vinegar

Chocolate Filling Ingredients:

1 cup Coconut milk - full fat

3 Tbsp. Maple syrup

2 oz. Dark Chocolate

Chocolate Topping Ingredients:

9oz. Tub Vegan Coconut Whipped Topping (I used So Delicious)

1/3 cup Cocoa powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together vegan butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla and coffee and beat together. Set aside.
4. In a separate small bowl, combine the plant milk and apple cider vinegar. Stir, and let sit for a minute until it slightly thickens.
5. Then begin adding the dry and liquid ingredients into the butter ingredients, alternating between the two until all the ingredients are combined.
6. Pour into a prepared 9x13 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes.
7. While the cake is baking, make the chocolate filling. In a small sauce pan, heat the coconut milk on medium-high heat until it comes to a boil. Add the maple syrup and mix together. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes until mixture reduces by almost half. Stir in dark chocolate, and mix until melted. Simmer for a minute or two until mixture thickens a little. Remove from heat, and set aside.

Assembling the Cake

1. Once cake is baked, let cool for 20-30 minutes. Then poke holes in the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon.
2. Pour the chocolate filling mixture over the whole cake filling all the holes. Let cool for at least 2 hours.
3. Once the cake is completely cool, in a mixing bowl, mix the vegan whipped topping and cocoa powder until blended. Spread topping over cake evenly.
4. Sprinkle with chopped dark chocolate (optional).
5. Refrigerate until serving.

Recipe adapted from rabbitandwolves.com

From Summer to Fall

Hello dear readers, and welcome back to my blog.

My summer passed by so quickly, and now it's hard to believe it's suddenly Fall.

A summer day in Alaska.

I had a beautiful but busy summer traveling between Nevada, Alaska, and Minnesota visiting my family.

In July, my youngest son and daughter-in-law were married in a lovely outdoor wedding in Minnesota. My three little granddaughters were such cute flower girls!

The wedding brought family from far and wide who I hadn't seen since the passing of my dear husband in 2022. It was all so touching, and beautiful.

~~~

Autumn is my favorite season, and this year, I'm spending it at my desert home where it is hot and dry.

When I first started my blog, way back in 2014 (has it really been 10 years!), I devoted the entire month of October to my favorite pumpkin recipes. One of those recipes, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread, is still one I look forward to making every Autumn. It's simple to make, delicious, vegan, and easily adaptable if I've run out of an ingredient, or two.

Yum!

This loaf was made with all-purpose flour, oat fiber, coconut brown sugar, Miyoko's Plant-Based Butter, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

~~~

Until next time, have a beautiful and peaceful Autumn,

Kim

Vegan Pesto

Hello dear readers, and welcome back to my blog.

It's been a busy Spring here at my desert home in Nevada with family visiting, planning for my youngest son's upcoming wedding, and also making plans for my return home to Alaska. But I wanted to pop into my blog and share my recipe for Vegan Pesto before Summertime begins.

I love the flavor of traditional pesto on pasta or as a pizza sauce, but after adopting a vegan diet in 2019, I began purchasing a store-bought vegan pesto. The store-bought vegan pesto was tasty and convenient, but I really wanted to come up with my own homemade recipe. So after a little trial and error, I discovered the Follow Your Heart brand of vegan parmesan. I simply replaced the dairy parmesan with the Follow Your Heart Parmesan in a basic pesto recipe, and I think the results turned out pretty good.

Let me know what you think in the comments, and have a very happy Summer.

Vegan Pesto

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup packed fresh basil, destemmed

1/2 cup pine nuts

2 Tbsp. Follow Your Heart Vegan Parmesan

3 cloves garlic

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. olive oil

Instructions:

1. Destem basil and place in food processor along with pine nuts, vegan parmesan, garlic, lemon juice, and salt.
2. With motor running, slowly add olive oil until mixed. Stop to scrape down sides of blender, if necessary. 
3. Serve immediately on pasta or pizza, or store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.

A healthy basil plant from the grocery store.

Cookies and Granddaughters

Hello dear readers, and welcome back to my blog.

Remember way back in 2020 when I shared my easy 4-ingredient vegan peanut butter cookie recipe, and wrote that this would be the first recipe I would make with my granddaughter? Well, I finally had the opportunity to make these cookies with not only my oldest little granddaughter,  but her baby sister too!

I doubled the ingredients so we could make bigger cookies, and more of them!

Here's the recipe for a double batch of

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies - 15 cookies

Ingredients:

2 flax eggs (2Tbsp flaxseed meal plus 6 Tbsp water)

1 cup almond flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, mix together flax eggs, let sit for 5 minutes.
2. In another larger bowl, mix together flour and brown sugar.
3. Add peanut butter, and combine until mixture is crumbly.
4. Add thickened flax egg, and combine.
5. Roll dough with hands into balls, then flatten with fork.
6. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Keep an eye on them, they can burn very quickly!

Crispy Tofu

I can never have enough tasty tofu recipes, and this crispy pan-fried tofu is one of them. It's delicious with a favorite salad, or added to a stir-fry.

 Tonight, I mixed it into a stir-fry of rice, red onion, red bell pepper, and baby spinach.

Yum!

Crispy Tofu

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

1 block tofu, extra-firm or firm

1 Tbsp soy sauce, or tamari

1 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp corn starch

1 tsp garlic powder

3-4 Tbsp oil for frying (I prefer avocado oil)

Salt, optional

Instructions:

1. Press tofu. If you're not sure how to do this, near the end of this post, I share how I press tofu.
2. Cut the pressed tofu into 1/2" to 1" cubes.
3. Toss cubed tofu with soy sauce, then the flour, corn starch, and garlic powder until evenly coated.
4. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. It's best to use a good non-stick pan for this recipe, otherwise, the tofu might stick.
5. Add tofu to hot pan in a single layer. The tofu should sizzle as you add it.
6. Cook several minutes until browned, then flip tofu until browned on other side.
7. Sprinkle with salt if desired.

In the Wild of Changing Things

 Let July be July,

and let August be August.

And let yourself

just be

even in

the uncertainty.

You don't have to fix everything.

You don't have to solve everything.

And you can still find peace

and grow

in the wild of changing things.

~ Morgan Harper Nichols