Recipe, Pumpkin, Dinner

Well I just realized I never posted the recipe for that tempeh stirfry, well here it is:

1 8-oz package of tempeh cut into strips
1 medium onion cut into thin wedges
3 medium carrots cut into sticks
8 oz green beans cut in half
1 medium red bell pepper cut into strips

Sauce:
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup vanilla soygurt
3 tbsp teriyaki marinade
1 tbsp agave

Mix the sauce ingredients together, and once you are done sauteing the tempeh and veggies, pour it on top and let it all heat up together. It's easy and good!

Onward.. this week I opened a large can of pumpkin and made these muffins! From VWaV, the best pumpkin muffins. I really just wanted to use my Halloween liners.

Then I made a pumpkin pie with a recipe from here. I used a pre-made graham cracker crust. The pie is great! But I think next time I will make the crust myself. Pat (Michelle's boyfriend) said it's good but needs more spices, Chris said so too. I don't really like pumpkin things, so I couldn't judge it. But they seemed to like it just fine.

Tonight Michelle and I made dinner. We made sweet and sour tofu/chicken with fried rice and steamed broccoli. I got the recipe for the sauce from here, it was sooo good. Here are my tofu cubes, cooking up. I BARELY sprayed the pan, I didn't want to use oil because I was afraid it would get soaked up and that would be gross. It turned out really light and crispy, I liked cooking it this way.

Brother Ben came over again for dinner, I think he's going to come every Tuesday! I was SO happy.. Michelle made chicken for her and Pat, but Ben picked the tofu over the chicken, woo! Chris has class until 8:45 so I packed him a little tupperware of rice, some broccoli and chicken for later.

Yum.

I just made banana muffins in a last ditch effort to use those liners before I pack up my Halloween kitchen things.. they're cooling now but I'll save those for the next post.

Renaissance Faire, Foods

Sunday was our one-year anniversary.. Chris took me to the Renaissance Faire - woohoo! It was a surprise so I didn't have time to get a fun outfit.. but I think I looked OK. Heck yes I got my face painted

We got a wax mold of our hands.. mine's red and his is blue. We're Superman!

The stocks!

We took a tour through that dungeon in the background to look at medieval torture devices.. terrible stuff!

Yesterday afternoon I made a peach pie. I made the filling from fresh peaches that my Mom picked over the summer and I had just frozen it since then. So I thawed it out and - voila! Pie!
Tonight for dinner my little bro come over so Michelle and I made this meal from a recipe her aunt had. (Her aunt is a vegetarian.) It's a tempeh stir-fry in a teryaki-peanut sauce, I'll put up the recipe in a little bit. It was great!
Now I must go - LA Ink is on tonight!

Family and a Present!

Well I had a busy "fall break!" On Saturday I went to work like usual, then my sister and I came back here to West Chester to watch Ben perform with the marching band at the football game. After the game the three of us drove down to DC to visit my Grandma. We got there pretty late so we just went to bed, and Sunday we got up and went to Asylum for the vegan brunch! It was pretty cool, the atmosphere was.. interesting. It was pretty much a twenty-something crowd with lots of tattoos and dark clothing.. so the three of us there with our Grandma seemed a little out of place. But the food was so cool!

The other side of the menu had a regular brunch, but my family played along and all ordered vegan things! Here's what I got, the vegan breakfast wrap. It has tofu scramble, cheese black beans and home fries wrapped up inside. Yum.
Grandma got the huevos rancheros, she said it was really spicy, but good! We all cleaned our plates haha.

Christine got the chili cheese tofu scramble.. she thought the texture of the tofu was a little off, but it tasted good. I think she was just expecting eggs.

Ben got the breakfast sandwich. It has soysage and tofu scramble on it. He said it was good but he thinks that the faux meats are always over compensated. Like before he said smart dogs were TOO hot doggy.. if that makes any sense. Like the attempt at getting the true flavor was overpowering.

After that we went to the Renwick gallery to check out the quilt exhibit.. we're big quilters. :-D I got inspired.. I want to start something!
And we had to leave that night because Christine didn't have fall break and had to get back to school on Monday. Here's the whole gang! Grandma, Ben, Christine and me. We're just missing our other brother, Nick.. he's Christine's twin. But he couldn't make it. Yar.

When I got back I had a surprise! Bazu sent me this vegan chocolate bar.. she must know about my coffee addiction... I feel so badly though! This was a thankyou for donating when she did the Walk for Farm Animals.. but I'm a college kid.. I only gave a measley ten dollars! Bazu it probably cost you that much to send this.. you shouldn't have!All in all it's been a grand week!

Blog Action Day

Well.. busy as I am, I had to get on here for blog action day! I'm not sure what to write about the environment, so I'll just post a few links. I found a page that I liked today about water conservation. 16 ways to conserve water and save money. And try taking the "How Green Are You?" quiz! Also, while I was in DC yesterday (I'll post about that later) I saw a green store called Hoopla, that hadn't opened yet (October 19th it will.)

Wednesday Dinner

Firstly, Monday, October 15th is blog action day! Blogger's everywhere will unite to bring one important topic to everybody's mind. This year it is:: the environment! So head over to the website and check it out.

Secondly.. tonight for dinner we had pan-fried tofu that I had marinated overnight, roasted veggies, and couscous. This meal was omni boyfriend and roommate approved! Pat (Michelle's boyfriend) couldn't make it for dinner tonight but I bet even he would have liked it.. and he's a real meat man.

This weekend I'm going with my sister and my little bro to visit our Grandma. She lives right outside of DC, so on Sunday morning we're going to have brunch at Asylum! I'm pretty excited, Chris and I didn't get a chance to go there on our vacation over the summer. You guys should check out their brunch menu and give me suggestions! Huevos rancheros?

Lots of Stuff!

Whew.. I just spent a lot of time uploading these pictures. So on Friday I tried to make a loaf of bread! But it didn't rise in the oven :-( I don't know why. It tastes OK though! I swear.

Then on Saturday night I went home for dinner with the family. I took my chicken-style seitan and my step dad grilled it right along next to the real chicken.

We had potatoes and corn on the cob too!

On Sunday Michelle and I went to the IKEA in South Philly. We got bubble tea on South Street. I'm not sure about the vegan integrity of bubble tea.. but it was a fun experience. Mine was pineapple flavored.

Here's how we've been fixing up the place lately!
IKEA clock in the kitchen! IKEA end table and lamp in the living room (I lost the lamp shade somewhere between the store and my apartment...) IKEA sand and pebbles with fake autumn-colored flowers!

And my favorite.. the IKEA hangy bar with hooks and that little bowl! And this set of mirrors.. we're going to rearrange it I think.

Here's a little seasonal decorating I did. Two little straw people and some cobwebs! (We clean here, I swear!)

Tonight for dinner I made Boca Chik'n parmesan at Chris' request! I made enough for Michelle and Pat too, it was delicious!

OK I'm wiped out.

Dinners, Shindig

So on Wednesday I made some chicken-style seitan from this recipe. I didn't take a picture after it baked in the marinade, but this is before. I'm going to use it in something later this week.

For dinner on Wednesday I made baked tempeh that I had poached and then marinated. There are also garlic mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables. Chris didn't like the tempeh so much. Oh yeah and I tried to make a gravy out of the lefotver marinade. It worked out pretty well!
Then I made tiramisu for my friend's birthday. No, it's not vegan. She loves tiramisu.. I wanted it to be right! I think it turned out pretty good looking! I've never made tiramisu before, but everybody seemed to like it OK.The party was good :-D

Bake Sale Extravaganza!

The bake sale was a success! I forget to get an entire picture (sorry Mom) but altogether I made 7 things: cinnamon rolls, blueberry muffins (modified from VWaV's apple streusel,) Chris' favorite banana bread, monster cookies, chocolate chip cookies, ginger cookies (VWaV,) and snickerdoodles (VWaV.)

Here are the cinnamon rolls! Unbaked, baked, and finally.. frosted!


Here's those chocolate chip cookies again!

These are gigantic peanut butter/chocolate chip/oatmeal cookies that I created myself. I measured out 1/3 cup for each cookie and sold them for $1 each!

My mom donated cheesecake brownies, they were a HUGE hit and actually sold out in the first hour! She also made these awesome caramel pecan brownies, and peanut butter cookies. Another saxophone made regular brownies. We were sold out of everything by 2pm, except for some ginger cookies. Ah well, you can't win 'em all.

Chris helped me set up at 8:30 AM and helped me man the table for a few hours. I got up extra early and bought munchkins (donut holes) from Dunkin' Donuts and half a dozen bagels for the other saxes that helped at the table. So they wouldn't eat the merchandise. Haha. We made $115 for the studio and I think we can do it again and it will be even better if I can get some more people to donate baked goods, not just me hehe. Hopefully we'll get some new ensemble music in time for Saxfest!!