Halloween Brunch & Apple-Pie Cinnamon Rolls

Happy Halloween! Yesterday morning our friends Alana & Jake hosted a friendly little pre-Halloween brunch. It was so great. It was a rainy, wintery morning, and it was so perfect to be cozy inside with great friends and great food. There was a big pot of hot apple cider welcoming us... and before long the table started to fill up with tasty goodness!

Alana made Beer-battered Fried Tofu. Personally I am totally terrified of deep frying... and really I don't even eat much fried food. But Alana was clearly a pro! We were all crowding around and admiring her frying expertise... and the delicious little tofus she was pulling out of the pot!

... Just look how beautiful they turned out! She served them up with malt vinegar, which was crazy yummy. I hadn't ever had some thing like this before, and now I'll probably have to wait until Alana hosts another brunch party before I eat them again. Which is probably okay, since I don't really need to be eating these guys all the time. But it was really yummy!

Jake cooked up some seriously RAD waffles. Thick and fluffy and perfect! Watch out, the waffle monster is about to take all of them! Back off, waffle monster!

Sophia brought along roasted pears, which were sooooooo good, and a perfect light component of our brunchy carb-fest. I put them on my waffle, and that was most definitely a winning combo. I think I'll be making some roasted pears of my own sometime soon. And then maybe I'll put them on waffles.

Cold&Sleepy brought some really good pumpkin bread (with bonus pecans). It was perfectly seasonal in its flavors... and also perfectly baked so that it was still moist, but not soggy at all. And Alana also made some coffee cake, which was great because I happen to love coffee cake.

As for me, I made the Scrambled Tofu with Kale & Yams from "Vegan Brunch." This is my special dish that I make every. single. time. Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats is away. It brings together two of my favorite foods (kale and sweet potatoes), which happen to be two foods he completely can't stand. So, in loving honor of his absence this weekend, The Scramble was made. And enjoyed. Twice.

Next up I made some super deeeelicious Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls. I used the cinnamon rolls recipe from Vegan Brunch, but I added some diced apples. I took 3 apples, peeled & cored & diced into 1/2" cubes. Then I sauteed them with a little Earth Balance. After a minute or two, I added the scraped out innards of about 1/2 of a vanilla bean (magic!) and a splash of rum and sauteed another couple minutes. Then I proceeded with the cinnamon roll recipe as usual, just adding in my apple yumminess with the cinnamon and sugar. For these rolls, I finally tried the method of doing the first rise the night before, and then letting the second rise happen slowly overnight in the fridge. It was RAD. These were the fluffiest, yummiest, most perfect and delicious cinnamon rolls I have ever made. And the apples were great. I think there could be even MORE apples... maybe next time I'll try 4 apples!

Here they are, all decorated with frosting. Sorry the pics are so dark, but like I said, it was a seriously grey and rainy day. All the better for brunching and cinnamon rolling, my dear!

Here's my plate... full of deliciousness! Of course I went back for a cinnamon roll. Plus there were so many tasty morning beverages... hot apple cider, OJ!, and hot coffee. Ahhh. Seriously, I was in a state of total happiness. Good friends and good food is a magical combination.

Spooky little Baby G takes sweet potatoes and kale very, very seriously. Don't Mess.

Even Turnip the dog got half a waffle! What a lucky dog! She was a very good girl though, so naturally, she deserved it! :) woof!

Apples Apples Bo-Fapples

Friends, there is a serious Apple Situation going on here! Just today I got my three biggest pots and filled them to overflowing with apples from our small-but-powerful apple tree. In fact, I needed a whole 'nother overflow pot.... which was a re-purposed basin for a giant garden pot.

First I picked through and took out all the unblemished and bug-free apples. Those go straight to trays in the garage, where they will stay cool and fresh and can be enjoyed without a sharp knife and fear-of-bugs. This year I actually got a pretty good number of such apples, which is really nice. Usually it's about 20%, but I'd say more like 35-40% this year. Woooooot!

Next up, sort out the pretty decent, but must-be-used-sooner ones. Those include apples with bruises from falling off the tree, little dings or nicks, a little mini rotten spot, a few small buggy bits, and so on. Finally, I was left with the crazy-buggy, but still-worth-keeping pile. Those are ones that will be cooked into applesauce or dehydrated into apple slices. Obviously, there was also a big 5-gallon bucket full of totally mushy or not-worth-fighting-over icky apples.

While I was in the midst of all this picking and sorting and general Apple TLC, the phone rang. I clamored out from under the apple tree, raced through the backyard, and ran in the kitchen. It's my awesome mom on the phone! Why is she calling, you ask? Well, she wants to know if I have any extra apples so that she can make applesauce with my brother's son and friend . Yes! So, some of these lightly dinged apples have already found a happy home. Usually I use the super buggy apples for apple sauce, but I didn't want to run the risk of totally freaking out the youngsters with apples full of rotten bits and bugs. I don't want to turn off any budding agricultural friends!

So, apples apples fee-fi-fo-fapples. I've got 'em. Plus, there are still about as many, if not more, left on the tree! Applesauce, dried apples, apple cake, apple cinnamon rolls, maybe some canned apple pie filling. Fresh apples, apple slices with peanut butter. What am I forgetting? What's your favorite apple recipe?

Weekend Foodie Fun: Pancakes & Spiced Quince

Saturday morning the mister and I had some delicious pancakes, warm coffee, pure maple syrup, strawberries from the farmers' market, and apples from our apple tree. It was a rainy, blustery morning, and it was so nice to have a special breakfast together. So peaceful and yummy! Plus, all the little furbabies were gathered around and looking as cute as possible in the hopes of getting some good handouts. That didn't happen, but we did enjoy their super-cutey skills.

After breakfast, I finally tackled my big bowl of quince that has been sitting on the tabletop for a couple of weeks now. As you can see, there are still a few leftover. I made 4 1/2 jars of the Spiced Quince in Syrup from Deborah Madison's book Local Flavors. It takes about 3 hours, start to finish, but most of that is just the quince simmering away on the stovetop, while you tend to other things. (In my case I washed, peeled and sliced a huge bowl of apples and got them all going in the dehydrator) The quince start out yellow-y green, and pretty hard... sort of like a very unripe pear. But after cooking them on the stove top for all that time, they unleash their glorious, floral fragrances, the fruit softens, and everything turns a magical rosy hue. So beautiful and so tasty. Now these delicious beauties can be put to use in various holiday pies and such. Mmmm!

International Care Packages + More!!

Over at the PPK, from time to time, we have organized swaps. You enter in your name and what sorts of special goodies you can't find in your area that you'd like to receive... and also what kind of special goodies you have that you could share with others. Well I got paired up with the super awesome Efcliz of "Cooking The Vegan Books," and she sent me some awesome goodies!

Unpacked!! Mini super-cute papadams, Ras-el Hanout spice mix, HobNobs, Marzipan bar (chocolate covered and with orange!), marmite, white chocolate buttons, a yummy looking malt loaf with fruits, two white chocolate bars, *rainbow candles!*, English mustard (yum!), gummy candies, marmite rice cakes (this was a good idea, because I have been a little scared of marmite, but these snacks were an easy introduction, and they are very yummy - so soon I will break open my marmite packet and try it on some toast!), Reggae nuts!, & caramelized cookies. It's so much fun. Most of all I am totally head-over-heels in LOVE with those white chocolate bars. Wow. They are really, really good. I thought I would use them for baking, but instead I think I will slowly nibble away at them and savor each and every bite. Thanks Efcliz!

Meanwhile, aside from my postal adventures, our tomatoes haven't petered out quite yet... so we're still on a high-tomato-consumption plan around here. I noticed last week at the farmer's market a dark and foreboding sign: "Last Week For Basil". AAAAAh! Say it ain't so! Well, it is so, and I can probably deal with it. One way I dealt with it was to purchase said basil and run home and make some delicious pizzas. In rainbow order, of course.

Also, I recently made these cuties. Some of you long-time readers may have noticed that I haven't been doing as much baking as I used to. Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats has really changed his diet and his efforts at watching calories have had a positive impact on the whole House of Good Repute*. But last week, in my Tuesday night yoga class, we discovered that we had four birthdays within about a week of each other... so I decided to have a little birthday celebration! We've got a couple gluten-free folks in that class, so naturally I wanted my treats to be enjoyed by all. I turned to the timeless classic, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, and made a half-batch of both the gluten-free vanilla cuppers and the GF chocolate cuppers, and then marbled them. Because marbled is more fun and special than plain. I put chocolate frosting on them, but they looked prettier like this (my frosting piping skills apparently need a lot of work)! I think this was my first experiment with baking GF cupcakes and the results were so encouraging - great cupcakes loved and enjoyed by everyone! Hoorah!

* That's the name of our house. I like houses with names.

Finally... Last But Not Least! I am gearing up for round four of VeganMoFo. Starting in November, I will attempt to blog everyday for the whole month. Furthermore, I have big plans. I will be blogging "Around The World In 30 Days," featuring a different meal from a different country every day for the whole month. In geographical order! Because I am nerdy that way. I've been rifling through my extensive cookbook collection, and got a huge stack of books out of the library and I'm hard at work planning which recipes to cook and which countries to feature. It's hard to pick!

Autumn's Seasonal Treats

I love pumpkin as much as the next baking-frenzied vegan... but I feel like pumpkin's been getting a lot of press, and some of Early Autumn's other amazing offerings have been a bit neglected in the public eye. Everyone's all "pumpkin this," and "pumpkin that," and I don't want my other autumny friends to feel overshadowed. So, I bring you some more seasonal delights, less celebrated, but just as yummy.

First of all ... quince! What will I do with all these fragrant and lumpy lovlies? Still figuring that out... sweet or savory? jam? quince paste? savories? persian dishes? only time will tell!

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. They just keep coming. Canning, eating, salads, sauces, pizzas...

More tomatoes, even after all that canning! It's just crazy!

And APPLES! Here at the House of Good Repute, our apple tree has officially moved into full-fledged production. Just yesterday I picked about 4 or 5 huge buckets of apples, and have hardly made a dent as far as the tree is concerned. So far I've got a bunch of apples drying in the oven, and I don't know what's next. So much abundance, so little time!

And finally, raw peanuts! One of my favorite fall treats. Ima make me some boil' peanuts! Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Stevie Wonder & The Cupcakes

Last weekend we had a family potluck dinner for my Mom's birthday, plus my brother's girlfriend's birthday, AND her son's birthday!! Birthday mania! ... I had just finished leading a yoga retreat, so I knew I wanted something quick and easy. Pesto to the rescue! Luckily I have a metric ton of fresh-frozen pesto in my freezer, so this was a quick meal to bust out.

Salad and veggies and delicious bread provided by various awesome family members. Potlucks are the best. You can also see our overflow fruit area.... the Vegan Eats & Treats household is serious about fruit consumption!

Well, no party's a party without cupcakes. And, we all know cuppers don't really take that long either. I whipped together a quick batch of the *amazing* Coconut Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream Frosting from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World." My brother's ladyfriend is a big fan of coconut, so that was the obvious place to start. Don't they look beautiful, even bare out of the oven!?

Then I got the criminally delicious coffee frosting on there, and dipped them in toasted coconut. I think these might be my new favorite cupcake. It was getting a little dark, so I went out in the backyard for better photo lighting. Well, look who followed me! Apparently little Stevie Wonder also loves coconut cupcakes. Or, at least, she suspects she would love them, and would like very much to do some empirical testing to prove her hypothesis. She kept smacking her lips in the cutest way, and I kept missing her bright pink tongue with my slow camera skills.... so I made a movie!

Here she is in all her cutie pie glory.

Yummers the Cat Eats His Corn

Well, a while back, I made a cute little video of our cat Yummers ravenously enjoying some broccoli. It was quite a hit! Yummers really does love broccoli. In truth, he loves most veggies, especially green veggies. But his top 3 human foods are definitely broccoli, asparagus, and corn. Green beans are a close 4th place.

Soon after we got Yummers, many moons ago, I brought home a piece of farm-fresh corn from a farm here in town. I shucked the husks, tossed it in a pot to boil, and went about my business. Soon enough, without any explanation, little Mr. Yummers was in the kitchen yelling and screaming and meowing himself into a frenzy with excitement. It wasn't until I got my corn out and sat down to eat it that I realized what the fuss was all about. All these years later, our special kitty is still - inexplicably - as crazy about corn as he ever was. And here's the video to prove it!