Ohio

I am in Ohio. Yes, Ohio. Well apparently, Columbus, OH has a huge vegan following. Yesturday I went to ZPizza for the first time, I had been wanting to try it for a long time as I've heard about it on PETA. The food was delicious and reminded me of Pi pizza. The dough I thought was better because it was whole wheat and softer than Pi's. The cheese was daiya and obviously the same. Their match meat was more tender and less seasoned (a plus in my opinion) The only difference I couldn't decide was the sauce which would have needed to be a side-by-side comparison. It was a little pricy, to say the least. But it was delicious, and a fun atmosphere. When I told them I was vegan they pulled out a list, sort of like it's own separate menu. My first clue into how awesome Columbus is. 

Anyway... you may be wondering why we are in Ohio. My mother is a nurse and we are attending the Midwest Nursing Research Society. It is a lot of fun and am really enjoying it. Anyway we are going home tomorrow and I am nervous we will get delayed due to the snow. Can you believe it is snowing at the end of MARCH!?!??!

California Salad, we already ate the avocado, so creamy and yummy

Can you see the steam? Fresh service!

YUMMMM

Needless to say, this got eaten like right after I took this

DAIYA!!!

Spring Break, exciting announcement in the works!!!

I have some very very very good and exciting news that I just received yesterday, however I am not ready to share it with the public yet. Heck, not like I really even have a fan base though who would spoil anything!! So just know there will be a big surprise reveal coming up soon (think mid/late-April)

So besides my icing failing miserably, I made cakes, cupcakes and cookies. My cakes fell (I either overmixed or the batter was toooo moist) but they leveled out just fine. My cupcakes are kind of a mess, but the cake itself tastes great. AANNDD- it was super super healthy! I replaced the oils with applesauce to make it even more moist, so no oils, the butter I used had flax seed in it (smart balance light with flax is vegan, flax is a natural, plant source of Omega-3's), I used whole wheat flour, and obviously there was no cholesterol since there were no eggs or dairy!!

buttercream? ya right...

6in cake, see how badly it fell?

So I realized why some exploded like that, I believe those were the ones I added some "buttercream" to the center to see what would happen, none of them visibly had a filling after baking so I guess it absorbed it

what I ended up leveling off, boy was it tasty

After being in the fridge for a long while my "buttercream" held together a smidge better, adding the green dye

all iced and pretty

side view, first time I've iced a cake like this (with a spatula, etc)

about to dig in!!!

In case you were wondering, once room temp the "buttercream" went to mush again, this was after the crumb coating... and after my cake started to slide around : (

The cookies on the other hand.... well they are good.... fudgy, chocolatey, and crunchy. Although I was going for gooey and chewy.... I have no idea what happened with them.... first, I think I messed up the batter because it was unbelievably sticky! Second, my oven is a mess and we have no thermometer so it's a guess and check game. I guess some were over done, but the recipe said until the edges were firm. I ate numerous since after each tray went in I tried a different technique, thinner cookies, shorter cooking, thicker cookies longer cooking, and tons of other combos. So of course I had to try them all to see if something worked.... right? Well none turned out like the picture or the way they were supposed to.... they are kind of dry and cakey but they are dense and fudgy (not gooey fudgy mind you though) I had tried the regular chocolate chip recipe of hers (Kelly Peloza) and they too were supposed to be gooey and chewy and I ended up with cakey, and I even made them in a different oven that is more reliable. Anyway, those were my mishaps. Maybe I am just not destined to make cookies?

Frustrated... any suggestions?

UGGG... hrmph.... I am very frustrated, irritated, and disappointed. I am making a cake tomorrow for a family dinner, luckily I decided to make the buttercream the night before. My buttercream will NOT whip... maybe it is the fact that I am using a mixer that was crappy when it was bought 25 years ago as a wedding present for my mother. Or maybe it's the fact that I added chilled soymilk... or maybe it's that I added soymilk at all. Or maybe my butter broke? I have no idea... either way, I have soup... blah... I spent 42 minutes attempting to whip it... gave up... did some googling... went back, added more powdered sugar whipped for maybe ten minutes.... and gave up again... my soup is now in the fridge.... if ANYONE knows any suggestions PLEASE help me : ( I really wish I knew what to do....

St. Patty's Day, a day too late

Yesterday was St. Patty's day, and boy o boy do I love that holiday. In all seriousness though, I have no idea why I love it so much... I feel like I love every holiday and maybe since I have a special connection to this one is why I like it so much... but I'm not even that Irish. Anyway, I had an amazing St. Pat's day, I wore my green PETA shirt around campus, leafletted, met some veggies and even a vegan (in my town? who knew!) went to my composition class where we received our mid-terms. My teacher liked mine so much, she read it to the class (what am I a second grader?) she also told me it was so useful I should try and get it published in the school newspaper! My paper was on the vegan friendliness of different restaurants throughout my college town.  I indeed had a super green, vegan St. Patty's day!!! Anyway, I am going to try and update at least every other day even if I have no new pictures just to get myself into the habit so we don't have another hiatus like last time! (can you tell I love that word? I think it is because the first time I heard it, it was used in context with Lost, my all time favorite T.V. series)

Anyway, I am going home tonight and I really cannot wait. First off, I love the train!!! I get to watch a movie on the train and start my outline for my extra credit paper in geology. I also get to start on my next comp essay, all of my essays in comp so far have been about animal rights, and I think it is really starting to catch on in my town, it makes me briefly consider staying... for like a second...

One last class before I am officially on break, but it is my philosophy class. It is a really enjoyable class, fun, easy and thought provoking. Plus, it starts at 1pm so it's such a refreshing Friday!!

Have a wonderful and safe friday everyone!!!

BAKING

Ok, so despite having failed at blogging, I did still bake during my hiatus. I made three different types (sorta) of cupcakes and two different types of cookies.

My cookie recipes were from the cookie connoisseur cookbook

The first was supposed to be your typical bakery style chocolate chip cookie. Thin, big, crispy and gooey on the inside. Problem is I made the dough before hand and didn't bake it till later so I could bake it at my dad's house. I now know that you should get the cookies into the oven (or any dough) as soon as you can after mixing wet and dry ingredients unless specified in the recipe as it messes with how it rises, etc. Probably why my cookies turned out more cakey. I loved this type the best though, reminded me of my grandma's homemade easter cookies that are such classics, except hers are more buttery.

See how they are more pillowy?

The second were supposed to be much more gooey..er.. but I think I overcooked them... actually I think I overcooked both sets... but I'm still learning... and they were still yummy, o well! Right out of the oven these tasted just like nestle break 'n bakes, chewy outsides and gooey center. However, given time to solidify they were mostly just crispy and a little chewy on the insides, almost stale-like. But still... it's a cookie, when they are good, they're great, when they are bad, they are still pretty good!!

See how they are a little crispier, and gooey..er looking?

Cupcakes:

I made one batch of chocolate cake from the joy of vegan baking. I poured them into cupcake liners, the first four I dropped peanut butter in half of the batter, the next four I poured the chocolate peanut butter icing in the middle of the batter just as I did the peanut butter. The last four I made and filled later with the icing. I don't know what the consistency of the icing was supposed to be but it was more like a ganache, chocolate peanut butter ganache, YUM!!! My favorite was the peanut butter filled ones, they tasted like my buckeye balls, but they were very rich. I also LOVED the ganache baked because they were delicate and rich and creamy and sooo yummy! much more of a sophisticated cupcake, sort of like a lava cake just not as runny.

See the peanut butter peeping through? YUM!

Filling the cupcakes!

Celebrating my birthday AT HOME!!!!

The inside of the PB filled cupcakes, sooo yummy!

With the extra batter I poured it into a quiche pan and made a mini cake, plopped some blobs of peanut butter and more ganache, baked, then iced with the ganache! SOOOOOOO YUMMY! Tasted just like a reeses bar!

WOWIE WHERE HAS TIME GONE!!!

So it has been almost forever and a day since I have posted... I am the worst blogger.... Anyway! I am excited because spring break is coming up and that means BAKING!!! Although, after that intense hiatus I have probably lost my minuscule fan base.... if there even was one...
I have been on the I am Baker blog and have fallen in love all over again with baking. Now here is something really really special. Check out this blog post!! I love this idea and would love to start this constant flow of anonymous cookie/treat giving throughout the US.... I have no idea how to do this, but it seems like an amazing idea! I really wish that I had the fan base to get this started, but I will suggest to Amanda that she keep this up, most of her followers love baking and would love to help others. Anyway... today is an easy day, but tomorrow will kick my booty into gear!!! Once tomorrow is over I might as well be on break!!!! WOOOO BREAK!

Break means:
Seeing my kitties
Seeing my home town
BAKING
Eating at my favorite vegan places
BAKING
seeing family
spending time with family
no school
BAKING
being home...
...too bad break only lasts a week!!!

Non-Valentine's Day

Ok, so I changed around the style of the blog a little bit. Any feedback would be awesome and much appreciated! I have eaten sooo much peanut butter this semester, the peanut butter I bought in the last post I just finished today. YIKES! o well, I bought almond butter and peanut butter today so I am good now! Also, I am going on a competition tour this week and don't know if I will have access to foods I like and am willing to eat, so I am bringing my own. I am going to bring sandwich thins, peanut butter, chips, crackers, bars, and apples. I hope that will be able to take me through two days worth. I am really excited for competition, but am also kind of nervous, I really want to place so I can go to Florida for internationals. Plus, I'd get a trophy, and I love trophies. How cool would a trophy AND Florida be?
Anyway, valentines day is tomorrow... its kind of making me sad what being single and all. I don't even have my cats to keep me company in my mopiness. I love valentine's day too, I think it's so cute and the idea of having a day devoted just to love, desserts, and sappiness makes me really happy... except when I can't enjoy any of it. No boy. No vegan treats readily accessible. No boy... kind of depressing, but o well. My daddy sent me a lovely flower arrangement with roses and stargazer lilies (my favorite flower!) They are beautiful! My mom's cute kitty card came the same day as my dad's flowers too, how coincidental!