Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Dashing Thru the Fudge

Dashing through the fudge,

in an ugly Christmas sweater,

trying to find "the" gift, 

distracted by the glitter.

Bells in kettle ringers hands,

making spirits divisive,

try to keep upbeat,

someone will complain.

Oh, crazy days, crazy days, will it ever end?

Oh what stress to dash and spin in an overwrought holiday.

Join me in taking a deep breath. Remember that Christmas doesn't have to be insane and disappointing. The more consumerism we buy into the less satisfying it is because it's not about gifts and matching Christmas china and over-the-top recipes. It's about someone. Someone who came as a baby, who lived perfectly and died to give us a gateway to freedom from oppression. Even the oppression of our crazy selves who want desperately to grab all the gusto life has to offer. Life really only comes from accepting the life and gift of Christ and letting Him guide and direct us to become a mini-Him. 

I hope your Christmas season includes moments of wonder and miracles. I pray that you find truth that touches your soul and your heart. I hope you connect with someone you need to spend face time with, and that your days are filled with laughter and memories, fudge and music. I hope your new year is touched with growth and abundant life. Not abundant busyness chasing after life, but the real deal. The kind that cause you to relax into the knowledge that you are not alone and you are desperately loved. 

I'm going to be sporadic the next few weeks while I dash about, or stop and do the things that are important for my sanity. This message should maybe be delivered on Christmas eve, but I wanted to share my thoughts while they were on my heart and in my mind…use em or lose em.  

Scraps and Snippets ~ Amy's Vegan Margherita Pizza ~ Reviewed

 I hadn't tried Amy's Pizza yet. To be honest, I'm okay with Vegan cheese (Daiya is the best in my book) but I'm not a fan. Some pizza's are covered with cheese and honestly, it's just a little slippery to be tasty. 

Pizza is a favorite food of mine though. When we go out and Vegan pizza is an option I usually order it without cheese. 

Sometimes, when it's late in the day and I know there is no chance I'm going to get dinner made and I'm at the grocery store I cave and go for processed, simple, comfort food. 

I love that Amy's contains many organic ingredients. I also loved that Amy's Vegan Margherita Pizza had the perfect amount of cheese. Just enough to give a nice mouth feel and a satisfying flavor. I baked the pizza on a cookie sheet to get the soft version and the crust was satisfying, too, not overly bready, but not cardboard thin either. Margherita pizza is tomato, cheese and basil. The toppings were pureed and subtle and I would have preferred a fresh version with fresh basil and sliced tomatoes. However, that would not be easy to pull off in the freezer case. 

So, bottom line, if you are hungry and at the grocery store, and you want pizza real bad you could do worse. It won't scratch all your culinary itches, but it's definitely a quick, easy comfort food and satisfying on many levels. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Gingerbread Cookie Cups ~ Vegan

Gingerbread Cookie Cups 

makes approx 7 dozen cookies.

⅔ Cup Earth Balance 

⅔ Cup Coconut Oil (or Earth Balance) 

1 ⅓ Cup packed Brown Sugar 

2  TBSP EnerG with 2 TBSP water

⅔ Cup Molasses 

3 Cups Flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
1 1/2 Cups of Arbonne Vanilla Protein Powder (can use additional flour or another protein powder but make sure it's palatable)
2 tsp Baking Soda 

3 tsp Ground Ginger 

1 ½ tsps Ground Cinnamon 

½ tsp Ground Cardamom 

1 tsp Salt 

2 tsp Vanilla

Cream coconut oil/Earth Balance with brown sugar. Add egg replacement and mix well. Add molasses, vanilla, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, salt and vanilla. Beat until all incorporated. Add protein powder and stir, add two cups of flour, mix well. Add the remainder of the flour and mix. Chill dough for two hours or more.

When ready, preheat oven to 350. Grease a mini muffin pan. Roll dough into small balls approx a tablespoon. Press balls into mini muffin tins and press your thumb or finger into the center. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes. Let cool in pan, loosen, pop cookies out and continue to cool.

When the cookie cups are cooled, pipe cinnamon cream cheese frosting into center of cookies

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

4 Ounces Vegan Cream Cheese 

1 tsp Cinnamon 3 Cups Powdered Sugar 

Milk (I used almond) as needed for consistency (use a TBSP at a time if needed)

Serials and Scenarios ~ A Book Update...

Gotta use this picture one more time. It amuses me. 

NaNoWriMo update: One more scene to go. We are almost done. One more scene. Woot. Woot. 

There, of course, it a whole, whole lot of editing to do. A whole lot. The way we were ping ponging scenes back and forth, whew, there's definitely some clean up in aisle five in our very near future. 

But it feels so good to have my final scene written and THE final scene written. Just one more transition scene for Michelle. 

Now. The editing. This might/could be very challenging. But the book is done, Dudes. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Apple Anytime Bars

Apple Anytime Bars

Coffee cake, brunch worthy, dessert a la mode. Yummo. 

Chocolate Covered Katie recently shared her recipe for Apple Crumble Bars. I am unable to resist tweaking, and her recipe was small. I wanted something to feed a crowd for our Thanksgiving brunch so I tweaked big time. And this treat won raves. 

Click on the above link to find CCK's version. And one of the other guests made her apple enchiladas which were off the charts, too. Click here for that one. 

Filling: Mix all the following together in a bowl and set aside. 

6 Medium to large chopped apples (Granny Smith are a good choice.)
2 TBSP cornstarch or arrowroot
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/3 Cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla

Crust and Crumbs: 

6 Cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 Cups brown sugar (loosely packed)
2 TBSP cinnamon
1/2 Cup non-dairy milk of choice
1 3/4 Cup coconut oil (at room temperature)

Mix cinnamon, flour, baking powder and salt together until mixed thoroughly. Mix in coconut oil and and work it through until evenly crumb like. Add milk and stir well. 

Press 2/3 of the crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 greased pan. Spread the apple mixture over the crust. Cover the apple mixture with the rest of the crumbs. Press down a little. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Let sit for a half hour or so. Serve warm or cold. Delicious. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Vegan Green Bean Casserole

Goodness. Let me give you one large chunk of advice…if you want to use fresh or frozen fresh green beans in a green bean casserole…steam them first. 

I did not. And they were a bit….crunchy, even after baking for 45 minutes. 

Green Bean Casserole

Approximately 3-4 Cups of fresh or frozen green beans (2-3 cans)

1 Cup of cashews soaked in 2 cups of non-dairy, unflavored, unsweetened milk

2 Large or 4 Medium mushrooms

1/4 of a medium onion

1 Clove of garlic

1/2 tsp salt

Vegan french fried onions. 

Steam the green beans if needed. See above note.

Lightly spray a 9 x 13 pan.

Dump beans in the pan. 

In a food processor add everything (including the milk the cashews soaked in) but the mushrooms and french fried onions. Whir everything until all is smooth. Toss in mushrooms and give it another whir until they are bits.

Pour this mixture over the green beans. Top with the french fried onions. 

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Easy Vegan Breakfast Rolls

These little buggars got eaten up real quick, so this is the only picture. Sad. 

So Easy and so Delish, though. Happy. 

 I made two batches. One a cranberry orange walnut, the other chocolate. You could combine the two for an extra treat. 

I was lucky to get a chocolate one. Seriously, there was only half of one when I got to the plate.  

You need (for 8) 1 package of crescent rolls. (right now Trader Joe's are vegan). 

An oven set at 350.  A cookie sheet.

Roll the triangles out and flatten them into the triangle shape if yours are mangled. 

Then for the chocolate filling. Place 8 to 12 dark (vegan) chocolate chips at the wide base of the roll but not all the way to the outside, leave a little breading. Then roll up starting at the wide end, ending with the tip. Pinch and curl the long ends in so the chocolate stays as contained as possible. 

If you want cranberry orange nut or a chocolate cranberry orange do the following. About a 1/4 cup of orange marmalade and a tablespoon or two of dried cranberries, a tablespoon of finely chopped nuts (and/or chocolate chips or white chocolate chips) This mix is tart. If you want to add a bit of sweetener you could, however with the glaze it was a great sweet/tart treat. Mix together and do the same as you did for the chocolate, dab a long blob at the lower wider end of the roll and roll em up. 

Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes. They'll golden up nicely. 

While baking I made a frosting/glaze. 

1 TBSP vegan cream cheese

1/2 Cup powdered sugar

Splash of milk. Mix the cream cheese and sugar together, add milk in tiny increments until you get the consistency you want. 

As the rolls cool, drizzle or spread frosting/glaze over the buns. If you want to take it up a notch you could dust them with dried orange peel, finely chopped nuts, toasted coconut after applying the frosting.