Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Ha Ha for Hump Day

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Looking Within...

I ran across this yesterday. http://www.blogher.com/everything-we-leave-behind (I tried to post the video attached to this article and it didn't work, sorry about the snafu. So you will have to go to the link and watch it from there. )

It made me stop and think. (It will for you, too. Be forewarned there's a word to two that may offend.) 



This story is told in so very few words, and it's the story of a life. This girl breathed, loved, lived. Had Amanda not gotten the news that she did at the doctor, she'd be like a million other people who post quippy statuses and go on day after day sweating the minutia, griping about the government, the traffic, their love lives. Or sharing links, what they ate on Wednesday, details only a grandma could love, promoting a book, a song, a service. 

Every last one of us has zero guarantee that we will be here tomorrow. A doctor's grim pronouncement, a distracted driver, even a virus could change things forever. 

What we leave behind is the evidence of the decisions we've made. Or the impact in lives we've smeared our fingerprints all over. And our words that carry weight because they paint a picture of who we were. 

What word pictures, what legacy are you leaving for the world to read? 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Bing Balls

 Twin Bing candy bars were my all time favorite before vegan. I don't even know if they are nationwide. They are soft marshmallowy cherry centers covered in a thick chunky peanut chocolate outside layer. 

I even found a recipe to make them in bar format. However, the bars called for cherry chocolate chips that tasted a wee bit like cherry cough syrup and made for a waxier cherry section. I had tweaked it over the years adding marshmallow etc to it to get it closer. 

Then came vegan. That recipe needed to go by the wayside. Too much dairy and they were full of chemical, super processed ingredients. The recipe just drifted away with so many others too involved to veganize. 

Since the first of the year I've been trying to avoid super sugary, super not-so-good-for-anyone stuff. I'm pretty sure I haven't baked any treaty thing since the New Year.  (Uh, pretty sure is as good as it gets, I may have succumbed to something...).

So, Friday, while needing a little sweet fix I stumbled on this treat. Honestly, I'm estimating the measurements because I used my hand and scooped. 

1 Cup dried cherries

1 Cup raisins (I used golden)

1 and 1/2 Cups salted peanuts

1/4 Cup chocolate chips

Toss the peanuts, raisins, cherries in a food processor and whir them until a sticky, mostly uniform concoction starts. You want it to stick together but not be so sticky it won't come off your fingers. If it's too sticky, add a few TBSP of peanuts, if too crumbly more raisins and cherries. When you are happy with the consistency toss in the chocolate chips and whir away breaking them up a bit. 

Then roll the mixture into balls (or press into bars) and refrigerate. Makes about 24 walnut sized balls. Enjoy. These are pretty stinking satisfying. Not Twin Bing clones but the taste and texture is pretty darn close. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Really, Just Move On Folks, There's Nothing to See Here!

I told you. I warned you.

On a positive note, I was asleep by 10:30 p.m. last night! And I ate a healthy oatmeal breakfast this morning. And I even did some exercise, too.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Broccoli Caulicheezy Soup

Eww excuse the boiled over water stain. 

We have a local organic  co-op deal that provided a screaming good deal on veggies and a delivery is coming Saturday. So I had to make room. I love broccoli cheese soup. Well, I loved it and miss it on occasion. I just can't bring myself to use vegan cheeze shreds to put the cheeze in the soup. But I had broccoli that was looking a little limp on hand and I have been experimenting with cauliflower based soups with great success. So...

This soup is mostly veggie and completely crazy good.  The weird thing I noticed is that one bowl with a few crackers and a small slice of bread stuck with me all night long. I'm not sure how that's possible, but it did. 

Broccoli Caulicheezy Soup

Serves 4

3 Cups or so of cauliflower florets

1/2 onion or leek (I used a whole leek and it was pretty strong, so I'm cutting back a bit next time)

2 ish Cups of finely chopped broccoli

4 Cups of veggie broth (I used the veggie paste boullion with water including the cauliflower steam water)

8 - 10 garlic cloves

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 TBSP miso (or soy sauce or liquid aminos)

1/3 Cup nutritional yeast

Steam the cauliflower until tender. Approx 10 minutes.

Toss the leek/onion, garlic, lemon juice, a cup or so of veggie broth and miso into a food processor. Run it until pureed. Add steamed cauliflower and whir until incorporated. 

Transfer the mixture to saucepan, add the additional vegetable broth and broccoli. Simmer for 1/2 an hour or so. Add the nutritional yeast and stir well. Serve. 

Suggested add ins: potato chunks, brown rice, additional veggies of choice, vegan bacon bits. 

Serials and Scenarios ~ Book Update ~ A Little Somethin Somethin Tossed in the Frying Pan

So I'm learning stuff about editing. 

Stuff. Have you ever considered how useful that word is? So descriptive. 

What I'm learning is that when someone points out a glaring issue in your manuscript, you have to get really creative and rework massive amounts of prose. 

Case in point:

One of our lovely critique partners didn't buy what we were selling. 

Our secondary characters develop a romance, and it moved way too quick in her estimation. Michelle and I reread the scenes through our critter's eyes and yup, she was right. I wouldn't buy it either. 

So we had to layer an additional plot line into the mix and go back and revisit several scenes to add hints and foreshadowing and layers so it is now believable. 

It's kind of fun. It certainly made the relationship richer and I love that, and it was a puzzle to solve and that was kind of fun, too. 

I have one more scene to tweak and then I can reread all my scenes to make sure it makes sense to me then it's headed to our next victim critiquer. Michelle tells me she's ruthless. Yikes. I may learn a ton of STUFF before this process is over. 

Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar ~ Cookbook Review

I haven't done a cookbook review in awhile. So. Let's pick one of the dozens I've got on my shelves.

How about Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar? 

I bought this tiny little cute book for a cookie baking blitz last November. It's joined us for two years of Vegan baking. Will it join me for a third? 

Uh Yeah! 

Great pictures and some great recipes. I think I've made ten or so of them. So here is the list of favorites....

The Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows are worth the price of the book if you are a peanut butter chocolate fan. My pillows looked like little hats when finished so I'd recommend parchment paper or more chilling time. But the taste? Sweet mercy. She calls for black cocoa which is the stuff that makes oreos dark, but I used the regular stuff and they were fab. I'm a cheapskate so I don't buy a lot of non-dairy flavored chips like peanut butter and butterscotch etc and my hubby loves those chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips so I have yet to have made them since going vegan. Now I don't have to, the Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows scratch that itch. 

The second recipe that makes the the book a must keep forever...Caramel Pecan Bars.

Warning. If you have a sweet tooth, you will be tempted to eat the whole pan. A-m-a-z-i-n-g. 

We also tried the following which involved mixed opinions but were solid none the less: Mocha Mamas which were nice, tasty little cookies. Starry Fudge Shortbreads were kinda meh in my opinion and a lot of work, but one girl who joined us both years is still waxing eloquently about how much she loved them. 

They have classic Christmas recipes, too. The Roll Out Sugar Cookies and the Gingerbreads were both great, and turned out well. The ladies know their biscotti, we didn't make a recipe from this book but the ones in Veganomicon were outstanding. So the biscotti recipes are on my radar.  

The cookies we haven't tried in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: Roasted Almond Cookies with Fleur De Sel, Rocky Roads, Peanut Apple Pretzel Drops, Citrus Glitters, Macadamia Ginger Crunch Drops...and the list goes on. 

It's a keeper. For sure.