Rainbow Cupcakes

I have to say, these took a ton of preparation time and effort - not to mention clean-up was not necessarily a breeze due to all the different color bowls needed. BUT, the presentation was worth it, I think. Everyone (especially kids!) at my family reunion loved them! I may make them for my little 'vendor stand' at my town social this year. This is the first time I'll have any sort of booth, for anything really. I'm making eco-friendly crafts and fashions, as well as the vegan baked goods...I'm going to sell for very cheap though - the main goal of this for me is to educate about veganism - not many in my area understand it very well. I'm going to have brochures about it, as well as maybe tape a 'business card' listing this blog and my upcoming Facebook page to my goodies.

My Famous Marinara

My 'famous' marinara is made from mostly fresh veggies and spices, lots of herbs, and is simmered all day long - just the way a good Greek girl should prepare it! I like thin spaghetti noodles with it; it's just...good. I tried some new vegan meatballs with it ("Nate's" brand) that you simmer right in the sauce. I think next time I'll keep the 'meatballs' separate and pan-fry them with some oil. I made super-excellent garlic bread from leftover sourdough bread I made for my family reunion, and garnished with purple basil from my little herb garden. (That actually inspired me to plant more - that basil is great!)

Family Reunion Foods ~ 2011

I try to make things for my big (gargantuan) family reunions that even hardcore meat-eaters like, which is usually no problem - I keep it simple. I made a huge vat (the only way to describe it, really) of pasta salad, worked 7 or 8 days on sourdough loaves(!), and made rainbow cake & cupcakes. The rainbow cupcakes were so cool, they're getting a post of their own!

         A cup measure next to the tub of pasta salad for scale, after half or so was devoured.

Rainbow cake...Yummy, yet my icing piping skills leave a bit to be desired!

Watermelon Carving

Since I make such a huge deal about carving pumpkins every year, and everyone loves watermelon in the summer, I should start practicing carving melons! Turns out, the juiciness of them makes it quite different from pumpkins, but I like the color contrast. This is just a simple rudimentary design - I didn't put a lot of work into it, but it's a start. I'm hoping to be able to post some better-looking ones by the end of August.

Banana Bread and Muffins

This is always yummy. I don't generally like a lot of nuts in baked goods because it messes with the texture, but they really enhance the flavor of banana bread. So for this batch, I ground the walnuts into a flour and sprinkled the tops with pecans. Pretty tasty! Next time I make this, I'm going to incorporate the leftovers into banana pudding somehow. And there are apparently no vegan nilla wafers, so I will have to use a different type of cookie!

Breakfast Burritos

 Vegan breakfast burritos taste just like the old ones you remember, but are full of fiber and protein! I use sausage from Lightlife, homemade tofu scramble with earth balance, nutritional yeast, and other seasonings, salsa, and Daiya cheddar-style vegan cheese. I put fried potatoes in when I'm feeling frisky, too. For extra nutrition, I use 'low-carb' whole grain wraps, but plain ones taste more traditional.

The wheat wrap is on the left - my daughter prefers the plain white ones.