Thursday, March 31, 2011

I don't like goodbyes....

  "I'm laying in bed at 6:45 in the morning, trying to get a little bit of sleep before waking up again, but I find myself thinking about my sister, L----. She was here, getting ready with me almost three hours ago, and now she is either sitting in the waiting area of the airport, or, more likely, already boarded and sitting in the airplane.
   These past nine days and a morning are gone too soon. The last few days didn't go by as quickly as the rest of the days, but they are gone, none-the-less. Time goes by especially fast when it is 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning. Sometimes I wish the person visiting wouldn't come at all if they're just going to leave again. But  in the end, in spite of all the sadness, it's most definitely worth it..."
                                                                                                                                  ~Written on March 28, 2011, 6:45 a.m.~




The day my sister got here, she had a craving for something chocolate-y...something like brownies. Luckily for her, she has a sister who loves to bake anything ;) So, I looked through my cookbooks and found a recipe in my Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar cookbook! (I was very excited to find a vegan recipe :) )  I made them, and they turned out really good! I didn't sift the ingredients, so I was kind of worried about that, but they ended up being fine.










The next morning, I made omelettes. I haven't had much experience making omelettes, so I wasn't sure how they were going to turn out. They might not have looked like perfect omelettes, but they were really good. I used parmesan cheese, mushrooms, and red bell peppers.




















 


         One evening, the sky looked like a painting. It was so amazingly beautiful...




 It snowed on one of the first few days my sister was here. My sister was pretty excited :)




















The beautiful tart that my sister's mother-in-law and my sister made for my brother-in-law's birthday...Does that make sense ;)










" 'Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all." ~
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, From In Memoriam

The End

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Hey Sugar....cookies

I made these last Thanksgiving, but didn't really love them because I used nutmeg instead of cinnamon. I made them again last week, using mostly cinnamon and a tiny bit of nutmeg, and liked them a lot. They are drop cookies, but both times I have made them, I rolled them out and then used cookie cutters and it went smoothly.
I originally got the recipe from The Joy of Cooking cookbook, but found it online. Here's the link:
http://www.johnpenaloza.com/recipes/JPsugarcookies.html

I also added some chopped almonds to half the batch and those were super good.




                If I could substitute something for the eggs, this would be a vegan recipe :)


                                                                                                                     Love.... <3 ichelle

Mmm, apple muffins....

I made some yummy apple cupcakes the other day, and wanted to share the recipe (and pictures ;) )
It's actually a cake recipe, but it's super simple to convert into a cupcake recipe :)


Raw Apple Cake

 http://www.twinhillranch.com/raw_apple_cake.htm

4 Cups Apples
2 Eggs
2 Cups Sugar (I used 1/4 cp. less than called for and they turned out fine. I think you might be able to get away with half sugar)
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 Cup oil

1 Cup chopped nuts
2 Cups Flour
2 tsp. Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Salt (optional)


Use Gravenstein, Jonathan, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious
Peel and chop apples. Break eggs over apples and mix with fork. Add sugar, cinnamon, oil, and nuts and blend well. Mix in flour, soda and salt. Grease and flour 9 X 13 pan. Pour mixture. Bake 350 (F) for 55 minutes.

If you are making muffins, change the temperature to 325 (F) and the time to 25 minutes. Also, make sure to cook the muffins on the middle rack. I also want to note that the batter doesn't look like a lot in the bowl, but as it bakes, it really fills out. Enjoy!

<3 ichelle