Amanda Blog and Kiss

As the Vegan Weekend draws to a close, I am breathing a sigh of relief that:

a) it’s over

and

b) it was a success!

I have never in my entire life (combined) baked, cooked, and organised meals like I did this weekend.  Seriously, I never knew it was so time consuming!  I had no time to do anything this weekend except plan ahead for the next meal.

Maybe it’s because I’m a spastic in the kitchen, and I just have to get used to things.  Maybe it’s because of the meals I was choosing.

In any case, they all turned out great, and here they are, if you are interested:

Friday Night Mini Pizzas

made with ready-made vegan crusts from the Nature Winkel, and topped with peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomato sauce, and soy mozzerella cheese!

Saturday morning I got up and started making bagels. That’s right, I made bagels. Vegan Wheat Bagels.

And they were pretty fucking good. I added roasted garlic and onions to them, and we topped them with soy cream cheese, hummus, and a Sundried Tomato, Caper, and Olive Tapenade that I just so happened to whip up while the bagel dough was rising.

Also while the dough was rising, I started Chai Applesauce,

which turned out brilliantly, and with the leftover juice in the pot I made a Warm Chai Apple Cider, seen here with my bagels.

No rest for the weary!!! so for lunch I marinated some veggies (mushrooms, sugarsnap peas, peppers, red onions, tomaotes and pineapples) for Veggie Shish Kabobs on our new teensy grill. I also whipped up some Potato Salad and served these with store-bought Couscous (to die for).

Have you ever seen such pretty colorful kabobs?!?!

Also, somewhere in here I managed to squeeze in some Oatmeal Breakfast Bars to snack on.

I’m telling you people, I was BUSY. Absolutely nothing except cooking and baking this weekend.

That night, for a snack, I made us some Orange Creamsicle Shakes made from frozen orange juice and soy yogurt. It was the only thing that I was disappointed in all weekend.

I didn’t follow any recipe, though, I just kind of threw it together, and wasn’t that impressed.

I also forcefed Dave my No Bake Cookies that I made last week, which are so yummy and high in calories that they need to be eaten pronto, and not by me!

On to this morning. Bright and early, I started prepping the dough for a roll of Vegan Bread, into which I threw some pesto, making it Vegan Pesto Bread.

Which I served with vegan butter (plant butter) and Red Lentil Soup.

That sound that you just heard is my mother’s jaw dropping to the floor.

Yes, mother, I not only made bagels and bread this weekend, but also….

Pineapple Upside Down Cakes!

which were wet on the one side, and slightly hard on the other, but still yummy!

So there you have it. And that’s only about HALF of what I was planning for this weekend. There was just no time for the Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms, the Lentil Tacos, the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake, and loads more!

We leave in 3 days for Rock Werchter, and now I am just worried about eating the leftovers by then!

If you are interested in this kind of cooking, I highly recommend the website VegWeb. Its a vegan heaven, and it is even rivalling MySpace for my internet time-wasting!

Whew, tired!

MySpace Comments:

angela lynn	you’re amaaaaaazing and yes, the kabobs are so beautifully colorful! :] i hope you had fun! Posted by angela lynn on Sunday, June 24, 2007 – 9:18 PM

	Tenakalaz	As I said before, kudos to you Slush… Brilliant effort all round, proud of ya both!! Posted by Tenakalaz on Sunday, June 24, 2007 – 9:21 PM

	Jamie	Wow! I am impressed. Everythings looks so wonderfully delicious! Can’t say that I could get down with all those soy products (we are not good friends) but maybe I will try to present some of these recipes to the fam. Posted by Jamie on Sunday, June 24, 2007 – 9:36 PM

	Slush	Thank you, thank you, and thank you! Posted by Slush on Sunday, June 24, 2007 – 9:54 PM

	Oana	OH, my God! I can’t believe I was salivating just LOOKING at all these VEGAN dishes. Congrats…..I can’t even cook an entire weekend non-vegan, non-vegetarian! And as for planning your meals, you really could eat vegan all the time. You could plan all the meals for the week on Sunday, buy all the ingredients and then make your meals as you go. Don’t worry about snacks…just eat fruit and soy yogurt! Great job, Amanda!!!! Posted by Oana on Monday, June 25, 2007 – 10:16 PM

	Glinda the Good Witch of the North	Yes, the sound you heard Aw Manda…. this blog almost made me weep. It brought back memories of when you were little: the hours we spent in the kitchen, you with your little apron standing on a stool beside me chopping veggies (humanely though), stirring simmering pots of sauces and gravies, kneading dough, making trays of cookies. Ah… the smells, the tastes, the – oh…. that’s right we never did any of that did we? No we didn’t… But kudos to you girl for what looks like a dee-lish weekend! Posted by Glinda the Good Witch of the North on Sunday, July 01, 2007 – 1:49 AM

Petra Jordan

ok, you told me you had a vegan weekend recently but THIS???? I’m impressed! Looks like from a yummy cooking show! I totally know what you mean by it takes too long to cook and plan for it. That’s why I usually opt for the Chinese place around the corner…But I’ll help you make some of that ummy suff next time I come to visit;) Cheers Long live Rock Werchter and damp nights in the tents! Posted by Petra Jordan on Monday, July 02, 2007 – 8:25 PM

Well, I have to say I was (semi) successful in staying off of MySpace for these past 2 weeks.  I say semi because I did go to my myspace URL once or twice to check any comments and to listen to my playlist.  And I did go to a band URL once or twice.  But thats all I swear!!!!

I used this extra Myspace-time in my pocket to transfer my online addiction to something much, much worse: Ebay.

About 8 or 9 years ago, I was pretty addicted to Ebay, and won a few vintage bags that I absolutely fell in love with.  I happened upon Ebay again during my MySpace diet, and rediscovered the joys of vintage handbags, resulting in winning bids on ten- COUNT THEM TEN!!!!- vintage bags.

Three have gotten here already and I am in love!!!!  However, I officially bid on my last bag two days ago.  I’m quitting, cold turkey.  MySpace, while completely time-wasting, at least isn’t so bad on the bank account.

However, take a peek at my favorite new win!!! Its a lime green clutch from the 60′s!!! So cute!!!

MySpace Comments:

Tenakalaz	evil…….. you need some serious counseling… Posted by Tenakalaz on Monday, June 11, 2007 – 1:17 PM [Reply to this]  [Remove]  [Block User]

	Dawn	oooh!! I love it! Im a thrift store handbag kinda girl myself. Snagged this adoooorable little grey wristlet a few weeks ago. $1. Thank you very much. lol It’s so perfect for going out. It easily fits the 4 C’s and more. Camera, cell phone, cigarettes & credit card. (also id & lip gloss but they don’t start with C’s…and I was trying to be cool.) Posted by Dawn on Monday, June 11, 2007 – 7:50 PM [Reply to this]  [Remove]  [Block User]

	Glinda the Good Witch of the North	That huge thing is a handbag???? No, I’m pretty sure that’s the right rear quarter panel from a 1970 Ford Pinto. Welcome back. I missed you. Posted by Glinda the Good Witch of the North on Monday, June 11, 2007 – 9:37 PM [Reply to this]  [Remove]  [Block User]

	Glinda the Good Witch of the North	That huge thing is a handbag???? No, I’m pretty sure that’s the right rear quarter panel from a 1970 Ford Pinto. Welcome back. I missed you. Posted by Glinda the Good Witch of the North on Monday, June 11, 2007 – 9:37 PM [Reply to this]  [Remove]  [Block User]

Glinda the Good Witch of the North

I’m repeating myself again. WTF is up with that???? Posted by Glinda the Good Witch of the North on Monday, June 11, 2007 – 9:38 PM [Reply to this]  [Remove]  [Block User]