Friday, October 24, 2008

Soup n' Such

So much to blog about, but truly, so little time...


As Tracy mentioned in her post, it's gotten so cold that soup is an ideal meal. I pulled out Nava Atlas' Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons and made a Creamy Golden Potato Squash Soup. It was so silky and smooth! One thing this recipe made me realize is to not use the crumbled bay leaves that came with my spice set - there's a reason why recipes always say to remove the whole bay leaf before serving (obviously not possible with the bits I have)...those things do not soften up and result in little irritating pieces with every bite.



Another delicious soup was courtesy of one of Sarah Kramer's books - Auntie Bonnie's Black Bean Soup. Delicious! The addition of vinegar was genius! It offered the perfect amount of tang! I was also impressed with how easy it was to put this together.



And still on the whole fall theme...time for pumpkin scones! Some pie pumpkins grew on their own in our garden thanks to our compost pile (I guess some of last year`s pie pumpkins' seeds germinated!), so I roasted them up and made Pumpkin Scones!



Fall also means Thanksgiving. I'm so late in posting my feast, and the pic is of my plate of leftovers! I'm terrible! But I was more concerned with eating my meal than taking a pic of it while the little girl was happy! I made Dreena Burton's Rosemary Tofu Balls into cutlets (I thought they were too spicy but everyone seemed to like them!), and served them with maple-ginger winter squash, mashed potatoes, stuffing and veggies.



And finally, it was little Ash's baptism. We had a big shindig at my mom's after the ceremony, which initially had me a little stressed since I wanted to make lots of food (including a dessert) but would have no time. I decided to outsource the dessert and proceeded to try and find somewhere that could make some kind of vegan cake. I searched on the web for places in Ottawa, but had no luck - one bakery told me they could do vegan, but to expect it to taste 'dry and bland' (what???) and to make a small cake for the few vegans at the party and do a non-vegan cake for everyone else. I knew there had to be a better option out there! Thank goodness one of the moms in my mom's group sent me a link to Lil' Cakes. They were able to do all sorts of vegan cupcakes for me!


I was indifferent about the whole ceremony, but super excited for the five dozen cupcakes that were waiting for us! There was vanilla with buttercream, vanilla with raspberry mousse filling, chocolate with chocolate mousse, pumpkin chocolate chip and gingerbread with lemon buttercream. Best of all, they were absolutely beautiful AND delicious! I think I might need to establish a weekly standing order for cupcakes...


9 comments:

ren said...

gingerbread w/lemon buttercream? *swoon*.

i am very intrigued by that nava atlas book, thanks for mentioning it, i will have to check it out.

Nicole said...

Five dozen cupcakes? Yes please!

Tracy said...

Those cupcakes were AWESOME. I only tried, umm, three of them, but I highly recommend Lil'Cakes to anyone in Ottawa. They were so pretty, and yummy too (not dry and bland AT ALL).

Belle said...

Is there a reason you didn't go to the Green Door and get their cake? They make them to order and stuff.

Unknown said...

Hi Isabel - I didn't go with the Green Door or the Table since I was looking for someone to deliver out to Barrhaven. Plus, I would have needed a HUGE cake to satisfy nearly 50 guests! Hence my decision to go the cupcake route :)

And Ren - the cookbook is actually vegan! I think Fall and Winter's sections will be heavily used :)

Anonymous said...

Sarah or Tracey...would either of you know what to use instead of food coloring to decorate cookies for Xmas?? Thought you might have some ideas since you seem so knowledgeable about cooking/baking!!

Thanks so so much for any info you can provide me with!

Unknown said...

Hey there - as for food colouring, yes, it's kinda gross. What exactly are you decorating? Can the icing be left white? I know Tracy leaves the icing on gingerbread men white, and I'll likely do the same for the icing on sugar cookies this year.

If you do need to use colouring, you can puree blueberries for blues and purples, and cherries for pink. Beet juice makes red!

Hope that helps!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info, Sarah. It was Christmas cookies that I was referring to...sorry for not mentioning that! But that's good...I will decorate the gingerbread men with white icing and use vegan choc. chips, raisins & cranberries to decorate. As for my sugar cookies, I will decorate only with icing sugar. I forgot to ask about decorating cupcakes...what do you use?

Thanks again, Sarah!

Unknown said...

For cupcakes, I've never used food colouring, but fresh fruit (I've always eaten them the same day). You could always use candied fruit, dried fruit, coconut or even some vegan candies for cookies and cupcakes!

I'm not sure where the lady from Lil Cakes bought her vegan decorations, but you can always check out her site and contact to to ask if you're curious!

Hope this helps!