Thursday, October 31, 2013

Sacred Fires and Simmering Spirits

A simple meal for a sacred day of gratitude, remembrance and celebration.
Happy and Blessed Samhain!  :)

from Isa Chandra at Post Punk Kitchen

from Joy the Baker

from R Starr at The Vegan Chronicle

from Stephanie at The Recipe Renovator

Cheers!

Crack on a Stick

Happy National Candy Apple Day!
Candy apples, also known as toffee apples, are covered in a bright shiny syrupy coating that cools down to a hard candy crunch...really hard. If you whack it, it will crack. Slice them up like Hannibal and you'll find they are a sweetly devilish delight. Fava beans and chianti are optional.  ;)  

from Darla at Bakingdom

from Amber at SaltTree

from Rose Bakes

from Kelly at Just a Taste

from Heather at Sprinkle Bakes

from Jeannie Moulton via Eat Drink Better

from Patricia at ButterYum

from Chelsea at Inn at the Crossroads

from Julianna Grimes at Cooking Light

from Alida at Simply Delicious

from Matt Bites

Tips...
Kelly: Apples often come with a waxy coating, which will prevent the candy from sticking to the surface. To remove the wax, simply boil 6 cups water with 1 tablespoon white vinegar. Quickly dip the apples in the boiling mixture for 5 seconds then thoroughly dry them. The candy will stick in an instant!

Darla: A note on the difference between flavoring oil and extracts. Flavoring oil is a much more concentrated ingredient, so you need much less. Also, since it is oil based, it is easier to use in candy making because it doesn’t cause any spluttering when added to the hot candy. Extracts, however, are cheaper and are usually easier to find. You need more, and it’s a little more dangerous, but there is a wide variety of choices at any grocery store.

Darla: Be sure to leave a decent opening of plain apple at the top. That’s the best place to get your first bite in. (Or just slice them up and eat!)

Gundersen Health: Try the bit-sized version! Cut the apples into 1-inch cubes. Coat apple cubes in lemon juice (it will keep them from turning brown) and allow them to dry a bit. Instead of the craft sticks use thicker, longer toothpicks. Follow the remainder of the directions.

Several bloggers recommend AmeriColor Soft Gel Paste Colors and LorAnn Flavoring Oils.

•> Local Focus...
Sendik's Food Market has Crunchy Gold Apple Pears on sale...and Honeycrisps too, their Saturday Special this week!
Outpost Natural Foods has Braeburn and Honeycrisp Apples on sale...and Bosc Pears!

If you can jab a stick or a skewer in it, you can candy it up for Halloween. Apples for candied shrunken heads, pears for candied green goblins, baby carrots for witches' fingers, strawberries for hearts, dried figs for brains.  ;)
What would you candy up? Which are better...candy apples or caramel apples?

Happy Halloween!  :)

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Triple Threat

Happy National Candy Corn Day!
Devour these triple-striped delights before the ghosts and the goblins spirit them away!  ;)

from Melisser at The Urban Housewife

from Victoria at The Pursuit of Hippieness via One Green Planet

from DJ Karma at VegSpinz

from Kristen at K's Veg Recipes

from Sara at The Innocent Primate Vegan Blog

from Amy at Fragrant Vanilla Cake

from Samantha at Novel Eats

from Chocolate Covered Katie

Eat them by the handful, or trick them out...
• Mix them into your witchy crispy treats
• Top off your frosted freak cupcakes
• Stir them into ferocious fudge bars
• Add them to your gruesome granola
• Dip them in chocolate for wicked werewolf fangs

What twisted treat would you candy corn up?

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Oatmeal Hits the Oven

Happy National Oatmeal Day!      
Just like pasta tales on a whole different yum when you casserole it, oatmeal gets kicked up a notch when you bake it. In ramekins or muffin tins, give your oats a deliciously crispy bakeover!  ;)

from Lauren at The Oatmeal Artist

from Kris at Munchin with Munchkin

from SS at Mix it Up

from Melissa at My Whole Food Life

from Melissa at My Whole Food Life

from Rachel at Bakerita

from Jessie May at Made to Create

from Lauren at The Oatmeal Artist

from Chocolate Covered Katie

from Alex at Chowvida

Know your oatmeals...
Types of Oats from The Whole Grains Council

And oat mills...
Arrowhead Mills
Bob’s Red Mill
Hodgson Mill
McCann's

What are your fave oatmeal mix-ins? Do you oven-bake, slow-cook or overnight your oats? Which do you love more...oatmeal or oatmeal cookies?  :)

Conquering The Beast

UPDATE!
As of July 2014, Barnivore has declared most of the Kahlua lineup Vegan Friendly! 
See the details here...
http://www.barnivore.com/search?keyword=kahlua
But you can still make your own if you like.  :)

Bone char...you are a sinister beast.

I cruised over to Barnivore.com last week to look up the veganosity of a liqueur and BAM! right there on the front page loomed the shocking words...

Kahlua ... Not Vegan Friendly

All of their products are now considered NVF, including Kahlua Hazelnut, Kahlua Mocha, Kahlua Vanilla and so on.
The company stated in November 2012 that the sugars they used were not bone-char processed, but an update check by Barnivore in August 2013 confirmed that Kahlua's sugar supplier uses "natural charcoal which may contain bone char".

Kahlua Company...have you gone off the deep end? Are you really willing to alienate legions of liqueur-loving vegans?

Well go ahead, cuz as it turns out, we don't need you. What we can't find, we make. Our way...

from Jessica at Clean Green Simple

from Jess at Get Sconed!

from The Spicy Vegan

from Anne at A Party Style
(Supercute bottles from Nicole at Diary of a Mad Crafter)

Now that you've got it, crazy it up...

from Dana at Minimalist Baker

from Christina-Marie at Sexy Vegan Mama

from Joseph Shuldiner via The Guardian

from Mihl at seitan is my motor

from Jes at Eating Appalachia

from Ally at Made of Stars

from Allysia at The Real Meal

from Bryanna at Notes from the Vegan Feast Kitchen

from Rebecca at Blissfully Vegan

from Betsy at The Blooming Platter of Vegan Recipes

Take that bone char! You are an evil nemesis, but it's vegans for the win every time!  ;)

Monday, October 28, 2013

Attack of the Lava Cake Monster!

Happy National Chocolate Day!
Lava Cakes aka Molten Cakes are superdelish mini chocolate cakes with velvetysoft centers. Cookie Monster, you can have the cookies. Today I'm a Lava Cake Monster...grrrr!  ;)

Today's post was inspired by Molly & Mike at Rambling Vegans...they travel the land in their fair and lovely Airstream Ayla with their girls Sophie, Emma and Rowan and report on all sorts of adventures and edibles. Always a superfun and yumful ride!  :)

from Veggie Grettie

from Lauren at Healthy Food For Living

from Meg at Beard + Bonnet

from Solveig at Gluten-Free-Vegan-Girl

from Chef Chloe via Vegan Fatty Boombalatty

from Mary at Well on Wheels

from Emily at This Rawsome Vegan Life

from Tara at Apples And Ginger

Today I'm diggin' Emily's recipe because of all that nutty goji berry goodness, which makes it breakfast food as much as dessert food in my book.  :)
What other desserts would you eat for breakfast?